What permit - L or B ?

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
HI All,

I am from EU(i.e. UK) and have moved to Switzerland a week ago.

Could someone please share their experience, as what permit (L or B) to expect for someone like me who is here for a year to start with (my contract has an end date) ?

What is the waiting period for Permit these days?

Thx

2
The permit you receive depends on your employer and which is applied

for. Annual permits are the B type.

If your I's are dotted and T's crossed, a permit takes anywhere from

five to ten working days. Longer if something is not clear as glass.

3
HI,

Thanks for your reply.

My employer is a job agency, through which I am working for a major investment bank.

Also, my employer(job agent) mentioned it to me that they do not apply anything from their end, its just that I go and register myself to the local Kriesburo and then they decide what Permit to offer me.

Is that not how it works?

Cheers

4
Odd, to say the least. Where are the experts here?

To my knowledge, you will not be able to register without a permit. You

should arrive in Switzerland with the permit. Thus, the permit must be

applied for by your employer prior to your arrival. Correct me if I am

wrong.

5
I actually got my permit today. I applied on 17/10/2008! So that's 5 months. I too am from the UK and cannot tell you why it took so long. They certainly wouldn't answer any questions as to why it was taking so long. The permit I have is an L. Again, I cannot tell you why it's an L as I was expecting a B, but it is.

However, as far as I'm aware, as EU -17 (ie UK and other original EU states), you only have to register with the Gemeinde / Kreisburo within 8 days of arrival in the country and that's for your residency permit. You can work before that arrives, as EU-17 no longer need work permits. And I believe your employer only has to notify the authorities that they have employed you, but that's for them to take care of, and it involves your tax etc which is withheld at source.

6
You need to go to the Gemeinde with your contract, passport and proof of health insurance.... they will then sort the permit for you.... pretty easy. Your contract has to be over a year ie 1 year 1 week or more to get a B permit.

7

EU'ers if they intend to live/look for work here do not need a prior work contract arranged to do that. Employers no longer need to do anything other than provide a contract of employment to EU'ers. The EU'er then takes this with all their others docs to the permit/registration people and apply for their residence permit.

Non EU'ers, I believe is as you describe.

To the OP: you will pobably be given an L permit to start with, because you have a fixed 12 month contract. If your contract is extended later try and get them to commit to somthing longer than a year. Then you wil be on to a B. Life will be progressively easier as you move from L to B to C permits.

bill

8
However if you register in Aargau and the contract says 18 months they still give you an L. This is despite it saying on the Swiss govt. website, as IslandMonkey says, that a contract over 1 year will get a B permit.

9
Health insurance proof is not required at this point! How would you be expected to have it? Once you register with the permit people you are 'in' the system! The health insurance authorities will be told and they will advise you that you need insurance and to tell them who you are with. You will have about 2 weeks to sort that out and get back to them, then they get annoyed. It may take them a week to realise that you are there. But they WILL realise!

bill

10
I think what they like to see is the possibility of contract extension written into the contract. Does not have to be as firm as a permanent contract but the possibility is usually enough. Otherwise I think they still have discretion to issue what they want.

bill

11
I know few people who got there resident permit in 7 days. My husband's resident permit took 4 months, when inquired about the delay they told there was a typo in the name to it took the entire path again!!!

Most of the times it takes 5-6 weeks but there could always be exceptions as I mentioned. As far as I know its the employer who has to apply for the Work Permit and they have the discreet for type. Mostly the rule followed is if for 1 yr it is L and if more than 2 yrs then its B, however its upto the employer.

12
Hello Guys,

I have registered myself within 8 days of my arrival. I had to provide them my UK Passport and a letter from my employer (a job agent in this case) saying they have employed me for 1-year (from xx.xx.xxxx to xx.xx.xxxx).

Also, interestingly, Kriesburo 1 initially denied to register me using my emloyer's address, but after convincing them for long that I am temporarily staying with few friends (i.e. moving apartments every few days) they agreed to register me only for 3 monhs and they also mentioned, once you have sorted out an apartment for yourself you do not need to come to de-register, instead all thats required from me is to let the local kreiesburo know of my new address.

Anyway, reading on admin.ch it says that if one has an employment contract for min. 12 months then they would be give B-permit.

I am confused, which one would I get and how long would the process takes.

Rgds

13

If it's a fixed 1 year contract then an L is likely.

Takes from a few days to a couple of months depending on the authorities workload and efficiency.

14
Hello everybody...

Sigh..I'm non EU with an unlimited contract and got an L, so I guess its not a guarantee to have an unlimited contract for getting a B in my own experience: The work office in ZH says: that my contract says is only valid for one year, which is absolutely not true. The migration office in ZH says: they selected the L type because the work office told them so (????) The Federal Migration Office says: I should wait until 2 years before getting the B, and that my L permit can be extended for this purpose.

Shorrick mentioned this could be due to quotas, so my big question would be, why do they all say different things? strange...

Cheers!

15
Not necessarily, I received my B-Permit on a 'probation' contract or a 'probezeit'

The Gemeinde gave me a super dooper 5 year stamp so I can enjoy those lovely BBQ marinated steaks until at least the end of year 2013