Hi,

I have recently moved to Zurich from Australia (non-EU) and have a company that has applied for a work permit for me.

I have rung the labour office in Zurich and the application has been approved at the Zurich level but has now been waiting in Bern for 2 weeks (to be approved at the national level).

How long (from experience) has this process taken for other people?

Many thanks

Greg

My wife is American and had her permit agreed in Zug and then sent to Berne for the final approval. It has taken just under two weeks to get the final approval.

My husband from New Zealand had his permit (through familyreunion) within three weeks.

So it shouldn't take too long for your permit to come through.

oddly enough, my visa application is in the same situation - it has been approved in Bern (Kanton) and has been sitting at the federal level now for over 3 weeks. Sigh. "Could be days, or could be weeks" they tell me; standard response I think.

Are you talking 'entry visa' (the one they stamp in your passport) or 'work permit' (the one they issue you which is either an 'L' or a 'B' or a 'C' ?)

I know it's annoying, but once you have permission to arrive and work, the other thing is just a formality...ours took hmmm. Maybe 6-8 weeks after we arrived...

It was 'approved' before we left Australia, otherwise technically we wouldn't have been allowed to enter the country...

We are waiting on the work permit. Once we get that then (I believe) we send out passports to the Consulate General in Chicago which should be only a few days. So says the Consulate.

I am waiting on a work permit. I am already in Zurich, as a tourist. I guess it is an L or B or C, however I am not sure, the company are organising the permit.

i heard rumours the process for non-EU permits have slowed down too since 1-2 months ago from others in the same boat.

In that case, if you have entered switzerland without an entry permit then you should be dealing with the visa authorities in your home country - what office is nominated on your application ? -

In our case, ours was issued with the 'home office' as Sydney, Australia - so we dealt with the swiss consulate general in Sydney and they were extremely helpful...

there's heaps of other info on the forum here about the process...use the search function///

We had a confirmation that our permits would be issued before we left. Teh permits then took a few weeks.

ok guys. So I received confirmation from my employer that my application is successful. I'm now off to Stuttgart to pick up the permit! Thanks for all your help!

Just curious, why do you need to go to Stuttgart to pick up your permit?
If you have an address in Zurich, they should send it to your house address.

At least that is what happened to mine... it was delivered to my temp apartment....today after about 2 weeks.

Cheers and enjoy your stay in CH

Strictly speaking, shouldn't be in the country without it - therefore has to pick it up outside at their own embassy.

Lots of people do it, authorities must be aware, therefore it's all a bit silly .

Credit Suisse got my permit through in about 4 weeks. My wife and I arrived at the begining of January and we got our B permits today!!! Yippeee!!!

Hi,

I am just curious about the permit issuance process. What are they checking in order to issue a permit ? What influences the processing time ? What if someones loses the job before having the permit and wants to apply for unemployment benefits ?

Cheers,
Sahasrara

Lots of things. Suitable accomodation, actual job exists, immigration rules followed, etc etc.

You have to work (i.e. pay unemployment insurance) for 12 months before being eligable for benefits.

Is living in a flat-share community suitable ? How do they check the existence of the job ? By contacting the employer ?

You could also have worked in the EU for 12 months, come to Switzerland and lose your job in a week as an EU-resident.

Cheers,
Sahasrara

When the permit is first applied for, it is the employer that makes the application. If all conditions are met then the authorities deliver the permit. By the way, that's why we have this sticky - for bright, hard-working and industrious people like you to read prior to asking questions.

Your second point - no, not really.

Thanks for your post. Actually, I was referring to EU-Permits. I assume hence that your last sentence have become unnecessary.

In case you're an EU national (not merely resident), yes, it does. It also means that you have to apply on your own for a residence permit as covered in the relevant EU sticky thread. Pardon the confusion, this being a non-EU thread....