Short-term residence permit (L permit)
The Immigration Office can issue a short-term residence permit for foreign nationals intending to stay in Switzerland for less than a year for a specific purpose.

However, the short-term residence permit can be issued with or without gainful employment. Yet it is invariably tied to a specific purpose. The period of validity of a short-term residence permit depends on the purpose of your stay and can be up to 364 days. If your purpose of residence is gainful employment for less than one year, the permit is valid for as long as your employment contract. 

The short-term residence permit can be extended or renewed.

If you are an EU/EFTA national and lose your job or your employment contract has expired, you can generally remain in Switzerland as a jobseeker for 6 months.

For the conversion of a short-term residence permit (L) into a residence permit (B):
The applicant must submit the new current employment contract/work contract, which must be valid beyond the expiration date of the old L permit, to the Residents’ Registration Office of the municipality of residence approx. 2 weeks before the L permit expires. The Residents’ Services will forward the documents to the Migration Office for examination of the extension/renewal or conversion of the L permit. If a new permit is issued, the Migration Office will forward it to the municipality of residence.

If you find that there may be trouble with the application or there is a threat of rejection of the application, you can seek legal advice and this is where we come to your assistance.