Dear all,
I am a few months away from C Permit Renewal. I am based in canton Bern.
Does anyone know what documentation I have to provide to renew the permit? Or is it as simple as filling out a form confirming your status etc. and paying a fee?
Many thanks for tips, and apologies if this has already been asked here but I was unable to find a similar post…
It depends on various things. For my renewal, once, they just sent me a new one in the post. The most recent time, I had to go do some biometric stuff (probably post-Brexit issue).
Best way is to call and ask.
You should just need to sign the renewal form (and provide current passport details, report changes to personal details if any etc.).
You’ll be asked to renew biometrics if the last time you submitted them was more than 5 years ago at the time you file for renewal.
Did the biometric appointment in 2018, which was the first credit card format permit (non-EU). 2023 was just paperwork and money, so no appointment needed.
They will happily tell you if you need an appointment. In 2018, after submitting our renewal, I got a letter telling me when to show up and what I needed to do to change the appointment. In 2023 the new permits just showed up in the mail.
Just looked, in 2023 they re-used the same picture from 2018. Maybe in 2028 I’ll have to get a new picture.
For sure I know, one thing is the language certificate, you need to provide that. Other than that I guess, the renewal form needs to be signed by your Swiss spouse and you, and standard stuff such as Passport copy, current Permit copy.
They might ask additional confirmations, for instance, confirmation from Betreibsamt, you have no debt, and then from the other offices as well, Steueramt, all taxes are paid, and also from the Sozialamt, that you have not received any social benefits. They should have forms for these, you need to goto these offices get them signed and stamped.
Every Kanton might have a different procedure, but I think the main document is the B1 (spoken) A2 (written) language certificate, that was the document I had to work for. I recommend doing the Fide test.
They come by post, signed and stamped. I think we applied online, I don’t remember going to these offices in person. You only have to pay a small fee for the excerpt from the debt collection registry and of course for the language test and that depends on where you’re taking the test.
Yes you can also post them I guess, they would send you the bills by post, if you apply online you pay online at the same time, or the bills come to you later by post, depends on your Gemeinde and Kanton.
Also they could ask confirmation from your employer on employment confirmation from HR, but that I suppose is generally for the citizenship applications. Normally they have a document checklist.
Just drop by the Kantonal immigration office and ask them, generally they are quite friendly to tell you what you need to submit. Depends on your individual circumstances and the Kanton.