Date of C permit eligibility

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
21
I finally received the decision of the authorities on this so I figure I should post an update.

Recap of my situation:

-just under 4 years of student B permit in BS (Sept 2017 to June 2021)

-my spouse immigrated to VS in May 2021 for permanent manager position and got an L permit (VS officially requires 2 years on L before they'll give B)

-I moved to VS and switched to family reunification in June 2021.

-2 years of L permit (June 2021-end April 2023)

-spouse got B permit end of April 2023.

In the end I decided to apply for the C permit at the same time my spouse and the employer applied to change the L to B (last March). I invoked the CH-Canada agreement which allows for regular C permit after 5 years, and the relevant law and federal directives articles, in particular concerning the student years counting and the part about an L with "durable character". I was told I should expect 2 months. After 10 weeks I called Valais migration and they said at least 1, maybe 2 more months. They finally got around to my application in September (6 months), and let me know how they were leaning but asked for my work contract. Then they didn't know what to do with my application and asked for an opinion from the federal SEM. Now they sent the decision (7.5 months later!).

It's none of the scenarios evoked in previous posts, kind of in-between. They have denied the C and are giving me B Family reunification. They are saying that although my spouse's L permit would be considered to "durable" because of the permanent contract, mine did not because I don't have a permanent full-time contract (I have a permanent part-time position and a lot of very short-term full-time contracts, as I am a freelance musician). Therefore they are not counting the two years with L. They will however still count my student years once I have two years of B. They are retroactively counting the start of my B as end of April 2023 (i.e. when I would have received it if I had not applied for C, same date as my spouse's permit). They explicitly say I will therefore be eligible two years after that, end of April 2025 .

At that point it will be (with the years they are counting towards C in bold):

-4 ( 3 ) years B student

-2 years L family reunification

- 2 years B family reunification

Only 1.5 years to wait so it could be worse and it's partly a big relief that it's not going to be 5 more years, but I have to say, I don't really understand the logic they are applying. I was fully expecting that I would either get the C now, assuming the L permit was considered "durable" or be told that family reunification makes my stay not "durable" thereby cancelling my student years, in which case I would not be eligible at all until at least 2026 or even 2028 (which would suck but at least be consistent). The fact that they will count the next two years as "durable" to make my student years retroactively count but wouldn't count the last two years despite the purpose of my stay still being the exact same (family reunification to a spouse with a "durable" permit) leaves me scratching my head.

And it gets weirder, as they explicitly indicated that if I had had a full-time permanent job, that would have made my L permit "durable", even though my right to work would have still fully depended on my spouse's permit and even if I wouldn't have been able to get an L or B permit of my own for that job.

22
Besides the particulars of my case I just want to also invite fellow members to keep some humility and try not to be so definitive and speak like they know every nuance of every rule when they answer questions about permits (which we see too often I find). In this thread, a member repeatedly and obtusely kept arguing in a very dismissive and categorical tone on aspects that weren't even the question I was originally asking. This was entirely unhelpful, and in the light of the decision I just received, it turns out they were wrong about the two mains things they so adamantly claimed. While they were right that family reunification complicated things and meant that I might not get the C because I don't have a permit "in my own right", especially in the context of coming from an L (which I myself conceded and always said might turn out to be the case),

-no, continuing your studies after graduation does not make years in the previous degree programme not count. Yes, years of continuing studies do count. (obviously if you drop out thst might be a different question, but "after completion of studies" does not refer only to degree programs).

-no, its not impossible to get a C permit as a dependent before the main holder is eligible in cases where the dependent had been here longer. I am told I am eligible in April 2025. My spouse is not eligible until 2026, maybe 2028. No, switching to family reunification does not reset the clock to match your spouses clock.

23
So you basically received a decision of refusal of C permit as anticipated in previous posts.

Migration authorities don’t issue legally binding intentions of future decisions of any kind. You will need to re-apply for a C permit as soon as the person you depend on for continuous legal residence in Switzerland is eligible for C permit, i.e. June 2026 as previously mentioned.

If you wish to apply earlier you will need a permanent contract with a minimum number of working hours per week. In both cases you will need to fulfil integration criteria for C permit issuance.

24
At this point one can only assume you're trolling. Congrats, you're so cool.

25
I understand your frustration with being refused a C permit you were so convinced you were eligible for but don’t shoot the messenger or get personal.