Change of purpose for NON-EU permit holder

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1

Hello everyone,

My wife and I are both non-EU nationals and have been living in Geneva for about five years. I came for a PhD and hold a student B permit. My wife joined me six months later on a family B permit linked to mine. About a year later, she started her own PhD at UNIL but kept her family permit. We have both remained residents of Geneva throughout.

I will defend my thesis at the end of August and have accepted a 100% CDI position at a federal-funded research institute (with a branch in Geneva). HR has already submitted my work permit application, but because I want to benefit from the exemption for Swiss graduates, the application cannot be processed until after I graduate. OCPM Geneva told me, that instead of rejecting and asking to submit everything again, they will “freeze” the application and process it as quickly as possible after my defense. The challenge is that there are only a few working days between my defense and the start of my job, which can cause additional delays.

My question is about my wife’s permit. She still has about two years left in her PhD, and our current permits are valid until the end of September.

Would it be better for her to:

  1. Apply now for her own student B permit, avoiding any dependency on my work permit, and then switch back to a family permit once my work permit is approved; or
  2. Wait until closer to the expiry of our current permits (up to 2 weeks)? If my work permit is approved in time, she would simply renew her family permit based on my work permit. If there are delays, she could instead apply for a student permit before her current permit expires.

Are there any downsides to either approach, or is one generally preferable?

Thanks!

2

I’m not sure she could apply for a studen permit in her own right as you’re a non-EU national.

3

simply out of curiosity (perhaps even ignorance), can this employer not give you a grace period (perhaps even unpaid time off with the existing employment start date), while your permit application is fast tracked?

4

But why not? Both of our PhDs are salaried, we have suitable place to live… basically, it would be as if I didn’t exist in this context.

5

I guess so, we will still see. The worst case (other than rejection ofc) is that they say the contract is invalid because of the start date and make us sign a new one and then start everything de novo.

6

Hello and welcome.

My knowledge may not be up to date, but we were in a similar situation 10 years ago. The challenge in changing the main holder of the B permit is the requirement for non-EU citizens to apply from country of origin, not from Switzerland. Check for this detail.

About option 2, the most important date for the work permit is the application date, not the granting date. Once you apply for the permit, you enter a limbo where you don’t have a permit, but while the application has not been answered by authorities, you can stay in CH. Bit of a gamble, lack of certainty, but worked for us.