Hi everyone - I've seen similar postings about the technicalities associated with the "job seeking permit" in Switzerland, but I really wanted to hear if anyone had any luck with migration officials to argue their way into an extension...
I defended my PhD at ETH (molecular biology) in July and my thesis was accepted by the department in an automatic process end of September. I was employed as a Scientific Assistant and then later as a Post Doc from August, and now my contract is coming to an end at the end of Jan. I applied for a permit extension "auf Stellensuche". They've given me a permit until end of March only, now downgraded from a B to an L. I was not contacted to provide any info about my financial standing or otherwise, they just sent me the permit. I want to find a job in Switzerland as my life is here now and my partner is Swiss.
Has anyone ever had luck arguing the point of not being able to receive RAV payments that we've paid into, or just in general that this is already a very limited amount of time to look for a job as a non-EU? I thought about arguing the point that, at ETH you do not official have the title of Doctor or Science until you submit your final thesis copies to the ETH. I just did this and they were accepted Jan 18. Why doesn't the 6 months start from this date?
(I'm Canadian, in case that's helpful)...
Let me know! I'd be happy to hear about any attempts - successful or not...
My uni counts me as Dr. since the day of the defences. They might also count you as Dr. since the date of your defence here. Try to focus on your post-doc, you had that just 6mo? It seems short. Can you get that extended? I have a friend who's 1yr post-doc finished here, he got an L for 3mo and had to leave after that, no luck in getting another L. He was non-EU.
This 20 Minuten article concerns a non-EU citizen who completed his PhD at the University of Basel. Although he had paid into the unemployment insurance fund for five and one-half years, he was denied unemployment compensation because his "residence permit B, education with gainful employment" was restricted to a specific purpose and did not permit any other gainful employment. He was granted a job-seeker's L permit and finally left CH for the USA (German):
If marriage is already in the cards, just get married and save yourself the hassle. If not, you're probably stuck with a 3-month permit followed by another 3-month permit. The authorities have heard all the arugments before.
Sadly, the story in Mullhollander's link is all too common. I know multiple non-EU persons who completed a PhD here that could not find a job. They also couldn't get unemployment money, and had to leave. RAV basically said "We'll pay you if the canton gives you a permit." The canton said "We'll give you a permit if RAV certifies in writing they will pay you." Round and round you go.
Thank you so much for all the info! One thing to clarify - what’s the 3 month followed by 3 month? I only got 2 months and my understanding is that it’s 6 months from the day your thesis is provisionally accepted by the ETH.
For sure at ETH you are not already considered a Doctor after your defense, they even tell you explicitly after your exam. Your title is conferred when you submit your thesis in hard copy, you have a grace period of time from when you defend to do this. I wanted to try to argue that point, that since I was not “doctor” until Jan 18 it should be 6 months from them. What do you guys think? What is your experience?
Thanks again - so much appreciated !!!
I am really hoping to leave academia but maybe finding another post doc is the easiest if my goal is to stay...it was the same lab as my doctorate lab, I was just hired afterward to finish some projects and since I had defended i had to be hired in the next position up...
The job seeking L permit, is issued only on 3-month intervals. You don't get a 6 month job seeking L permit, you get two consecutive 3-month job seeking L permits.
Why was yours only two months? Well I assume you applied for it in December or January? January to end of March = ~3 months. At the end of March you would apply again for the next 3 months, which would bring you into the end of June.
Source:
I'm an academic, non-EU, Canadian, who already jumped through these hoops, got the L, then became employed a few years back.
Interesting...so hard to get a straight answer with anything from the Migration office. It’s just weird that my permit is issued specifically until March 28. And this matched up 6 months from September 28, which is when my thesis was accepted (but I didn’t hand in the hard copies until Jan)...lol so confusing...thanks a lot for sharing your experience!!
afaik, it is 6 months from official graduation date, hard copies some people hand in months later.... My timeline a few years ago was like this: defended in October, got official graduation "Termin" in January and got my L job search permit until June.
I feel very sorry for you, it is close to impossible these days to find a job for a recent grad, especially with these discriminating rules here.
No advice on job seeking permit but there's the once a year chance to land a job at the ETH fair next April. Ready your CV, open your mind and sell yourself https://www.polyefair.ch/