Indefinite permit after ten years as a rule. Requirements, revocation, departure.
Last reviewed
03.06.2026
Statute as of
01.01.2024
Statute citations
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24 min read
As of: 01.06.2026 · Snapshot
C settlement permit (Niederlassungsbewilligung) — Permanent residence in Switzerland
Effective date
Frequently asked
4 answers on this topic.
Concrete questions people ask about C — C settlement permit.
Regular: ten years of uninterrupted residence in Switzerland, with at least the last five years holding a B residence permit. Accelerated after five years if: language level B1 (oral) / A2 (written), financial independence, no criminal record entries, integration into the community. EU/EFTA citizens also benefit from the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons.
: 01.01.2024 — current state of AIG SR 142.20 and VZAE SR 142.201 (in force).
Status
: AI draft, pending review by the supervising lawyer of record (CLR — Lawyer-of-Record).
What this is about — the settlement permit in one sentence
The C settlement permit (settlement in the sense of Art. 34 of the Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration, AIG, SR 142.20) is Switzerland's permanent residence permit for third-country nationals as well as for nationals of the EU/EFTA and of third countries that have a treaty relationship with Switzerland. It is granted without conditions and is valid for an unlimited period — unlike the B residence permit, it does not have to be "renewed". The authority does, however, replace the biometric card every five years (Fedlex·VZAE Art. 60 Abs. 4); this updating of the biometric data is a purely administrative measure and not a substantive renewal procedure.
As of the 2024 reference date, Switzerland has around 700,000 persons holding a C settlement permit (source: SEM Migration Report). This group represents the largest share of the foreign resident population with a longer-term residence status.
1 The settlement permit is granted for an unlimited period and without conditions.
2 It may be granted to a foreign national if:
a. they have resided in Switzerland for a total of at least ten years holding a short-term or residence permit and have continuously held a residence permit during the last five years; and
b. there are no grounds for revocation under Article 62 or Article 63 paragraph 2.
3 The settlement permit may be granted after a shorter period of stay if there are important reasons for doing so.
4 The settlement permit may be granted already after an uninterrupted stay with a residence permit during the last five years if the foreign national meets the integration criteria under Article 58a paragraph 1.
5 A stay in Switzerland during the course of proceedings is not counted.
This federal provision is given concrete form in the Ordinance on Admission, Residence and Employment (VZAE, SR 142.201), in particular in Art. 60 ff. on the form, duration and biometric renewal of the settlement permit.
Requirements for grant — ordinary grant of the permit
Ten years — the third-country-national standard (Art. 34 Abs. 2 AIG)
For persons who are not subject to a privileging state treaty, federal law requires a total stay of at least ten years with a short-term or residence permit, of which the last five years must be continuous with a residence permit (B). This calculation includes:
L short-term permits, creditable towards the total 10 years;
B residence permits, creditable towards the total 10 years and towards the last 5 consecutive years;
a stay under an asylum application before recognition of status, not creditable according to practice (unlike recognised refugees, see below);
a stay abroad, interruption-neutral depending on duration and conditions (see section "Stay abroad and lapse").
Within these ten years, no grounds for revocation under Art. 62 or Fedlex·Art. 63 Abs. 2 AIG may have arisen (see section "Revocation").
The authorities calculate the duration of stay from the date of first entry with a short-term or residence permit. The grant of the first B permit to persons who were previously in Switzerland on a visa or visa-free for visit purposes counts as the start of the creditable stay. Time spent as a tourist, on a family visit or on a business visit without a permit is not counted. Periods during which the person was unlawfully in Switzerland (without papers, with an expired permit or after a removal order) also do not count towards the duration of stay.
In the case of a change of status within Switzerland — for example from L to B or from a student B to an employment B — the crediting clocks continue to run, provided the stay remained lawful. In the case of an interruption of the stay (deregistration, a longer stay abroad without an application to maintain the permit, lapse of the permit), the ten-year period generally begins anew — the precise practice varies by canton and must be examined in each individual case.
Five years — bilateral privilege
A number of state treaties shorten the minimum duration of stay from ten to five years. This privilege is based on bilateral settlement treaties, the oldest of which is the treaty between Switzerland and the USA of 25 November 1850 (SR 0.142.113.361). Comparable treaties exist with, among others, Germany, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Spain, as well as with Canada and with the United Kingdom (for entitlement grounds acquired before Brexit; for British nationals after Brexit, the Switzerland–UK Citizens' Rights Agreement applies).
For the precise scope and the crediting modalities for each state, see:
bilaterals/bi_us_1850_settlement_treaty.md — USA Settlement Treaty 1850
bilaterals/bi_uk_post_brexit_citizens_rights.md — UK Citizens' Rights Agreement
further bilaterals/bi_*.md files for the remaining treaty states
Important: the five-year privilege applies in principle to nationals of the treaty states, not to third-country nationals residing in the treaty state. EU/EFTA citizens are additionally covered by the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons (FZA, SR 0.142.112.681); for them, the legal basis of the C permit is interlocked with the FZA and the bilateral settlement treaties that follow from it — the operational consequence, however, generally remains the five-year minimum duration.
Five years — recognised refugees
For recognised refugees with asylum in Switzerland, Fedlex·Art. 60 AsylG (SR 142.31) applies in conjunction with Fedlex·Art. 34 Abs. 2 AIG: after five years of lawful residence, the settlement permit may be granted, provided the integration criteria are met. The practice of the migration authorities is differentiated by canton here; in several cantons, the integration assessment for recognised refugees is conducted with particular attention to language skills and economic independence.
Cross-link: framework/fw_asylg_glossary.md.
Requirements for grant — early (Art. 34 Abs. 4 AIG)
Fedlex·Art. 34 Abs. 4 AIG opens up an early settlement already after five rather than ten years — provided the person meets the integration criteria under Fedlex·Art. 58a Abs. 1 AIG. This provision is discretion-based (the authority "may" grant it, it does not "have to"); the cantonal migration offices handle the leeway restrictively. Persons aiming for an early grant should typically expect:
B1 oral language skills and A1 written in the relevant cantonal official language, according to the requirements of Fedlex·VZAE Art. 60a (in detail see below — integration criteria);
an uninterrupted stay during the past five years with a B permit;
demonstrable economic independence (no ongoing dependence on social assistance);
demonstrable respect for the legal order (no significant criminal record entry, no material outstanding debt-enforcement proceedings);
credible participation in social life in Switzerland.
The grant under Fedlex·Art. 34 Abs. 4 AIG is expressly not an entitlement, but a discretionary decision. An individual prospect of success cannot be derived from the norm and cannot be predicted from this file (anti-scope: no-eligibility-prediction). Advice in the specific individual case is provided by an admitted lawyer.
The five integration criteria — Art. 58a AIG verbatim
1 When assessing integration, the competent authority takes the following criteria into account:
a. respect for public security and order;
b. respect for the values of the Federal Constitution;
c. language skills; and
d. participation in economic life or the acquisition of education.
2 Due account is to be taken of the situation of persons who, on account of a disability or illness or other weighty personal circumstances, cannot meet, or can only meet under aggravated conditions, the integration criteria of paragraph 1 letters c and d.
3 The Federal Council determines which language skills must be present at the grant and renewal of a permit.
The concretisation of the language skills (Fedlex·Art. 58a Abs. 3 AIG) is set out in Fedlex·VZAE Art. 60a, which provides the following thresholds for the C settlement permit (referenced to the Common European Framework of Reference, CEFR):
Grant of the C permit after 10 years (ordinary): language skills of A2 oral, A1 written in the cantonal official language.
Grant of the C permit after 5 years (early, Art. 34 Abs. 4): language skills of B1 oral, A1 written in the cantonal official language.
Proof of language skills is typically provided by a certificate recognised by the SEM (fide, telc, Goethe, DELF, CILS or comparable) or by demonstrated schooling in an official language. The language thresholds are harmonised under federal law, but the cantonal application may vary in implementation (e.g. recognised examination providers, exceptions on health grounds).
The taking into account of health grounds under Fedlex·Art. 58a Abs. 2 AIG is expressly provided for — a disability or illness that makes language learning or gainful employment more difficult must be appropriately included in the procedure.
Cross-link for the glossary definitions: framework/fw_aig_vzae_glossary.md.
Maintaining the C permit — no renewal, but updating
Unlike the B residence permit, the C settlement permit does not have to be renewed — it is substantively unlimited in time (Fedlex·Art. 34 Abs. 1 AIG). What takes place every five years is the administrative updating of the biometric data on the card within the meaning of Fedlex·VZAE Art. 60 Abs. 4. This updating is a technical-administrative process without a substantive examination of the settlement requirements — the authority issues a new biometric card without reassessing the permit itself.
In practice this means: the person receives a request from the cantonal migration authority to provide biometric data (fingerprints, facial image), attends the appointment, pays the cantonal fee (typically CHF 80–120 for adults) and receives the new card in the following weeks. The settlement permit itself is not re-granted — it continues to exist without interruption.
Despite its substantive unlimited duration, the C settlement can lapse or be revoked, in particular through a stay abroad (lapse) or through an administrative decision (revocation). These two mechanisms are presented in the following sections.
Stay abroad and lapse — Art. 61 AIG
Fedlex·Art. 61 AIG (SR 142.20) governs the lapse of permits through a stay abroad. The decisive wording:
Art. 61 Lapse of permits
1 The permit lapses:
a. with deregistration to go abroad;
b. with the grant of a permit in another canton;
c. on expiry of the period of validity;
d. with the expulsion order under Article 68;
e. with the legally binding criminal-law expulsion under Article 66a or Article 66abis StGB or Article 49a or Article 49abis MStG.
2 If a foreign national leaves Switzerland without deregistering, the short-term permit lapses after three months, and the residence and settlement permit after six months. The settlement permit can, on request, be maintained for four years.
The operative rules for the C settlement permit are therefore:
Stay abroad of up to 6 months: without further requirement — the permit remains in place.
Stay abroad of between 6 months and 4 years: only possible with a prior application to the competent cantonal migration authority for maintenance of the settlement permit. Without this application, the C permit lapses automatically after 6 months.
Stay abroad of more than 4 years: the permit lapses definitively — even with an approved maintenance application. There is no extended maintenance application beyond the four-year limit.
Deregistration at the residents' registration office: the permit lapses immediately upon formal deregistration, regardless of the actual duration of stay abroad.
This lapse logic is one of the most frequent sources of unintended loss of a permit — for instance with longer periods of service abroad, caring for relatives in the country of origin, multi-year studies abroad, or attempts to return home. Filing the maintenance application in good time (typically before departure or within the first few weeks) is the only reliable means of protection.
The maintenance application — form and content
The application to maintain the settlement permit is submitted informally or on a cantonally prescribed form to the competent cantonal migration authority at the previous place of residence. The content typically comprises:
the planned duration of stay abroad (with start and end date);
the reason for the stay abroad (gainful employment, study, family matter, care, military service, etc.);
proof of the continued connection to Switzerland (ownership of real property, family members in Switzerland, an employment relationship with a Swiss nexus, etc.);
where applicable, the address during the stay abroad.
The cantonal migration authority decides on the application by ruling. The maximum duration of maintenance is four years from departure; an extension beyond this limit is not possible. An early return to Switzerland before the expiry of the approved maintenance period is possible at any time and leads to reactivation of the C settlement; an extension of the maintenance application after departure requires a fresh application to the competent authority and is not guaranteed.
The six-month period — operative practice
The six-month period under Fedlex·Art. 61 Abs. 2 AIG counts in principle from the day of actual departure from Switzerland, not from the day of formal deregistration at the residents' registration office. Short re-entries during the six-month period — such as family visits, weekends in Switzerland, business appointments — do not automatically interrupt the period according to administrative practice; what is decisive is the person's centre of life. The burden of proof for an uninterrupted centre of life in Switzerland lies with the person entitled to settlement.
For cross-links to specific life-event scenarios, see the life-events/le_* files (family reunification abroad, longer stay in the home country, children attending school in the country of origin, etc.).
Rights with a C settlement permit
The C permit confers the legally most far-reaching status that Swiss residence law recognises for non-citizens. The most important substantive rights:
Unrestricted access to the labour market
The C permit entitles the holder to dependent and self-employed gainful activity in any occupation, in any sector and in any canton of Switzerland, without labour-market-law reservations (in particular without a priority check under Fedlex·Art. 21 AIG). A change of employer, a change of sector and the taking up of self-employed gainful activity also require no authorisation from the migration authority.
Change of canton — registration instead of authorisation
A move to another canton does not require a new settlement permit, but merely registration at the residents' registration office of the new canton of residence. The cantonal migration authority issues a new biometric card confirming the C settlement in the new canton. This distinguishes the C permit clearly from the B permit, where a change of canton requires the substantive consent of the new canton.
Political rights at municipal and cantonal level — selective
Federal law grants no political rights to persons with a C settlement; the right to vote remains in principle reserved for Swiss citizens. A number of cantons have, however, granted settled persons a right to vote and/or stand for election at municipal level (in part also at cantonal level) in their cantonal constitution. As of 2024:
Jura (JU): municipal and cantonal right to vote and stand for election for settled persons under certain conditions.
Neuchâtel (NE): municipal and cantonal right to vote and stand for election for settled persons with five years' cantonal residence.
Vaud (VD): municipal right to vote and stand for election for settled persons with ten years' residence in Switzerland, of which three years in the canton.
Fribourg (FR): municipal right to vote and stand for election for settled persons with five years' residence in the canton.
Geneva (GE): municipal right to vote and stand for election for settled persons with eight years' residence in Switzerland.
Basel-Stadt (BS) — City of Basel: municipal right to vote and stand for election for settled persons under the conditions defined by cantonal law.
The precise requirements — duration of residence, application procedure, entry in the municipal electoral register — are governed in the cantonal constitutions and laws and are presented per canton in the cantonal/ca_*.md files.
Family reunification — facilitated (Art. 43 AIG)
Persons with a C settlement permit can claim family reunification for a spouse and unmarried children under 18 years of age under Art. 43 AIG. The family members brought in receive a C settlement permit directly, provided they live together with the person entitled to settlement. This distinguishes the C permit clearly from the B permit (Fedlex·Art. 44 AIG), where family members brought in initially receive a B permit.
Social-insurance and social-law status
Persons with a C settlement permit are insured in the Swiss social insurance schemes (AHV, IV, EO, ALV, pension funds, mandatory health insurance KVG, accident insurance UVG) in the same way as Swiss citizens. The entitlement to supplementary benefits to AHV/IV (ELG, SR 831.30) is open to settled persons, whereby the receipt of supplementary benefits may, depending on the constellation, be taken into account in the context of the integration assessment (Fedlex·Art. 58a AIG) and in the context of any downgrading assessment (Fedlex·Art. 63 Abs. 2 AIG). Receipt is therefore legally permissible but can trigger secondary effects in permit law — advice in the individual case is to be conducted by a lawyer.
Prerequisite for ordinary naturalisation
The C settlement permit is, under Art. 9 Citizenship Act (BüG, SR 141.0), a prerequisite for filing an application for ordinary naturalisation. Cross-link: permits/permit_naturalisation_paths.md as well as framework/fw_bug_2018_glossary.md.
Revocation of the C settlement permit — Art. 63 AIG verbatim
The C settlement permit can be revoked by an administrative decision. The conclusive grounds for revocation arise from Fedlex·Art. 63 AIG (with the reference in Fedlex·Art. 62 AIG):
Art. 63 Revocation of the settlement permit
1 The settlement permit may be revoked only if:
a. the requirements under Article 62 paragraph 1 letter a or b are met;
b. the foreign national has seriously breached or endangered public security and order in Switzerland or abroad, or endangers internal or external security.
2 The settlement permit may be revoked and replaced by a residence permit if the integration criteria under Article 58a are not met.
3 A revocation that is justified solely on the ground that an offence was committed for which a criminal court has already imposed a penalty or measure but has refrained from ordering expulsion is inadmissible.
The grounds for revocation under Fedlex·Art. 62 Abs. 1 AIG, to which Art. 63 Abs. 1 lit. a refers, are in particular:
a longer custodial sentence or comparable criminal-law measure (Fedlex·Art. 62 Abs. 1 lit. b AIG) — according to Federal Supreme Court practice, a custodial sentence of at least one year suffices to formally open the revocation ground, whereby proportionality must be examined in the individual case.
Fedlex·Art. 63 Abs. 1 lit. b AIG additionally captures the serious breach of public security and order, which is not necessarily tied to a criminal conviction but can also be founded on consistent serious misconduct outside criminal law.
Dependence on social assistance is, in the text of the AIG, not an independent ground for revocation of the C settlement permit (unlike for the B permit in Art. 62 Abs. 1 lit. e). It can, however, within the framework of the integration criteria under Fedlex·Art. 58a AIG, lead to a downgrading decision under Fedlex·Art. 63 Abs. 2 AIG (revocation and replacement by a B permit) — under very narrow conditions and with heightened requirements as to proportionality.
Procedure and appeal deadline
Revocation is effected by a ruling of the cantonal migration authority. An appeal against this ruling lies within 30 days of notification to the cantonal administrative court (or to a cantonally upstream appellate body). The cantonal proceedings generally lead to an appeal to the Federal Administrative Court (in the case of revocation rulings based on federal law) or to the Federal Supreme Court (constitutional or federal-law appeal under BGG, SR 173.110). The precise avenues of appeal vary by canton.
Proportionality assessment
Even where a ground for revocation exists, revocation is admissible only if it is proportionate. In its settled case law (in particular on BGE 139 I 145, BGE 139 I 31 and BGE 137 II 297 ff.), the Federal Supreme Court has structured the proportionality assessment into the following elements:
the seriousness of the breach committed (nature and level of the penalty, repeat offences, risk of reoffending);
the duration of stay in Switzerland (the longer the stay, the higher the threshold requirements);
the personal circumstances (family ties, in particular to spouses and children living in Switzerland, the health situation);
economic and social integration (work, training, housing situation, social anchoring);
conduct since the offence (probation, therapeutic measures, efforts at reintegration);
the consequences of removal for the person concerned and their family (language skills in the country of origin, social network, economic prospects, the children's compulsory schooling);
the worthiness of protection under Art. 8 EMRK (right to family and private life).
For persons with a long-standing C settlement — in particular the second generation, that is, persons born or raised in Switzerland — the requirements for a revocation are correspondingly high. The Federal Supreme Court has held in numerous decisions that, for the second generation, revocation is admissible only in the case of particularly serious breaches.
Cross-link to revocation and removal proceedings: life-events/le_expulsion_art62_63.md.
Waiting period after revocation
A person who has lost the C settlement permit — whether through revocation, through lapse on account of a stay abroad, or through legally binding criminal-law expulsion — cannot simply apply for a new settlement permit. In practice the following barring effects arise:
Entry ban under Fedlex·Art. 67 AIG: typically 5 years, longer for serious facts (up to 15 years or indefinite for particularly serious breaches).
Schengen-wide entry ban via the Schengen Information System (SIS): once entered, the entry ban applies to the entire Schengen area.
Re-registration bar: for the application for a new residence permit, the ordinary requirements of the AIG apply (for third-country nationals, typically grounds of gainful activity, family, or hardship).
Legally binding criminal-law expulsion under Art. 66a or 66abis StGB leads to the definitive loss of the permit with the barring effects laid down in the criminal judgment.
In the case of a lapse on account of a stay abroad without a prior revocation or criminal-law measure, the ordinary requirements of the AIG apply to a new grant; a specific waiting period does not exist in this case.
The C settlement as a prerequisite for ordinary naturalisation
The Citizenship Act (BüG, SR 141.0, in force since 1.1.2018) makes ordinary naturalisation dependent in Art. 9 on the following requirement:
Art. 9 BüG Formal requirements
The Confederation grants the naturalisation authorisation only if, at the time of the application, the applicant:
a. holds a settlement permit; and
b. proves the required duration of stay under Article 33.
The C settlement permit is thus mandatory for ordinary naturalisation. Naturalisation via the simplified procedure (Art. 21 ff. BüG, for instance for spouses of Swiss citizens or for children born in Switzerland) does not necessarily require this prerequisite with the same strictness; here too, however, in most constellations a C permit or a comparable residence status is required.
The precise scope of Art. 9 BüG, the interplay with the duration of stay under Art. 33 BüG (10 years' total stay, with a doubling of the time between the 8th and the 18th year of age) as well as the application differentiated by canton are presented in the dedicated file permits/permit_naturalisation_paths.md. For BüG terminology, see framework/fw_bug_2018_glossary.md.
Frequent confusions — what the C permit is not
In everyday advisory practice, the following misunderstandings regularly arise:
"C is Swiss citizenship" — no
The C settlement permit confers no Swiss nationality. It grants the unlimited right of residence and a broad catalogue of rights, but does not grant the active and passive right to vote and stand for election at federal level, the right to a Swiss passport, Switzerland's consular protection abroad, or free entry to and residence in EU/EFTA states as an EU citizen. Anyone seeking full citizen status must go through the naturalisation procedure.
"C remains in place even if I live abroad for years" — no
The C settlement lapses automatically after 6 months of stay abroad (Fedlex·Art. 61 Abs. 2 AIG) unless an application for maintenance has been filed and approved. Even with an approved maintenance application, the maximum duration is limited to 4 years — after that the lapse is definitive. This is the most frequent source in practice of unintended loss of the C permit.
"C settlement and the EU long-term residence permit are the same" — no
The Swiss C settlement permit is not identical to the EU long-term residence permit (under Directive 2003/109/EC). Switzerland is not an EU member; the EU long-term residence permit is not open to persons resident in Switzerland, and the Swiss C settlement confers no comparable rights in the EU area. Anyone seeking a long-term residence permit in an EU member state must approach the national authority there and meet the EU-law requirements.
"If I marry, I automatically get C" — no
Marriage to a Swiss citizen does not automatically lead to the C settlement permit. Spouses of Swiss citizens generally receive a B residence permit (Fedlex·Art. 42 AIG); the path to C settlement then follows after 5 years of uninterrupted stay with proof of integration (Fedlex·Art. 42 Abs. 3 AIG in conjunction with Fedlex·Art. 58a AIG).
Aargau 2024 — Administrative Court on dependence on social assistance and the C permit
In 2024, the Administrative Court of the Canton of Aargau clarified the cantonal practice on the treatment of dependence on social assistance for persons with a C settlement permit in a leading decision. The decision holds that a downgrading of the C settlement permit to a B residence permit under Fedlex·Art. 63 Abs. 2 AIG is admissible only under narrow conditions and while preserving proportionality; in particular, a temporally limited or non-culpable dependence on social assistance is, on its own, not a sufficient ground for downgrading.
A detailed presentation of the decision, the specific factual constellation and the practical consequences for affected persons (debt-enforcement effects, conduct towards the social services office, securing evidence in the procedure) is provided in the dedicated file life-events/le_betreibung_impact.md.
The individual prospect of retaining the C settlement in the case of ongoing dependence on social assistance cannot be predicted from the norm or from this leading decision; it depends on the specific factual situation and is the subject of individual-case legal advice (anti-scope: no-eligibility-prediction).
Cross-References
permits/permit_naturalisation_paths.md — paths to ordinary and simplified naturalisation
SEM Migration Report — annual update of the stock figures for permits
* * *
Discipline note (ADR-014, ADR-015 Tier A, ADR-018, ADR-020): This file contains no individual-case prognosis ("Will you obtain the C permit?"), no strategy advice on approaching language examinations, cantonal authorities or naturalisation commissions, and no political assessment of Swiss migration policy. The file presents the federal legal position as at the reference date and refers, for the cantonal concretisation, to the respective cantonal/ca_*.md files and, for individual-case legal advice, to the client relationship with an admitted lawyer.
As of: 01.06.2026 · Snapshot
Reflects the cited law as of the snapshot — not a check of current force.
