What determines open or closed permit B

[napqueen]

Hi,

I’ve finished my studies in a Swiss university for 3 years, got a job in the canton of Geneva and I am on a permis B conditionné, and I just realized on the OCPM website, that years employed on a closed Permit B does not account for Permit C. (Permis C - demande anticipée | ge.ch)

Is this really the case? I speak fluent French, feel like I am quite integrated into the community, and I am really hoping to get the permit C one day. I also wonder what determines an open or closed permit (is it the employer who decides when they apply for you? or the canton?)

Any insights welcomed. Thanks a lot!

[FunnyDjo]

I am wondering if you are an EU citizen or from another part of the world ?

[napqueen]

3-rd country! I think all EU citizens get automatic open B?

[noname]

just write an email to the cantonal authorities, usually they are quite quick and informative and will let you know whether you can apply or not, I think for me all years on permit B counted towards the C anticipe application but it’s being a while since then

[FunnyDjo]

Another discussion that may find your interest

Non-EU Permit B without free movement

An employer-linked aka „Closed B“ does not allow you to find another Swiss employer. If you want to continue work in Switzerland, your future employer needs to sponsor a new closed B permit - aka an exception approval and and thereby proof that they can’t recruit adequate resources from within Switzerland or the EU. That is very unlikely to happen. To make things even worse - closed B‘s can only be renewed after a „cool-down period“ of 12 months. So the new employer would first need to recruit …

[achpl]

I just realized on the OCPM website, that years employed on a closed Permit B does not account for Permit C.

Those rules are different to those of my canton, Valais, and clearly more restrictive. See here.

Depending on your timeline for citizenship (some are more pressed than others), you may need to be creative and find a way to live in a different canton that has different rules, like Valais. Of course that likely involves finding a new job or some special authorization.

I’d say that permanent residence is more important than citizenship. To that end, I suggest to read the thread that FunnyDjo posted. I can cite a similar case, dating to about 10 years ago, where a citizen of a 3rd country and an L permit was made redundant and still allowed to find a new job. The new employer had to go through the process of demonstrating that no one else was available, but they ended up just taking the old L permit, which was later transformed to a closed B permit once the time limit of an L permit had been reached. And after a while, the canton agreed to transform it to a anticipated C permit.

It’s scary but there’s always a way.

[napqueen]

Thank you very much, yeah dutifully read the thread, and yeah I’ll keep asking around and see if anyone has had similar experience. Thank you!