Living in Switzerland: the permit, and the Dutch advantage from 1935

Switzerland isn't in the EU, and that makes people needlessly nervous about the permit. The worry isn't justified — but there are things you need to know, and one of them is an advantage that virtually no emigration site mentions.

A right, with a card as proof

Since 2002 an agreement on the free movement of persons has applied between Switzerland and the EU. You don't need a visa and you enter on your identity card. What you do have to do is apply for a residence permit — but its nature is different from what the word suggests. The agreement literally says that a permit is issued "as proof of this right", and the Swiss migration service speaks of a legal entitlement as soon as you meet the conditions.

That is the difference from a country like the United States, where an official judges whether you may come. In Switzerland you already have the right; the permit makes it visible. If you are refused after all, an appeal is open all the way up to the highest court. Outside free movement — for non-EU citizens — the decision does lie in the canton's discretion.

Which permit do you get?

L permit with an employment contract of three to twelve months: valid as long as your contract runs. B permit with a contract for an indefinite period or longer than a year: valid for five years, and the agreement prescribes that it is automatically extended by at least five years if you still meet the conditions. If you work for less than three months, you don't need a permit at all.

Note one thing about the B permit: it lapses after six months of residence abroad. Whoever goes on a year-long world trip loses it.

The Dutch advantage: C after five years

Here is the find. The permanent settlement permit — the C — Switzerland grants after five years of uninterrupted residence to citizens of countries with which it has a settlement treaty. The Netherlands is such a country, on the basis of an exchange of notes between the two states of 16 February 1935. Citizens of, among others, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Romania and Cyprus do not have such a treaty and in principle have to wait ten years.

What you gain with a C is not nothing. Your right of residence is unlimited and may not be tied to conditions. The restrictions on the labour market lapse. You keep it after four years of residence abroad instead of six months. And it is the condition for ever naturalising. Nice detail for the enthusiast: that C formally does not fall under free movement — it runs through that treaty from 1935 and the Swiss foreign nationals act.

Register within fourteen days

The clock starts on arrival: within fourteen days you register with the residents' office of your municipality, and in any case before you start working. No invitation comes — the initiative lies with you. The municipality forwards your application to the cantonal migration service, which decides and sends the card by post.

What they may ask for is interesting, because the agreement expressly limits that to two things: the document with which you entered, and an employer's declaration or proof of employment. The self-employed show their identity document plus proof of their establishment. If your municipality asks for more — a tenancy agreement, passport photos — that is cantonal practice and not a treaty requirement. In practice cooperating usually takes less time than being proved right, but it's good to know where you stand.

The costs are modest and differ per canton: in Zurich CHF 65 for the permit plus CHF 10 for the card. That's no coincidence — the agreement forbids Switzerland to charge more than an identity card costs its own citizens.

Without a job, or still looking

If you come without work, that's possible, but under your own steam: you show sufficient means not to need social assistance, plus health insurance that covers all risks. That applies to pensioners, students and everyone who lives off their own assets.

If you come to look for work, there's more room than often thought. The first three months are permit-free. After that you're entitled to a reasonable period to search — in practice up to six months, with an L permit for jobseekers. Two hard conditions: as a jobseeker you're excluded from social assistance, and whoever ends up without means and applies for assistance must leave the country. If you want to take your Dutch unemployment benefit (WW) with you, that's possible for up to three months, provided you register with a Swiss employment office.

Your family

Your spouse may come along, as may your children under 21 and children you support — regardless of their nationality. Dependent parents of yours or your partner's may too. Their permit runs in step with yours.

And one point that's more favourable than in many other countries: your partner and children have a right of their own to work, regardless of nationality, and according to the Swiss guidelines even without a separate notification or permit requirement. That applies even when you yourself have not been admitted to the labour market. Children also get access to education and vocational training on the same conditions as Swiss children.

And after that: becoming Swiss?

For ordinary naturalisation ten years of residence apply, three of them in the last five years, with a C permit in hand — plus a cantonal requirement of another two to five years in canton and municipality. If you're married to a Swiss citizen, it can be quicker: five years of residence and three years of marriage, with a language requirement of A2 written and B1 spoken. The years between your eighth and eighteenth birthday count double, which works out well especially for children who moved along.