HELP! Have ANY trailing spouse US citizens been successful in finding a job in CH??

Agree. We moved to Switzerland with my husband's job and told his company that I wanted to work out here. We told them they needed to do all they could to make my (aka his) transition as easy as possible (keep in mind many expat assignments are not successful due to family reasons).

Result - I have B permit and am employed.

Good luck!

Ahem I do. These are AMERICAN and UK companies, not suisse. As an ex-pat, you can demand, or negotiate that you have a B and the right for your spouse to work before you move. It has nothing to do with suisse companies. If you are employed by a large US/UK or multinational company that does business here, or are a consultant for them, they will go to bat for you or you can decline the position. It's all about negotiation. Nothing to do with suisse actually, because the company should deal with it. All part of doing and getting good people overseas.

What? Sorry, that's just wrong and a bit of a strange thing to say actually.

It is in fact the Swiss gov't that provides the permit. It's up to THEM nothing to do with the company no matter where this company is from.

The company can certainly REQUEST a B, and make a strong case, but a company can not guarantee a B permit.

I had a large international firm in Liechtenstein, that probably does the majority of its business in the US, tell me that the job had to be offered to everyone in CH and the EU before me. Even though he said he would offer me the position, but couldnt. I have a B permit and my wife is Swiss. Its been hard trying to find work here.. to say the least..

So as I was saying, you don't know how things actually work here. You do sound like senior management though...

If you have a B permit and your wife is Swiss then what you've been told is flat out wrong.

I was wondering that myself. I thought as long as you have a B permit with work permit, you are good to go.I am interested to make sure I understand the system as I actually just applied for a job today, and in the slim chance I get an interview, I would like to make sure I know what I am talking about

Liechtenstein joined some of the european things that Switzerland didn't. I can't remember what it's called but it works differently in Liechtenstein than Switzerland.

... you mention in your earlier post that you're a Nescaf trailing spouse

(Nestlé is Swiss company, not UK nor US)

You can always demand and they can always refuse, any case it's not the company who decides it's the authorites.

Agreed -- we've been told multiple times that my company (a large multinational company) can request, demand, and beg all they want, but ultimately it is the Swiss government who makes the decision on whether I receive an L permit or a B permit (and thus, give my husband the right to work) and I have no control over the Swiss government's choice. However, I have heard that the longer my contract assignment term, the greater the probability of a B permit. 3 years seems to be the "magic number" that I've heard in which non-EU citizens have gotten B permits - has anyone else had similar experiences with getting a B permit recently after signing a 3 year contract?

this website isn't working for me - is it down or is the address incorrect?

It may be wrong, but I have no chance of convincing anyone here of that.. The person who wanted to hire me said he looked into it with the Liechtenstein 'officials' whoever that may be.. Odd thing is, it was an international position, traveling the world doing training courses in English. So even if I was better qualified as a native English speaker, the EU gets priority. Sounds like affirmative action..

I think it is different there than CH also.. as far as EU agreements..

Better qualified than an English person, after all they did invent the language....

Speaking English means very little here, a lot of people speak very good English, in addition to at least one if not two of the national languages.

[QUOTE=hopefulgenevaexpat;1520921]Agreed -- we've been told multiple times that my company (a large multinational company) can request, demand, and beg all they want, but ultimately it is the Swiss government who makes the decision on whether I receive an L permit or a B permit (and thus, give my husband the right to work) and I have no control over the Swiss government's choice. However, I have heard that the longer my contract assignment term, the greater the probability of a B permit. 3 years seems to be the "magic number" that I've heard in which non-EU citizens have gotten B permits - has anyone else had similar experiences with getting a B permit recently after signing a 3 year contract?

Yes, it's the suisse government that decides, but you can start the process first by petitioning to your company. The company has a bigger 'pull' than you do alone. From the stories I've heard, it's true, if you work for Nestle, Philip Morris, Novartis, etc, any large company that provides income/taxes en suisse (or are a consultant/affiliated with them), it seems that you get preferential treatment. I hate to say that, but best to request and let the company handle the situation.

Odd (in my experience) that you would get an L for a two year contract. One of my US interns has an L (one year) and was not allowed (by the licensing office) to purchase a car as a result!

Also, I have a nonEU B permit and was told by our HR department that it only allows my spouse to apply for a work visa (also B) after 5 yrs here and a C after ten years. It has been 4, so we aren't testing the theory yet. Until that time, it would be up to the potential employer to apply specially for the permit. These policies do change, and I have not checked recently, and, as you can see there is a lot of 'information' floating around out there. In general, these permits are getting harder, not easier, to obtain. Bottom line is that this is a challenging situation. Hopefully you will find a way, but it is no easy or quick fix in my experience.

A final note of caution, not that you are, but if you were inclined to get frustrated with the process of getting a work permit for Switzerland, we Americans are the last who should be allowed to complain, given our country's track record on such things.

Works for me from that link - I copied directly from the address bar with the site open. If it still doesn't work I can PM you a phone number

In the past this has been true. But with the economic downturn, with the rising number of CH/EU unemployed, I'm hearing more stories indicating that the game has changed. Large companies that could previously count on the permit process being a mere rubber stamp are now seeing denials for non-EU candidates - and even renewals are being denied.

A few threads that make interesting reading, so that the OP understands which way the wind is now blowing:

B Permit renewal declined - what now?

Swiss to get referendum on nationalist campaign for immigration caps

My take: in today's climate, as non-EU you are taking a bit of a risk with your own career coming here - let alone with an as-yet unemployed partner's. Especially on an L permit - but a non-EU B doesn't carry that much more security today.

Were it me, I'd come over alone, see how the job pans out, see how you like CH, see what your longer-term prospects really are. Once you have decided that this really is what you want, that your life is relatively secure - then think about bringing the fiance over.

Okay, I hate to say that, but you really have no idea what you are talking about. "The company has a bigger pull" - well, duh, of course it would, the company has 100% pull as the job applicant does not intervene in the process other than submitting his details to the company.

These "stories" are nothing much but hearsay and wishful thinking (and probably shows that some people have an overblown impression of the importance they have to a company - these people have never applied with smaller companies, how would they even know if they get preferential treatment?!).

Yes in the past "people working for large companies" did get B permits... because there was far less hiring and everybody whether EU or not got through the same process and most eventually ended up with a B permit - not necessarily as a reflection of their "status"

All that has changed with the EU free movement agreement and one has to really stand out to be picked over EU or local applicants... and the relatively low number of successful outcomes would probably show that there aren't that many "really-outstanding-and-precious-to-the -company" candidates either... time for a reality check people.

Just a quick update for anyone that is interested in my original story and the progress - my fiance has been offered a job in Geneva for a non-specialist role - now we have to navigate the permit process to ensure that the Swiss government will give him the work permit. There are two different approaches we can take, either (1) submit his work permit application independently of mine (seems to be the more difficult route) or (2) after I receive my permit, hopefully I will get a B, but if not - we will use his dependent L permit to then apply for the work permit specific to his employer. HR at my company offered to help with this and said that it is definitely not impossible to make this work which is comforting... hopefully that will give others some hope.

Thanks for coming back with an update, it really encourages us all to help more when there is feedback!

One time we applied for new permits (as EU couple might add) we got one year B permits two years running. The good thing was that as EU I had the right to work included, but some spouses just get the right to reside. It's not as simple as L or B. Maybe your partner should consider trying to apply on his own merit, otherwise you will be in agony waiting to see what permit he gets and losing time in the process?

Just an idea.

Well it was in the dental field so maybe that was what qualified me over an English person.

just FYI - my hubby came over here from US to work for large Swiss company and got an L permit - so no guarantee for a B ... We harassed the company and finally got B permits for the second year so I'm now looking for work but it's been more than difficult. Thinking of going back to the US so my career doesn;t suffer ...