Residence and work permits

Residence Permit (for the Internship & Physics programs).

During orientation you will have to fill in forms for your Swiss resident permit and work permit.   After you will go to a scheduled appointment at the  l’office cantonal de la population et des migrations (OCPM) to submit your biometrics. We will give you the date, time and documents to take with you.   This visit is very important and cannot be missed.

You should receive your residence permit before your visa expires. Once you have this permit you should take it with you when you travel and when you are out and about in Geneva.  It will be proof that you are a legal resident and have the right to come in and out of Switzerland as often as you wish. If you travel outside of the country prior to receiving this permit, you will not have any problems if your VISA is still valid.   It may happen that your Swiss resident permit does not arrive before your visa expires, in which case our lawyers’ office will provide you with an attestation to show Swiss passport control.

You must have your passport when you travel.  This includes travel in Switzerland and the Schengen area.  You may be asked to produce your passport at any time.  

This residence permit, which is called a permis de séjour, allows you to reside here as a student for the duration of the program.    Once that period has come to an end, you can no longer legally reside in Switzerland unless you have extended the permit or changed status.   You will still be able to travel in Switzerland after the program with your passport. 

When the residence permits arrive you will be given the original and a photocopy.  You should keep the original with you at all times,  and the photocopy in your room.    

When your program has finished BU Geneva will return it to the authorities.   We must do this otherwise they will consider that you have illegally overstayed and there will be various consequences both legal and financial – they will start to demand money for health insurance, taxes and other expenses.

Work Permit
If you are working for an NGO or a commercial company, you will also need to get a work permit. This applies to everybody working in Switzerland, even if they are not being paid, and without it you may not legally be employed as an intern. We process these applications for you before you start work, making sure that they are signed by your future employer, and we will also cover the cost of the permits, which are often issued several weeks into the internship. Once the applications are approved, we keep them in your file in the office; you do not need to carry it with you. If you stay on as an intern after the end of the programme, it is your responsibility to make absolutely sure that you have updated your residence status and your work status. We cannot do this for you, and if you stay on without doing it you are taking a considerable risk. Students who are working for an international organisation, such as the WHO, will not be issued with a work permit but instead will receive a special UN document called a carte de légitimation which covers the same ground.

If this sounds complicated, it is. If you have any questions, and especially if you are not a holder of a US, European, Canadian passport, then feel free to come and ask us as we have had cases with students who have not followed the rules and have run into problems, including being refused boarding for flights returning to Switzerland.

Procedure for a lost or stolen resident permit

If you loose or have your permit stolen, you must inform the program and inform the OCPM in Geneva.  If this happens while you are abroad you must go to the local police station, make a declaration and come away with a hard copy.  If you loose your permit while in Switzerland you must obtain an “Attestation de perte”.  You can get this document from the Service Cantonal des objets trouvés (Lost Property Office – Geneva) and it will cost you 40chf.  If your permit is stolen in Switzerland you must go to the Police station and request a “Déclaration de vol” document.  You can do this at the local police station and you should ask for a member of staff to go with you to help with translating:

Gendarmerie Place du Bourg-de-Four 3, 1204 Genève Tél. +41 22 427 76 70

Horaires : lundi au vendredi : 08h30 à 17h00 mon-fri

https://www.ge.ch/document/poste-police-du-bourg-four

In Geneva you must inform the OCPM of the permit loss and apply for a replacement.  Click on the link below and print the Demande de duplicata X.  You should ask for help at the office to complete the form as it is in French and then send the completed form and documents to the OCPM via recorded mail.

OCPM Procedure for lost or stolen permit

Once you receive your replacement permit you must bring it to the Studentlife office so we can scan it for our records.

It takes up to 30 days to obtain a replacement resident permit.  If you lose your permit less than 30 days before departure you will still need to submit a duplicata X to the OCPM, but you may not receive a replacement before departure.  If you have to travel outside of Switzerland you must take your copy of the police declaration, a copy of the duplicata X and the photocopy of the original resident permit.

You will be billed after for the cost of the replacement permit which you must pay in cash at the local post office.  The program does not pay for lost or stolen permits.