I really searched the forum and the web in general but could not find a sound answer to my question that is why i am posting it here. Thanks everybody for sharing the idea.
I am a non-EU citizen and have been living is Switzerland since 2.5 years ago on permit B. I actually work in Liechtenstein and live in CH.
I have been recently granted a permanent residence permit in Sweden due to my studies and work there for seven years prior to my immigration to here.
My questin is now if this will affect my permit situation in Switzerland and if yes, how? I will need to extend my B permit in 1.5 years from now ( yes last time in summer i got a two year permit). Can one in general hold two residence permits from an EU state ( Sweden) and Switzerland at the same time? Should i notify Swiss migration office at this stage?
I don't think Switzerland really care about your residency status anywhere else, as long as you are paying all taxes, insurance and have a residency permit here.
Sweden however might care... do they think you are still living in Sweden? I don't understand why they have given you permanent residency 2.5 years after you left ... you don't get to keep your permit if you leave Switzerland, and they get annoyed if you don't de-register... not sure how the Swedes work things.
Well, Swedish parliment has recently passed a law which entitles all people who have done a PhD in there under the last seven years to apply for a PUT which is Permanent uppehållstillstånd (residence permit) no matter you are currently living there oe are outside. This law is new and was not in force when i was living there so i was eligible to apply. Downside is that you can hold it for only one year if you are not going right away to the country, that is my status as i am satisfied with my job here. I think one can eventually have it suspended for a max of two or three years until going back there.
Thanks. Btw, do you think if i could swap Swedish permanent residence permit with the one from Switzerland? I know some countries are eligible for that but they are all EU members. Not sure how Swiss system works in this case.
At five years of uninterrupted residence in Switzerland, it is possible to apply for "early" receipt of a C permanent residence permit. Around 3% of the C permits were issued "early" in 2015. See "Vorzeitige Erteilung der Niederlassungsbewilligung" at this link:
Thanks daffy99. To be honest, I do not really know if I should be happy or not but rather I feel very much confused at this stage. On one hand the PUT from Sweden will be max valid for two years if I do not enter the country and on the other hand, I am pretty happy with my life and job here in CH. If I go for SE, I will be a Swedish citizen after 4 years from now and if I stay in CH, I will be a Swiss citizen after 10 years or more....
The Swedish residency permit will give you absolutely no advantage in Switzerland, you will still be considered Non-EU. No you can't swap it for a Swiss permanent residency permit either. Don't forget that Switzerland isn't part of the EU.
If you are bothered about permeant residency, then you should head back to Sweden. There are no guarantees in Switzerland, that your permit will continue to be extended to the point where you get a C permit and there are no guarantees of citizenship, even if you have lived here long enough, they can and do sometimes, just say NO.
Depends what is most important to you, staying permanently in Europe, or your job etc in Switzerland.
Actually, the Swiss authorities do care about it. To obtain or prolong a Permit, you have to proove (upon request) that the "center of your life" is in Switzerland. It is indicated by factors as your job, your family, your future plans, your effective stay etc. If they come to the conclusion, that the center of your life is in a different place, they might not prolong your permit.
Only in exceptional cases they allow two resident permits in two different countries. It can be accepted, if the above mentioned factors are equally divided to both countries. The main factor is, how and especially where you plan your future, especially the permanent stay.
Thanks sblw! Just wonder if you mean I need to notify the migration authorities here in CH right away about my PUT in Sweden or they will get the records somehow? just to be clear, I have so far extended my permit here twice, in both cases I asked the company HR to sign and stamp the blue paper I had received from AFM. no paper or question about dual residency or any other type of info..
Let's put it this way: if you don't notify them everything will continue as before, also they will not be automatically notified. However, if they find out one day, they could check the center of your life (current and retrospective) with requesting documents as credit card statements, phone bills etc. to see that you have actually continued living in Switzerland.
I don't see that it is any different to holding a passport or green card etc that allows you to live elsewhere. Just because you have permission to live elsewhere doesn't mean you are. Plenty of people with a US green card are living here.
Your only concern should be Sweden, and keeping the residency.
This makes sense Island Monkey. Thanks for the comment. It is now only up to me to make my mind and see if I am going to benefit from a social country with almost 40% taxing system or to continue living here and eat cheese and chocolate.. very difficult decision believe me..
Why would they do that? They would likely have to refund all taxes paid if he was not resident.......
Perhaps you can find a link, I would say it's BS.
In CH they just want your money & don't care the little details. Plenty of people buy B permits to get a tax deal, nobody counts how many days they stay.
E.g. in the Canton of Zug it is a political issue to avoid so called "cold beds", meaning people who have permits but do not really live here. The Migration Authoritiy is obliged to check the effective living here if they have doubts.
I know people who had to provide the Migration Authority with such proofs (it can also apply to people who received an individual permit after having seperated, having to proove with pictures, flight tickets for common holidays etc. that their marriage was real, if there are indications for that). Of course it is a little bit two faced that with the lump sum permits, just people like this are kind of welcome (and probably not controlled), however it is a political issue especially because of the lack of apartments. I assume they do not control a lot, but they can and do sometimes.
Thanks all for the comments. I have pretty much made my mind and that is I am going to move to Sweden. However, one thing is still not clear for us and may eventually affects this decision.
I know I have to deregister from my Gemeinde which means I will lose my permit (with immediate effect or I have some weeks to leave the country?), my question is how this will affect my family. My wife and my daugther's permits are dependent on mine. Will they also loose their permits the same time as mine? In the other words, will they need to leave Switzerland at the same as i do or can stay until their current permit goes out in July 2017?
My wife is doing a MAS at ETH but she may not be able (we guess so) to get a permit on her own just because of the MAS studies...
You can go along to your gemeinde office and deregister 2/3 weeks in advance of your leaving date, for example go to the gemeinde office on 1st March and say “I want to deregister as being a Swiss resident on 15th March”. You’ll get a document from them which you can use for cancelling insurance, mobile phone contracts, etc. There’s no “grace period” after deregistering for non-EU nationals, unless they come from a country that doesn’t need a tourist visa to visit Switzerland. So you’d need to arrange everything so you can leave on the day stated.
Your dependents’ permits are tied to yours so when yours terminates so does theirs, despite the fact they run until July 2017. You wife would have to apply for a separate student permit and would also need to show she can support herself financially as well as the children, assuming they don’t go back to Sweden with you.
Remember that unless you’ve already given notice on your rental property there will be a set period for this in your contract - usually around 3 months is the norm and may be tied to specific “official” moving dates. So check this, otherwise you’ll either have to pay the extra months’ rent or find a new tenant to take over the lease - assuming your wife doesn’t stay on with a student permit.