AHV, permit, and customs concerns ...

I am a Nepali national. I am a student of Hotel Management Studies and I am staving in Switzerland for more than five years. I have a B-permit; can I now apply for a C-permit? Unfortunately student permits do not count towards the C-permit. As a Nepalese national you would have to wait ten years in order to get the C-permit. In the event of staying here after your studies are complete, the ten years would start at that point in time.

I work in Basel but have my residence in Belgium, where my car is also registered. I cross the border between France and Switzerland on occasions, but I don't use the Swiss highways. Recently I had to pay a fine of SFr 100 for driving without a road tax vignette in Basel city. Is it correct that the road tax vignette (SFr 40) has to be paid when making use of local roads instead of highways?

The Swiss motorway sticker ("Vignette") is mandatory on all motorways. If you are caught on a Swiss motorway without this sticker on your car you will have to pay the price of the vignette (SFr 40) plus a fine of SFr 100. If you don't intend to use Swiss motorways the sticker is not necessary, however there are certain places where you cross the border on the motorway, for example in Basel-Well if you come from Germany, or Basel-St Louis if you come from France. In both cases you enter the Swiss motorway system automatically when going through the customs and therefore need to have the sticker even if you leave the Swiss motorway at the next exit.

We are married Australians, both holding B-permits, who work and own a home in the canton of Zurich. If we leave Switzerland, with regards to the pension, I understand that we may withdraw the entire amount of the employer and employee pension contributions from the 2nd pillar, minus some tax. What might that tax be? Could one withdraw the AHV contributions as well?

With regards to our house, can we keep it when we leave the country? Do we have the option to rent it out, bearing in mind that we will most likely lose our B-permits?

You are right that you will lose your B-permit when leaving Switzerland. Once you have formally de-registered, you can cash in your company pension fund (2nd pillar) and withdraw the accumulated capital. This consists of the employer and employee contributions, plus the interest accrued. You will of course lose the part of the contributions for death cover and the disability insurance.

The tax depends on the amount in the pension fund and also on the canton the pension company is domiciled in. Normally the tax would be between five and 15 per cent.

Yes, as Australian citizens you can also get a refund from the AHV. This will be calculated as the sum needed to finance the annuity you would have been entitled to at age 65 if you had stayed in Switzerland. This again depends on the number of years you have spent in Switzerland so far. There is no tax at source in Switzerland on the AHV refund.

Once you own a home in Switzerland you can keep it whether you are still a resident here or not. The house can be kept empty or rented out. As a homeowner, you will still have to complete a tax return in Switzerland and will find that any profit you make from the house as well as the value of the house are subject to income and asset tax here. Having the house does not automatically entitle you to new work permits though and you will only be able to visit here as normal tourists for three months at a time.

I am a 25-year-old New Zealand citizen, living in Switzerland. Last summer, I completed four years of study at the Hochschule fur Gestaltung und Kunst in Zurich. Since then, I have no longer had a B-permit. I have just received a job placement in Zug, where I will work in the design field I have specialised in.

My qualification (in Interaction Design) is unique in that it it is the only course of its kind in Switzerland, and I am one of only seven people who graduated. What chances do I have as a non-EU-citizen in gaining a work permit? What are the best chances/strategies for my employer and I to make this possible?

As a non-EU citizen you need an employer who is willing to apply for a work permit, and can prove that he advertised the position but could not find any Swiss or EU-citizen who had the qualifications for the job and was willing to take it. The canton Zug can issue 30 new B-permits every year. These are usually given to people who are specialists in their area, or whom an international employer transfers to Switzerland for a certain period of time. Larger cantons such as Zurich or Bern have a much higher quota (but of course also a higher demand), and so it might be easier to get a work permit through an employer in one of these cantons.

I would like to know if there are any restrictions on bringing a ham or a small quantity of meat into Switzerland for personal or family use? I want to avoid any problems with customs ever this issue, Generally you can bring goods up to a total amount of SFr 300 into Switzerland without paying customs duty as long as these goods are for your own use or presents (i.e. not for sale). There are further restrictions on meat though. You are allowed to bring in 500 g per person of fresh or frozen meat such as beef, pork, veal, etc or up to 3.5 kgs per person of dried meat and sausages. Other kinds of meat such as game, rabbit, ostrich, fish or seafood have a higher limit and you can import up to 20 kgs per person. The restrictions also depend on where the meat there is a general import ban on meat from Africa, Asia, South America, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Belarusse.

I am a Sri Lankan working for the United Nations Office in Geneva holding Diplomatic privileges. Some time ago, ordered for a vehicle at a Geneva Garage for a delivery in January 2006. At the time of the order the seller asked us to pay an advance of SFr 2,000.00 against the purchase. We want to cancel the order due to a certain calculation error by the supplier. When we pointed out the error in the price calculation he refused to accept his mistake. Of course, at the time of signing the agreement to buy the vehicle I failed to calculate the real price and the resulting diplomatic discounted price.

Is it possible to cancel the order without any penalty? In other words, will I be able to give notice to cancel the order and receive my advance payment? If so, which Article of the Swiss Law on contracts should I use? I understand from some celleagues that I should send a registered letter requesting the cancellation of the order within seven days. Is this correct? Under Swiss law a contract is a contract and it is not normally possible to withdraw from it without the agreement of the other party. In your case, it depends if the incorrect calculation is written down as such in the contract. In this case you could ask for a correction but still could not withdraw from the contract completely as long as the vendor agrees to change the price. If only the final price is mentioned in the contract but not the way it was calculated you would have to prove that the vendor intentionally tried to deceive you.

The seven days cooling off period you mentioned only applies to purchases you have made from somebody who came to your house without having made an appointment first. The law here attempts to protect people from being taken advantage of by pushy sales people who ring your doorbell. In this case you can cancel the contract by registered letter within seven days from the day you made the purchase.

I am an Indian citizen living in Geneva with a B-permit. I need to apply for and regularly renew my Schengen visa in order to visit France or other Schengen countries in Europe, Recently Switzerland joined the Schengen accord. Am I right in assuming that I will no longer need a Schengen visa to travel to France, etc in the future? I would like to know as of what date this accord will come into effect, so that I don't have to apply for Schengen visas anymore. Switzerland joining the Schengen Agreement will indeed allow anybody with a valid permit in Switzerland to visit the other Schengen countries in Europe without a visa. While Switzerland voted to join the Schengen Agreement in 2005 it will still take some time until all the agreements are signed and the two information systems are joined. An exact date has not yet been set, but it is expected that the Schengen Agreement will come into force in Switzerland in approximately 2008.

Professional Help

Gabrielle Grether, a Swiss lawyer and partner in Grether MacGeorge GmbH, Basel, answers questions on legal issues in Switzerland. Advice is based on the individual information provided. If you have questions relating to work permits or other issues concerning foreigners in Switzerland, please don't forget to tell us your nationality, Please send your questions to: [e-mail]