Hi all,
I am an American citizen on a B permit. I've lived in Zurich for almost 3 years, and am about to renew my annual B Permit again.
I've become quite unhappy with my job and have not had much success on the job market yet. I have been considering quitting my job, to take some time off, take a mental break, and work on learning a new skill to re-orient my career--potentially coding/SQL/Python. I would also like to have more time to work on my Deutsch (just started a B1 course). I intend to stay in Switzerland for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, I do not feel comfortable to simply quit my job while being here on my non-EU B permit, which I have to renew each year. I'm afraid there's limited legal means to stay here as a non-EU without a job on a B permit. I read on www.ch.ch , that if I can prove I have the "financial means" to support myself, I could potentially keep my legal residency status somehow. It did not describe what "financial means" entails.
Does anyone have any experience, or recommendations on how I could quit my job and still legally remain in the country, without having to worry about not having a job when my B expires at the end of each year?
Thanks in advance.
Are you elligible for unemployment? In principle I think you can extend your permit while you get unemployment. However, when applying to a new job, you'll still have the issue of them having to prove they couldn't find a Swiss or EU person.
RAV will certainly be unhappy if you quit and may not pay you any unemployment, if you’re eligible to start with, for up to 3 months. That’s assuming they agree to become your “employer” so you keep your permit status - because once you quit the permit becomes invalid, no matter how much time it has left on it. It’s tied to your job so no job, no permit basically.
You wouldn’t be able to take time off or do a course to learn a new skill unless RAV agrees. Their job is to get you back into work asap and you have to be available to take up any reasonable job offer you might get.
As far as “financial means” that refers to retirees basically who want to move here to live without working. Unlikely to apply in your case.
Also note it’s not easy to switch employers on a non-EU permit, the new employer still has to make their case for why you should be allowed to change jobs.
Note, that this may be the case, or may be not.
If you want to be sure - write to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) , give them your ZEMIS number (it can be found on your permit, for me it looks like #######.#.ZH####### ) and ask if you are allowed to change your employer without AWA permission.
Hi all - Thanks for responding.
To clarify, I am not interested in unemployment and would actively decline it. I have enough savings and a bit of passive income from investments to last a while--at least 10 years. I know the unemployment benefits leave a bad mark when trying to get C permit or Passport.
My B Permit is open. I am allowed to change employers without AWA permission.
I wonder if it is possible to be sponsored by RAV without collecting unemployment, while taking a Coding or Deutsch course, but not having to spend all my time looking for a job. I guess that may be counterintuitive to RAV's purpose. Not sure how flexible they are.
Probably pretty inflexible as their task is to get you back into work asap. And if you’re not going to claim unemployment benefit then it’s up to you what you do; they’re not going to get involved.
No, having been on unemployment has no bearing on getting a C permit or Swiss citizenship. It’s an insurance, not social assistance so has no bearing on either of those. Obviously if you’re unemployed when you apply for either of those it would affect them, but not having been on unemployment previously.
And while you may think your savings/investments are enough that doesn’t mean the cantonal migration office will. You’d have to check with them on what amount they consider “enough” so you could keep your permit.