Hi everybody this is my first post so I hope I’m doing this right.
My question today was about any pathways I can have to obtain a C permit in Switzerland (French section)
A little bit of backstory :
I’m a non-EU 16 year old who is currently holding a légitimation card. I arrived in Switzerland at the age of 9 and have been attending Swiss schools ever since. My French is almost as good as my primary language. I was hoping on obtaining Swiss nationality a few years ago but unfortunately they changed the law in 2018 so that only C permit holders can apply for naturalisation ( I am aware that my years have still not been completed by that time). However, CDL holders aren’t eligible to apply for C permit except in my specific case being a child of the principal CDL holder (one of my parents). The law says children can obtain C permit after 12 years of residency and must be at least 21 years old. However, I am not sure I will be holding on to this légitimation card for the next 5 years due to one of my parents changing regions for his international functions. What should I do? What permits should I be placed on? I am very keen on attending university here and would very much like to get my C permit instead of going through job searching with the B permit hassle.
You might think I’m a bit young to worry but I am very curious and any help would be great.
If that’s what the law says then I don’t see any other way you can do it except the usual route - get a job with a B permit then apply for an early C after 5 years assuming you can meet the criteria. Or become a student - which again gets you a B permit - but not sure how soon you could apply for a C. Would probably need to finish university and then have a job for a few years to qualify.
Yeah I see. Perhaps being on a student B permit is wise but I’m not sos it’s if my years wills be counted. I read somewhere that you must have been in a work B permit for 2 years to get your student years counted. However, it is very difficult for a Non-Eu citizen to receive employment in Switzerland. It would have been nice to get a C permit before I graduated. Thanks
Employers are still not very inclined to hire most non-EU graduates, because of the way the cantonal authorities interpret the Nierynck initiative as it was written into law.
Well, if the main CdL holder is moving then his dependents are probably going to have to move as well. In the same way as other dependent permits work, if the main holder loses their permit then so do the dependents. You will have no options except to move, become a student here or find a job if you want to stay in Switzerland. Does your other parent also have a CdL or do they have a Swiss permit?
Even if you do have the CdL for the next few years until you’re 21 I think you’d still need to have a job here to be able to get a C and you’d still be subject to the non-EU hiring criteria wouldn’t you?
Please Medea, you are a very helpful contributor. But very so often you make big blunders and forget the very basics. Like the above example.
Please take the time and make a list of the most important bullet points. Or do as I do and actually look it up in the law, ordinance, and SEM Guidelines before you submit the post. That is whey there are links in my post, because I looked it up and cross checked if the law has not changed and if I remember it correctly.
Here a list of links which you should bookmark and use as reference (Link to French version, language can be changed as needed. Not all is available in English):
Guess I didn’t make myself clear. I know perfectly well that a C permit holder is exactly the same as a Swiss national when it comes to being hired. What I was saying (or not it seems) is that he’d have to get a job - which would likely fall under the non-EU hiring criteria - and get a B permit before he’d be able to apply for a C a few years after that. Which is basically what I said in my first post.
Thanks for the links though; those I don’t already have I’ll add to my list of useful info.
To get a job he would need Ci, Ci is like C, with this he can become financially independent and move out of the parents home. And than he can get his independent B/C.
10 years of uninterrupted stays are enough. Otherwise it is twelve years total and 5 years of uninterrupted stay. For some nationals just five years of stay is enough (I think those are the same as for regular B to C after 5 years, the non-EU/EFTA countries would be Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican, Canada, and the USA)
But I am not sure your interpretation is correct. I read the SEM guidelines as:
- With 21 years you have a right to an independent B or C.
- With 18 years you have a right to an indepentend B or C if you are financially independent or have your own family.
But it also looks like you have a right to a C as soon you meet the minimum stay criteria regardless of age.
With this you would be eligible for C at age of 19 even if your are at university.
In chapter 7.2.6.2 for “enfants” it says the minimum age should be 21 and 12 years of residency is required. It also says the child could get a B before that time if he is starting a family or is financially independent. However I don’t think I’ll have an actual job as such when I’m at uni at the age of 19. Do I have to get a B permit before applying for C in this case because not much is said about it. But the thing is I’m not sure if I change to a student B permit when I’m off to uni if the years are still being counted.
I’ve been in CH since the age of 9 and it has been more than 8 years since living in the canton of Vaud. My father is a diplomat (fonctionnaire internationale) and thus excludes a person from applying for a C permit. Given the situation in Afghanistan (the country my parents are from) is in a terrible state, I was hoping for a way to obtain a permanent residence permit. I have seen in the law that states children of international servants can apply for a c permit after 12 years or ten years after getting s b permit (the last part im confused)
I tried calling the number of the Service de la population of my canton (Vaud) but theyre number doesnt work and they have 1,5 stars on google and notorious for not being easy to contact.
In a pdf based on this topic for the canton of geneva, it said that each case is particularly examined by SEM. So I’m not sure what to do, go to my commune and apply or send an email to SEM or SPOP?
Thing is its hard to contact SPOP and i’m not sure how to contact SEM (or if my case is relevant enough to contact them) and my commune had told me that they are just the ones sending the papers with no advice (I went over a year ago)
I also read on the SEM paye that an independent B permit can be giving to a child who is 18 years old and has either founded their own family, having a stable job or pursuing their education but im not sure if this is an actual B permit or a student B. I plan on going to uni here
Im a bit lost on who to contact and how exactly, any help would be deeply appreciated
I've merged your threads so people have a bit more history when responding.
I think you might have better luck contacting the Permanent Mission and asking them for guidance. You can't be the first minor of a diplomat who wants to stay after the parent has a change in status. The contact info is at the bottom of this page: