Residence permit rejected

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Hi all,

Just received a letter from Zurich canton - my residence permit was rejected. I am a student of the University of Lausanne in my last semester. This last semester is entirely dedicated for an internship. I found an internship in Zurich, internship is full-time and was approved Labour office (AWA). Since I already passed all my university courses, now I am only doing my internship and master thesis with the company were I work. I moved to Zurich, and applied for residence permit, but after 3 months of waiting it got rejected. I am thinking to appeal, because travelling from Lausanne to Zurich everyday is not an option. I would be happy for your suggestions. I will now contact my university and the HR department of my employer. Is there any suggestions which would help my appeal? Thank you very much for your comments. (Non-eu citizen)

All the best,

2
Hello,

Just to know the context. I assume you had an student permit with no income in canton VD and then applied for a salaried worker permit in canton ZH, right?

I guess you employer in ZH applied for the work permit, but work permit (type B)are really scarce in Zurich. Companies send an application to cantonal office showing the hiring is a person with scarce and valuable skills. This is relatively straightforward for workers with 10+ years experience, not so much for interns. So, it's not unusual the application is denied.

Hopefully, you still have a canton VD student permit valid until the end of the university program. A first alternative to make things work with what you have is to keep the main residence in VD and declare a 2nd address in ZH. 2nd addresses are declared when you work during the week in one canton but your family/friends/home are in another canton. I did it once, my permit and wife were in one canton and during the test period of 3 months for my job I rented a studio in the canton where the office of my new job was located. So, found the studio, walked into the commune to declare a 2nd address, end of story. Pros: you don't need to do anything, cons: you pay 2 rents.

Now, I'm thinking if the job follows the regulations of student work or not. So, how many hours per week? There are laws that students cannot work more than 15 hours per week. The master thesis is a grey zone where you're still a student but you do work and may get paid for the work. If the company wants you to work 40-43 hours a week, there some incompatibility with the master program and student resident permit. So, that's something to consider.

About solutions. If you have a thesis, you have a professor guiding you. Ask this person, you're not the first student facing these challenges. People in the university may have more recent information that people around EF...unless EFers are working at a university

3
Thank you for your reply.

1. I currently have a permit from St.Gallen, because I did my exchange semester there (Swiss Mobility Program). -> Student Permit from St.Gallen is valid until the end of October 2022. Planning to graduate this Summer.

2. I have deregistered from St.Gallen, and registered in Zurich (but as you already know - residence in Zurich was rejected). I currently have no other place to live in, only renting apartment in Zurich (not in Lausanne, nor in St.Gallen).

3. I work 41.25 hours per week, which is a full-time internship position. Regarding the work permit -> I asked my employer to apply for internship work approval. In ZH canton's website there is a specific section for students and internships. We applied my documents from there. Internship was approved. Not sure if this means a work permit.

4
And I also need to clarify the reason of the rejection: Zurich authorities are referring, that since the travel time between Lausanne and Zurich exceeds 2 hours -> they can not grant a residence permit at the moment. Which is somewhat negotiable -> as I completed all my courses, meaning I am left with internship only, and there is no need for me to travel to Lausanne (haven't been there for 8 months)...

5
As said, above, EF is not the best place to find an answer. You need to speak to HR where you are working and ask for their support.

6
Thanks for your patience. Got it, student permit is no more.

Well, the work residence permit process is split in 2 major parts: (i) the part where your employer gets the approval to hire a foreign employee, and (ii) the part where you apply for a permit with employment contract and approval from AWA to register to live in ZH. First part is the company applying to hire any foreigner, part two is about your specific case.

If I understood well, the economy and labor office from ZH (AWA) approved the internship position, so part 1 is OK. But, the office that denied the residence permit was the local municipality office (kreisburo), right?

If problem is part 2, there should be something in the application that went wrong. I assume the letter you got from canton Zürich contains two important pieces of information:

1) The reason why your application was denied. If not written explicitly there, you have the right to ask why and this will help to decide further steps.

2) Instructions, deadlines and the laws/regulations to contest this decision. From this you decide further steps too.

Also relevant, your employer responsibility was to carry part 1 of the permit process. If part 1 is successfully completed, your employer did its part. So, careful with contacting HR of your employer. People is really square and the slightest misunderstanding about the meaning and consequences of "permit denied" may cause you trouble at work, since the job of HR is to protect the company from legal issues. I'd advise to only talk to them if you have identified an specific mistake on their side that is blocking your application.

7
Ahhhhhh, while I was studying and had problems with the permit renovation, a letter from the professor solved similar issues. For example, students had to go abroad for more than 6 months for research or an stage in other university and would have lost residence permit in CH if laws were applied literally. Communication from university to canton authorities made things work.

Talk to ZH authorities and talk to professor guiding your thesis. Probably, a letter explaining that student needs to be at work site, not at university location, may unblock the process. Explaining what you just mentioned: all courses completed, only internship, and all other relevant details.

8
Thanks! I am already in contact with my university and HR. Also will involve my professor. Hope the appeal will be successful. Thanks a lot!

9
You say they invoked that your study place is too far from Zürich as the reason for rejecting it. To me that sounds like they processed it as a mere change of canton (with still your student permit) rather than a new permit. Could be a mistake from your employer in the application (for instance if they asked the AWA permission to hire you as a student, which would be under your B permit that is tied to your studies, rather than applying for a new L-permit as a worker). Could be a mistake or misunderstanding from the migrationsamt.

You don't even need to be at a Swiss university to do an internship in Switzerland so it shouldn't matter that your university is in a different canton. Note that L permits for internships are subject to a separate quota system, with limited slots determined by country of origin, so it is also possible to be rejected based on too many people of your nationality getting an internship in Switzerland this year.

10
I would say haven’t seen that much people from Uzbekistan in Switzerland, even more rare applying for an internship in Switzerland...

Now I wonder should I contact AWA and ask what permit they granted, was it L or just an internship tied to my student permit.

11
Probably no bilateral agreement between Switzerland and Uzbekistan, so not sure what rules apply in that case.

Your HR should deal with AWA for you.

12
As a non-EU, I am fairly sure you cannot work for that employer until the permit is approved.

If my understanding is correct, I really hope you are not currently working for the employer while you wait for the permit - particularly since it's been denied on this first try. Such a move would jeopardize the current permit request and any future permits in Switzerland.

13
Absolutely not, everything is legal. We have applied for a work approval, it has been approved by the labor office (AWA), and the migration confirmed this as well. The main reason for rejection: "In practice, the travel time between University of Lausanne and Zurich exceeds two hours". Meaning I see this as a recommendation that it would be difficult to travel to Lausanne in case of need. In fact they are approving my work permit, but not the residence permit. No problems from the AWA and employer side. They are also not referring to any article in law, and I assume this does not exists. My university sees this reason as nonsense and irrelevant. So do I. That is why I am appealing their decision.

14
There is no "work permit", just a residence permit with permission to work.

Tom

15
Clarified with HR, Migration Office and University.

University was a bit surprised about the reason. Never been a problem before.

HR assumed that there was a misunderstanding, also according to them, Kanton Zurich may thought that I am commuting to Lausanne and during weekdays work in Zurich. Anyways the reason according to them is not based by law, but by the migration officers experience.

Migration Office said they don’t believe that I fully moved to Zurich and don’t commute to Lausanne every weekend, their suggestion was to send a letter from the uni or Professor confirming that my presence at the university is not needed.

Possible resolution for future students facing the same issue: Get a letter from uni or professor confirming that your presence at uni is not needed anymore (in case you passed all your courses and doing an internship in another canton).

If this still won’t work -> pass the power of attorney to your HR and let them deal this issue.

16
So, issue solved? Congrats.

17
Issue solved but with not the best outcome.

Even with the letter from my prof with uni stamps, the migration office still rejected my application. Although they mentioned that I can be registered in Zurich until the end of my internship.

However, my internship contract will be extended for another 6 months, and I assume Zurich will still reject my application when I will reapply.

Basically, the idea now is to reregister in canton Vaud, where my university is, also have second address in Zurich and become a weekly commuter.

So the summary for future cases, if you are a non-eu student and planning to do a mandatory internship in another canton:

1) Call the migration offices if you can move to the new canton and will they accept your cantonal change. They will probably say no you can’t (especially Zurich), as when I talked with migration of Vaud and St.Gallen they had no issue to register me in their canton.

2) So, the simplest way would be to have your main address in the canton where you are already living and have a second address in the canton where your internship place is. Meaning to become a weekly commuter.

Just for your information: according to canton Vaud, Zurich should register you if you apply for a cantonal change (if the reason is internship), but it really depends on who is checking your application. In my case the migration officer was very picky.

And yes, now I will become a weekly commuter, will be paying for two addresses even if I will not live in my main address. There are better ways to spend these funds -> for german classes to better integrate, but seems that's postponed, and Zurich does not care and just want me to move out...

18
Was in the same situation in 2015, was last semester at EPFL in Lausanne, had to do master thesis, found one at a company in Zurich, moved there...registered, permit from Lausanne was until 1st January 2015, thesis supposed to last until March 2015. Expected just a change of canton and renewed permit until summer i guess....(registered in Zurich in August 2014), but in january got rejection...saying soon master thesis will end and i can go back to lausanne...(which is probably back then i should have done, would buy more time), but didn't want the hustle of moving around, since i wanted to stay for work in Zurich afterwards. Well in the end basically stayed for half a year without any permit, writing letters back in forth and company applied on my behalf for a real work permit, no travel...no understanding where is it going...So i would say for any 3rd national dealing with zurich immigration office is futile from the beginning, your best bet you are allowed to stay while paper bureaucracy is ongoing...and you can just create more papierkram for them, while trying to find some ways to stay in the country.....