Family Reunification/Work Permit Confusion for Third Country National

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1

I know I will ultimately have to visit the Migrationsamp (an email I sent to them explaining the situation did not seem to be understood.)

Just curious if anyone else has any insight, here is the situation:

We (both Americans and our primary school aged daughter) arrived for my wife’s job in 2019. I came as a trailing spouse, passed the A1 German language requirement and from the beginning I was granted a B permit, which allows me free entry into the labor market without restriction.

I worked remotely for a year and a half for an American company online as an independent contractor and didn’t interact financially with the Swiss system at all, no pension, no taxes, etc..

Then in 2021 I started full time work for an international school for over three and half years. During this time, my wife and I decided to separate and I moved to a small apartment about 400 meters from our primary home. I has been two years since I moved out and in this time, we have largely functioned as a family, spending time together nearly every day, and my wife and I remain married. Our primary concern was to put our man/wife relationship on hold and focus on co-parenting our daughter in the best way we could, even though I did not live with them. I filed an official change of address and all of that information is up to date with relevant authorities, etc..

The twist is that on April 1, I resigned from my position due to the results of a breach of contract by my employer and an upcoming planned deployment that was outside of my professional expertise. I currently am without full time work and seeking a new job in Switzerland to remain as close to my daughter as possible. I decided to apply for the RAV and was accepted as I had paid into the system for several years. My visa/B permit was renewed right about that time in April without issue and expires in May of 2026.

Somewhere I got information that if I did not find work/get an employer to sponsor my visa, I would be forced to leave Switzerland when my current permit expired in May, 2025 as I no longer lived with my wife, the originator of my entry into the country. Subsequent research seems to suggest that this is not true and that as long as I am married, CH family reunification policy can accomodate this situation without changes to my work eligibility, and the Migrationsampt’s reply to my query about a week ago seemed to suggest this was true but I am not close to 100 percent sure.

The question is: while I am still married to my wife, but no longer living together, is my visa/work permit still valid to stay in Switzerland beyond May 2026 even if I do not have work with a Swiss employer, or a remote job with say, a company based outside of Switzerland? The Migrationsampt stated I have no restrictions and the visa/permit will be renewed continually unless there is a mitigating circumstance. I’d like to be able to consider another remote position as my options as an older third country national without robust German language are somewhat limited, but I am concerned that if I do that, I will face some kind of permitting issue for not having employment/sponsorship within CH. The hurdle is/would be nearly insurmountable without being provided the unrestricted B-permit as there are dozens/hundreds of Swiss applying for the roles I am applying for and there is no reason for any company to sponsor my visa.

I want to minimize my time on the RAV and find full time work ASAP. I just started a very part time job, but it is a tiny fraction of what I was making in my full time job. My job search strategy critically depends on knowing exactly what the visa situation actually is–and why that is–but due to the quirky nature of my separate residence, etc.. everything seems to depend on who you ask and its nearly impossible to get a straight answer.

Does anyone have any insight? Do I literally just show up at the Migrationsampt and take a ticket to talk to someone? I have tried both the phone and email contact methods with the migrationsampt and both didn’t quite seem to be able to understand/clarify this issue. As well, as there was no critical deadline coming up, I didn’t push it, thinking somehow it would get cleared up with more reseach online, etc., but it has not.

Sorry so long-- but it seems unless the full situation is understood, it’s hard to feel confident that any answer is actually addressing the issues at play. Thank you for reading!

2

I guess you have a family reunification visa. I guess the key word is reunification.

According to this site, the requirements are:

The family members of a third country national with a permanent residence permit (C permit) or a residence permit (B permit) may be granted residence if (i) they live with the permit holder (cohabitation), (ii) suitable housing is available, (iii) they do not depend on social assistance, (iv) they are able to communicate in the national language at their place of residence (not applicable for unmarried children under 18 years old); and (v) the main holder does not receive any annual supplementary benefits under the Federal Act on Benefits supplementary to the Old Age, Survivors’ and Invalidity Insurance (SBA) or would not be entitled to claim such benefits due to family reunification.

Under certain circumstances, the above-mentioned language requirement can be fulfilled with only an enrollment in a language course.

For family reunification of family members of a third country national holding a short stay permit (L permit), the same above-mentioned conditions are applicable except for the language requirement.

Note the requirement for cohabitation.

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Thank you for posting that bit Phil_MCR. Deeper into Canton Zurich “policy manuals” for family reunification requirements, you get led to a big PDF which is challenging to parse with the translation to English and contains much more vague language around cohabitation/some suggestion of case by case basis. I’d post the link but don’t see that option in the editor and pasting it in got me a message saying I can’t post links. [Edit, link here: Familiennachzug von Drittstaatsangehörigen | Kanton Zürich ]

And this message from the migrationsampt I received below, seems somehow to contradict that link you posted, which is the reason I am writing to figure it out-- it’s not clear in the crystal way I need it to be to actually make intelligent decisions without assuming things which may/may not be true…

Screenshot 2025-06-18 at 23.07.39
Screenshot 2025-06-18 at 23.07.39914×740 131 KB

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Given you have a permit and still married, it would seem strange to me that they would refuse to renew it on this technicality. But I have no experience in this area so don’t really know how it works in practice.

But where did you “get information that if I did not find work/get an employer to sponsor my visa”?

5

If you are living in Switzerland, you should be paying Swiss taxes, even if your work is outside of Switzerland.

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Yes, I understand this now @ considerations around self employment/double taxation, etc..

7

I think basically that same way you surfaced- by researching and reading summaries of the “law” and making assumptions based on other various inputs unfortunately taken as fact regarding my being separated living arrangements wise being the decisive factor of my ability to remain in CH or not without being “sponsored” otherwise. As well, just my own general ignorance/can kicking plays a role here as well in terms of the initial understanding of how all the visa/laws/etc. function and what they are so it appears as if my understanding was not all that great from the start. The kick was the short time frame/bit of a confluence of unforseen events that made things all the sudden need to be crystal clear by bringing the RAV into play, etc..

8

OK. I’d be more concerned if you heard it from someone in government who is actually responsible for issuing your visa.

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9

Since the immigration office seem happy I shouldn’t worry too much. If you can find a Swiss employer there are no problems with them hiring you.

What will change will be if you divorce. Then you will lose your permit because it’s based on family reunification and to stay here you would need to find a Swiss employer and to hire you they would have to prove they couldn’t find a Swiss/EU national who could do the job. And yes, if you can’t fulfill that requirement to get a permit you would have to leave the country unless a judge said it was imperative that you stay here for your child’s sake.

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Thank you all that have responded, I am grateful for the insights and have a better understanding of the paths forward, which will include a stop into the migrationsampt I hope tomorrow. MedeaFleecestealer has I think summarized well my general understanding of the dynamics at this point, especially with regard to the fulcrum effectively being the fact of being/remaining married as the linchpin holding things together for me remaining in Switzerland beyond extraordinary intervention @ a judge, etc, and that is a situation I will do better than I’ve done so far in terms of needing to get the maps and rule books out to see where I stand. Thank you all again for taking your time and sharing thoughts on things, I appreciate it.

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Before you do that, think carefully. There have been some examples where people created an issue for themselves by raising an issue to the authorities that might have been otherwise overlooked.

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12

Know that everybody has once in their lifetime the right to a “straflose Selbstanzeige” (self-reporting without punishment) on matters the tax office isn’t already aware of. You should make crystal clear from the beginning that this is what you do and use, as in making it the letter’s subject. You probably need to do that together with your wife as she’ll be affected as well.

The result will be a rectification of your tax bills since you arrived (generally speaking of the last ten years), no further consequences. Most importantly to you as this is relevant for your permit: it isn’t considered a crime, it’s just an administrative procedure. Since it’s crucial that you initiate the action properly you definitely want to use legal counsel. Not for the actual procedure, just for the initial action, so it shouldn’t cost you more than a 3-digit amount.

As to your permit, it looks like you’re entitled to an independet B permit. Article 50 AIG (law on foreigners) states that you have that right if the familiy community (as opposed to the marriage as legal status) has existed for at least three years and the foreigner is sufficiently integrated meaning article 58a is met. Here’s hoping you improved your German otherwise do so immediately, you have lots of time while unemployed.

Here’s the AIG

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