And why did you not objected based on SEM directive 3.5.2.1, which states 2 year of B after ?
Strange. As Vaud is usually a canton which plays by the rules. Something seems to be missing. What was the verbatim text?
Yes, indeed it was slightly more complicated.
In Vaud, they will not give independent permits to married couples.
I don't know if this is 100% true, but I know at least a handful of married couples that when they graduated they were given 1 quota work permit and 1 familiy reunification permit, despite both having jobs applying for their permits separately.
Well, this was the case for me also, my wife joined me from Canada in 2015 (she arrived a year after me and started a PhD). So when I finished my postdoc they put me on a family reunification permit. I fought it every year but it was always, we will not give a quote permit to someone who can get a permit another way.
Since she was still a student for a number of years, my family reunification permit was still considered as a student permit, despite being employed.
Now we are both fully employed for 2 years after she finished her PhD/postdoc (she had a startup but worked for it for a year as a postdoc on one of the startup prizes).
So now I am here 9 years, she is here 8 years, and we are hoping we can finally both get our C's.
I am in a similar situation (actually in a more complicated one), applied for the C permit last week and waiting for the decision. Will make a separate post once I know the decision, since it is relatable to this thread and few other threads.
What surprised me during the process of applying (which involved going back and forth to my Kreisburo and the Migration office) was how much more I knew about the rules than the people that I was talking to. I printed out the extract of the law that concerns the fast-track C permit for non-EU nationals and that was the key to get the confirmation that I was eligible to apply. I then prepared a cover letter citing the extract and explaining why I think I fulfill the requirements. It could be that the people who are examining the applications don't know the details of the rules and reject them when the case is not straight-forward.
I think it's true for all cantons and this is good on average.
By law, there is a quota of B permits for every canton. If each one of partners in a couple get a B permit, well...much less people would be able to move here.
It may not be the most convenient for your specific case. But this way of handling optimizes the allocation of B permits to have the highest possible number of qualified workers.
I understand why they do it in principle and also think it's a good idea in principle. It is just annoying the way they treat the permits with respect to getting C permits down the line, especially everything surrounding student permits (or worse postdoc permits which have all the downsides of the student permits without any of the upsides).
There is whole damned alphabet but for some reason Swiss authorities use the B for many types of permits and this leads to confusion and frustration.
The main upside of student "B" permits is that there are not limited to the quota of annual "real" B permits for all cantons in CH. If a professor wants to hire you as foreigner, HR from university drafts a contract and you're in. Student "B" permits are not limited by annual quotas, or having to announce the position to local students for several months, not restricted by salary dumping considerations, etc.
The great upside of student B is that there are no limits. But, there would be less confusion if student "B" permits were called P permits or whatever.
Do not trust/expect that the local authorities in your Gemeinde/municipality know or care about the rules for foreigners. They do not make decisions, they are only paper pushers. It's the SEM that deals with your application.
I would argue that it's negative on average.
We have, in this thread alone, 3 or 4 people - educated here in Switzerland, and working for years in Switzerland, properly integrated, and yet struggling to obtain C permits, which have no quotas, only because the system as is refuses to see them as workers and instead as students. Can you imagine how many others are out there?
To alienate thousands of workers (i.e. PhD students, postdocs, startup employees, people with partners with work permits ...) just to allow others to enter the country to work is inane. It's a fundamentally stupid system that does not benefit Switzerland, its people, or people working in Switzerland.
Just a note: The same rules apply EU-nationals. EU-national in general have no preferential treatment. However many EU and also a few non-EU countries have treaties with Switzerland which give their citizens preferential treatments.
The good old: Let's leave out some crucial details.
On one hand you have been working, on the other hand you had a temporary permit B based on a family reunification of a student permit B. The denial is understandable, but frustrating. Using the US terms, you had first an F-1, then a F-2, and now an H-1B (when it allowed to change to Green Card).
As AXA says. There should be a better naming than just "Permit B".
Are you getting rejected by the canton or SEM ?
Do you have a CDI or a CDD ?
I do not see a 'big problem' with being given a B (dependent) permit vs a B (primary income) permit if you are a married couple. Generally, that still allows the spouse to work, and the second salary does not have to be high enough to support the whole family. B (dependent) is not subject to quotas and will not change your status in terms of renewal, but it does tie you to your spouse's ability to support you both when your job runs out (rather than to your student status which is also time-limited).
If your spouse's salary is enough to support you both, then get a dependent B and you will have access to all the other freedoms (work for any employer).... and the pathway to a C permit..
Fact is, as others have said, if you were not on a student permit, you would not have been able to come to Switzerland in this way....and postdocs are highly subsidised by the Swiss people/government...education plus a salary.... postdocs are of course contributing to the system too...but the idea is that you come in, do your research, then return back to wherever you came from to make a contribution in your home country - not use the student visa as a fast track to citizenship.... as others have said, if all the students were allowed to use this as a fast-track to citizenship, the Swiss government would apply quotas and the university system would be severely compromised.
As in the original poster's case - you have the option of staying as a 'B Dependent permit holder, tied to your spouse) OR you could try for a job in open employment (where being Non-EU may be a huge disadvantage to get a work permit), and request your own Open B non-EU permit independently, subject to quotas.
As a postdoc, assuming you're dependent on a fellowship or grant funding system - it's time-limited and temporary...
The fast track is to become a professor....
I think AndersonMD's grief isn't that his own student years don't count but that he didn't get a B permit in his own once he did work in the private sector (2018) and fit all the requirements to get a quota spot allocated to him. He instead got family reunification tied to a student permit, which makes it impossible to have a C permit until his spouse is themselves eligible. If they had gotten a B for their job, or if their family reunification was to someone with a non-student permit, he would have a C by now.
Bingo, it's all tied to the Student B-permit, your partner or your own.
Also one thing:
Postdocs are not education + a salary.
You are thinking of a funded Masters program or maybe a PhD depending on the funding source. As a Postdoc, you do your own research, you teach students, you sometimes supervise students (Masters and PhD), you run projects, apply for grants/funding, run labs/machines - that is your work. The only course load is the one you teach.
As for subsidation, you are mistaken. A case and point, my funding and that of my group members comes from the EU and has nothing to do with Swiss funding. In fact, the Swiss government voted to abolish the funding scheme that has permitted my research ... If anything, we subsidize the educational system with the hundreds of thousands of dollars of overhead we need to pay to the university with each grant you receive - even from the SNSF.
And regarding the professorship as a path to a C permit. This doesn't work all the time. I'm aware of the guidelines but I also have a Non-EU colleague, recently pushed to professorship in Switzerland who was given a L, and now has to deal with the consequences of that. Surely it will be fixed, but only because they will fight it.