Work in Switzerland, Get Switzerland Work Visa

To work in Switzerland, you need to take a Switzerland work visa. This visa belongs to the category of long-stay visas in Switzerland. Such visas are also called D visas.

As an Australian citizen, you can apply for a Switzerland work visa in case you meet the following criteria:

• You are a qualified, skilled, and experienced worker (viz. a specialist or manager).
• You have a job offer in Switzerland.
• There’s a lacking of EU/EFTA citizens who is capable of taking up the job in your place.
• Your work visa is allowed by the annual quotas for Swiss work visas.

If you meet these criteria, your Swiss employer will apply for your residence permit. After that, you can apply for your Switzerland work visa.

The Process

After finding a job in Switzerland, you must complete a document file for Swiss work visa so that you can file an application for a Switzerland work visa. For this, you are required to procure an appointment at the Swiss embassy or consulate in your country.

There, you must submit the application in person. You must also pay the required visa fee that’s non-refundable. Then submit your application in triplicate.

Documents to be Attached with the Application:

• 3 completed and signed visa application forms for long-stay in either French, German, Italian, English, or Spanish
• A valid travel document/passport issued within the past 10 years with a minimum of 2 blank pages and valid for at least 3 months after you wish to leave Switzerland
• 3 copies of your passport’s relevant pages which are pages 1 to 4 and the last page, the page displaying the dates of issue and expiry, and copies of all previous visas
• 4 identical pictures in recent passport-size and biometric information
• Your contract for a job in Switzerland along with 2 copies
• Proof of your professional activity
• Copies of your qualifications (viz. certificates, diplomas, etc.)
• Information about your previous education, like subjects, your grades, and the dates of attending courses at the university/college
• Evidence that you tried getting employed in another method
• Your CV

Any document that’s in any other language than French, English, German, or Spanish must be translated and submitted.

How to Apply for a Switzerland Work Visa?

Here are the steps involved in applying for a Switzerland work visa:

1. Your Swiss employer applies for a residence permit for you. The application is given to the Swiss local cantonal services. The residence permit itself will allow you to work in Switzerland.
2. Your employer presents evidence to prove that there have been no EU/EFTA citizens who were suitable for the job that’s offered to you.
3. The application is reviewed by the local cantonal authorities. The application is then referred to FOM to get approval.
4. Simultaneous to this, you have to apply for a Switzerland work visa from your home country.
5. What FOM decides about granting your residence permit will be informed to you, your Swiss employer, as well as the cantonal offices. If the residence permit is approved, the same is informed to the Swiss consulate/embassy.
6. The Swiss consulate/embassy in your home country will give you your Swiss work permit.
7. You come to Switzerland and within 14 registers at the Residents’ Registry Office via the local cantonal migration offices.
8. You obtain your Switzerland residence permit with which you can live and work in Switzerland.