After almost 6.5 years of residency in Switzerland out of which the last 5.5 years were consecutive I have finally managed to get my Swiss C permit last March, 2015. You may wonder why I wanted the C permit in the first place. I am sure you will be able to relate to my experience living as Non-EU person on L and restricted B permit in Switzerland, after reading my story.
I am a Mongolian citizen, my country is clearly not in the EU and it also doesn't have any treaties or contracts with Swiss government that allows Mongolians to get C permit after 5 years of residency in Switzerland.
2.5 years on student B permit (Canton St.Gallen)
The first time I arrived in Switzerland in 2008 as a trainee with one year contract and I received an L permit, rightfully. I returned to Mongolia after that year and came back on student B permit after 3 months. So my consecutive residency years started counting from September 2009.
2 years on L permit (Canton Zurich)
I graduated in March 2012 and started working full time. Although I had permanent contract, I was issued L permit for the first two years. I remember being very frustrated at this decision. My application for credit card at SBB (Bonus card AG) and Migros (Cembra Money bank AG) both got denied due to the fact that I had L permit. It was almost impossible to switch jobs on L permit, since the permit must be sponsored by the employer. In order to hire a non-eu person in Switzerland, the employer needs to overcome a big hurdle of paper work. Because Swiss and EU citizens must be given priority in the job market, Non-EU citizens can only be employed if their employer proves that they could not fill the respective position with a Swiss or EU citizen. I was lucky that I had been already working in the company half time during my study, so it was kind of an internal placement. Nonetheless, our HR had to submit almost 100 pages thick application in order to extend my permit every year. As L permit is clearly categorized as being temporary it is also difficult to rent an apartment as the landlords do not consider you a long term tenant.
1 year on restricted B permit (Canton Zurich)
After 2 years on L permit, I was issued a B permit for the third year of working in the same company. I thought I will be finally free of all the restrictions of L permit, but I was mistaken. True, my credit card applications went smooth after I got the B, and I would like to think my chances of being selected as tenant for an apartment got bigger. However, my B permit was linked to my employer and I still needed to extend it every year. That means, just like the L permit, if I were to loose my job or quit I would have to leave the country as I would have no reason to reside legally in Switzerland. Mind you that I paid unemployment insurances since 2008, I would have no right to benefit from it once I have no job. All the bureaucratic procedures of sponsoring me a permit means a big no-no for the other employers. Not that I was keen on changing jobs, in fact I was quite happy with my job and I still am working for the same company as of now. (Update: I changed jobs since then) But just the fact that after living, studying, working for years in Switzerland, to face such restriction is at the least "disappointing".
My application for C permit
All Non-EU citizens holding a B permit can apply for C permit after 10 years of residency in Switzerland. There are 2 exceptions where a Non-EU person can apply for C permit earlier:
- If applicant is well integrated and had 5 years of consecutive residency on B permit
- If applicant have been married to Swiss citizen or C permit holder for 5 years
I looked into the first option, but it clearly says I needed to have had the B permit for 5 years. As you know now I was on student B permit for 2,5 years and later on L for 2 years. So I was entirely unsure whether those years will count. Worst case that I could possibly imagine at that time was that the counting would restart from the year that I received B permit after 2 years gap on L.
Fortunately, both my years as student and on L permit counted for 5 years residency on B, because the work contract I received after graduating was permanent. The Migrationsamt Zurich has internal regulation that specifically documents this.
So I fulfill the 5 years requirement, next I needed to prove that I was well integrated in Switzerland. For that Migrationsamt also released a list of documents that you need to submit. For my case (unmarried, no children) I had to submit the following documents:
- German language certificate on B1 level (Telc, Goethe, ÖSD)
- Clean criminal record from Police (can be ordered online or at post) Update 18.04.2017 apparently criminal record is not needed anymore, please double check with Migrationsamt
- Clean debt record (Betreibungsauszug) from every address you have lived over the last 3 years
- Record of 5 years of gainful employment or occupation
- Record from Social Offices (Sozialamt) that you have never received any social benefit for the whole residency duration in Switzerland.
How I applied There is no specific application form for applying for C permit, at least not in Canton Zurich. So, when it was time to extend my B permit I received the normal extension application form (Verfallsanzeige) per post. I filled it out normally, got it stamped by my HR and in the comments section I put:
"Ich möchte eine Niederlassungsbewilligung C aufgrund erfolgreicher Integration beantragen."
I brought it personally to my Kreisbüro (Communal office in City of Zurich) and it got forwarded by them to Migrationsamt. About a week later I received a letter from Migrationsamt listing the documents that I need to submit. Good thing that I had them already prepared, because they gave me just 2 weeks time to collect all those documents and send them. About another 2 weeks later after I sent all the documents to Migrationsamt, I received my shiny new C permit valid through 2020. I remember feeling ecstatic with the new permit on my hand, finally feeling accepted as an equal in this country. All the restrictions I have mentioned above from L and B permits are gone. Only downside of having C permit is that I need to fill out my taxes myself since I am exempted from tax at source now. But privileges of possessing a C permit outweighs this "small" nuisance by far for me. Sources (in German):
Types of residency Migrationsamt Zurich
Issuing of C permit Migrationsamt Zurich Section 5
Originally published at chsansar.blogspot.com on May 18, 2015.