Hey Guys,
I am from Taiwan and married to a German who works and lives in Switzerland, my husband has a bewilligung/permit C since he has been working here for about 7 years.
We just got married in October 2014 in Germany and registered in the Stadtbuero where we live in Switzerland in the beginning of November. The people in the office told us that since my husband has a C permit so I will entitled to have a B permit, it will take few days.
So after a month waiting we decided to call them in December, but they told me about something that after I registered in the Stadtbuero, my document will be processed by another authority, which is somewhere I forgot the name, but anyway it's already Febuary now which means it's been 3 months now.
I am thinking to call them again to ask about my permit but does anyone here has the same experience like me, waiting for a permit for so long?
I mean it is rediculous as I know that B permit is only for a year, which means I applied in Nov 2014 and it supposed to be expired in Nov 2015, but now is Feb 2015 which is totally crazy, by the time I receive the permit I guess I will have to extend it right away?
Plus I guess now without a permit I am not allowed to work here in Switzerland, which is quite annoying.
Is such long waiting time normal or there must be somehting wrong with my paper?
Btw I live in Aargau canton.
Thank you guys
Permits are approved at cantonal level and then go up to the Federal office at Bern for them to do their bit. It shouldn’t be too much longer before you receive it.
And no, you can’t work until you get your permit. For one thing no employer is likely to hire you without one, being a non-EU national. It simply costs them too much time and money to do so as they would have to apply for a permit on your behalf. Once your permit arrives all that hassle is gone and it just needs you to take your new employment contract down to the cantonal migration office to get the work part added to the residence side.
FYI - Since you're married to an EU national, your B-permit will be valid for 5 years. So no need to worry about extending it right away. The authorities are probably just a bit backlogged after the holiday. Why not head there in person to follow up and see how much longer it may take?
Yep, it's just those of us married to a Swiss person that get the 1-year B permit
Medea Fleecestealer,
Thank you very much for your prompt reply, it really cheers me up.
Lol seriously? then why would those who got married to the swiss only have 1 year? I mean it is nice to know that I will have a 5 year B Permit but it does not make sense to me lol.
I am quite surprised with this answer as it does not make sense to me,.
If would make more sense to me that a person who married to a Swiss gets a 5 years B permit. And a person who married to a EU national gets 1 year B permit.
Anyway I still have to wait
I think it has to do with the agreements Switzerland has signed with the EU. An EU citizen that comes here on a long-term job contract is often issued a 5-year B permit. Someone married to an EU is entitled to the same permit under the family reunification scheme.
Swiss citizens of course can be here forever, so I think they make spouses renew annually for the first 5 years just to make sure the marriage is not a sham. After that the spouse can apply for a C permit and/or facilitated naturalization (depending on a few other factors).
Yes, because the CH-EU bilateral agreement is made to be aligned with the regulation inside EU. Inside EU, an EU national residing in another EU country typically gets 5-year residence, and their family members (whichever nationality) get the permit of the same validity.
Theoretically spouses of Swiss nationals get C permit after 5 years automatically. The authorities are obliged to check whether the conditions are met during regular permit renewal and are obliged to issue such a C permit even without explicit application for it. In the law this is the only case where C permit comes without you asking for it.