Hi all,
I made a previous thread but this is more of a separate question so I started a new one. Essentially, most posts here are about B and C permits and I want to know about L permits. It's for an 8 month internship in Lausanne.
In short,
1) Are L permits easier to get? I am 22 years old and just finished my master's (USA) in Applied Math with a heavy computer science focus.
2) Are L permits processed faster than B or C permits? My start date is Dec 1st and I want to move over around Nov 7th to find housing. I have not submitted the VISA application yet.
Thanks so much for the feedback!
L permits are easier to get, yes. Sometimes, although you might expect a B permit, you can get given an L permit, or two consecutive L permits, then possibly a B later on if the job is extended beyond a year.
Easier to get, yes and no. For an L permit of more than 4 months, the same requirements normally apply that make it hard to get a B permit: most importantly, obligation of the employer to advertise the position and to prove that no qualified CH or EU candidate could be found. Position has to be specialist or manager, and highly qualified. In that sense they're not easier. But the quotas are from a different pool, and more generous for L.
Internship contracts can be exempt from those requirements if you come from specific countries that have a bilateral agreement with Switzerland for post-studies internships, most of which specify an annual quota of available spots.
For the processing times, nobody could tell for sure who doesn't work in the system, but I don't see why they would be shorter. Processing times vary a ton depending on many factors.