I’ve been leaving in Zurich for 6 years and have now a C permit. I will move to the US later this year for education/training purposes (postdoc mobility grant from Switzerland for 2 years starting June) and would want to freeze my C permit. This should be fairly easy as it is a common practice for this scholarship.
However before that I’d like to travel 1-2 months and would hence move from Zurich before (around mid April). Does anyone know whether it is possible to de register from Zurich starting mid April/May but have my permit frozen from June ?
Or does anyone know if I can go traveling an de register from Zurich online ?
Even more do you need to de register if you’re freezing your C permit ?
You have to deregister when you move out of Switzerland and you have to do it in person. You can do it up to 30 days in advance.
When you go to deregister, you can request to have to C-permit frozen.
It looks like you have six months after deregistering to request a freeze, and you don’t have to do it in person, so what you have in mind is probably accepted. Since you “fly” under a mobility grant, permission seems a given. Personally, I’d mention your plans right from the start when you enquire now-ish with the Migrationsamt.
@SoSwiss yes, up to four years total. I seem to recall that an initial freeze is limited to two years, but the PDF below doesn’t mention such so perhaps this no longer applies.
See the bottom PDF link, Aufrechterhaltung Niederlassungsbewilligung
I will be very happy to be wrong, since I am coming back to Switzerland 5 months after having deregistered without freezing the permit because I was not planning to come back.
My understanding is you have 6 months after physically leaving Switzerland (without deregistering) to tell them that you wish to freeze/maintain your permit.
If you deregister from the town, there is no 6 month period to change your mind.
If I remember correctly if you come back to live in Switzerland within 6 months of deregistering you can get your C permit reinstated.
I know people who have done this.
Not true, it wouldn’t hurt to read the official docs.
However, getting a freeze permitted in such a case is less likely than if the request is submitted together with the deregistration.
Art. 61 AIG mentions no possibility to suspend the B permit, only the C. The cantons OTOH are merely agents without an actual say, they lack the authority to introduce such an option on their own.
It would be useful if Deloitte mentioned at least one example canton but of course that’s their hook to get you to contact them. Still, until I see clear evidence for that claim I take it for what it is: an unsubstantiated assertion.
I’ve asked the SEM if that blog is correct, they say only the C permit can be frozen/suspended.
The full answer, verbatim:
Guten Tag
Wir beziehen uns auf Ihre Nachricht vom 10. Januar 2025.
Gemäss Art. 61 Abs. 2 AIG kann die Niederlassungsbewilligung während vier Jahren aufrechterhalten werden. Für die L- oder B-Bewilligung ist die Aufrechterhaltung dagegen nicht möglich.
Deloitte state that the freezing of B-Permits is not regulated by law, which is not lying. The SEM would have to take the official position that it isn’t possible. However I would agree the statements are misleading and missing the caveat that any freezing of a B-permit would be at the mercy of low-level local or cantonal bureaucrats and in no way protected.
They say “it is possible to temporarily suspend B and C permits”. If this is not a lie, then they don’t know what they’re talking about and are simply incompetent.
The reason for the lie will be that they want to get the potential client to contact them, for lead generation and get a foot in the door. That just doesn’t make it any less of a lie.