My family will be out of Switzerland for more than 6 months but will come back well before their Residence permit expires. They will come in March (8 months ), permit expire June end.
I know the rule that beyond 6 months the permit becomes invalid and we would need to apply for a new one.
However, I wanted to check with Immigration if there could be an exception giving an explanation for the need to stay beyond 6 months.
I received a reply today, and I am not sure how to interpret it.
The letter content as below
"Gemäss Art. 50 der Verordnung über Zulassung. Aufenthalte und Erwerbstätigkeit (VZAE) können Aufenthaltsbewilligungen an Ausländerinnen und Ausländer erteilt werden, die sich vorüber gehend im Auftrag des Arbeitgebers oder zu Weiterbildungszwecken für höchstens vier Jahre im Ausland aufgehalten haben. Hierzu ist es erforderlich, dass die kantonale Ausländerbehörde vor der Ausreise die Wiedereinreise zugesichert hat, das Gesuch eines Arbeitgebers nach Art. 18 Bst. b AIG vorliegt, die Lohn- und Arbeitsbedingungen nach Art. 22 AIG eingehalten werden und die Gesuchstellerin oder der Gesuchsteller über eine bedarfsgerechte Wohnung nach Art. 24 AIG verfügt.
Wir beziehen uns auf Ihr Gesuch vom XXX date um Zusicherung der Wiedereinreise nach einem Aufenthalt im Ausland von Ihrer , XXX, und Ihrem , XXX. Nach Prüfung des Sachverhalts erwägen wir, eine Sistierung der Aufenthaltsbewilligungen abzulehnen, da die vorgenannten Bedingungen nicht erfüllt werden."
Of course, my wife is not working and I did not ask them to suspend RP but whether it is ok to come back while it is still valid.
I just wanted to be transparent and play by the books :-)
Any clues what it means ? I will probably give them a call after some research and replies here.
Go to your commune and discuss it with them. Doing so in advance would certainly help. Is there any chance they can return during the 8 months? Even for a few days?
She can come back as long as the permit is still valid. But after 6 months abroad, the permit is longer valid by law, regardless of the date written on the permit card.
Remember: A permit card is like a driving license, it only shows that you might have driving privileges/a residence permit but it is not the privileges/permit itself. Even if you have the card the actual privileges might have been revoked or expired. On the other hand, if you physically lose the card you still have all the privileges and can get a new card for a fee.
Bad advice. The SEM rules are clear: temporary visits will not reset the period abroad.
The commune cannot do anything. The cantons migration authority must approve the extended stay, OP asked the cantons migration authority if they could approve it, and the authority denied the extended stay (see answer in OPs post).
Once again, short visits will not interrupt the extended stay abroad.
Also, as far as I know, that reply from immigration is incorrect anyway since putting a permit on hold only applies to C permits, not any other permit types.
Question is why do they need to be away for 8 months?
Also, how old are your children? You’ll have virtually zero chance of school aged children being allowed to remain registered and take 8 days off school let alone 8 months.
They speak of "can be granted" (können erteilt werden), rather than suspending the existing one, the conclusion is that the existing permits will lapse. Guaranteeing such re-issuance can only be done if certain conditions are met, which OP's family don't, hence the conclusion.
Formally it would be an (re)issuance, the combined effect (with a guarantee) would be that of a suspension.
With C permit, you can ask to stay longer than 6 months outside in some situations. With B, not possible, as I know.
You may try your luck. If you keep your address to receive letters and pay bills as usual, most likely nothing bad will happen.
I know a few people stay outside of Switzerland for years with C permits. The limit is also 6 months per year. Only one of them got caught and was downgraded to B.