What this is about

The Ci permit is a special residence permit with gainful employment for the accompanying persons of persons who work in Switzerland as officials of an international organisation, a permanent mission, a foreign embassy or a consulate. It does not govern the status of the principal person themselves (the principal person generally receives a carte de légitimation from the FDFA bearing the letters B, C, D, E, F, H, I, K, O, P or S, depending on the function), but rather the status derived from it for their family members.

The Ci permit is legally distinct from ordinary foreign-nationals law: it is based primarily on the Host State Act (GSG, SR 192.12) and the Host State Ordinance (V-GSG, SR 192.121); the ordinary Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (FNIA, SR 142.20) applies only subsidiarily. This special regime is an expression of the obligations that Switzerland has assumed as host state of numerous international organisations — notably at the Geneva headquarters.

Geneva context. A significant share of the foreign resident population of the Lake Geneva region lives under the host state regime: officials of organisations such as UN Geneva, the WHO, the ITU, WIPO, the IOM, the ICRC, GAVI, the Global Fund, the ILO, the OHCHR, the UNHCR and UNCTAD, as well as numerous other institutions, to which the permanent missions and the consulates are added. The Ci permit directly concerns their spouses and children — and is thus, in Geneva, among the special regimes of greatest practical importance, alongside the classic B/C permits. The exact figures are kept by the FDFA (Bureau de l'Hôte) or by the Mission permanente; they are to be obtained from those bodies and not to be inferred from this presentation.

Legal bases — what actually applies

Federal law

  • Host State Act (GSG, SR 192.12) — main legal basis. Its Art. 1 (SR 192.12) defines the scope of application: intergovernmental organisations, international institutions, international conferences, permanent missions, special missions, consular posts as well as arbitral tribunals and similar bodies.
  • Host State Ordinance (V-GSG, SR 192.121) — implementing ordinance. It contains the detailed rules on the residence of accompanying persons, in particular the accompanying person's access to the labour market as well as their remaining after the end of the principal person's activity.
  • Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (FNIA, SR 142.20) — applies subsidiarily where the GSG (SR 192.12) and the V-GSG (SR 192.121) contain no rule of their own, in particular when converting the Ci permit into an ordinary B residence permit or in assessing integration under Art. 58a FNIA (SR 142.20).

Administrative practice

  • FDFA — Manuel pour les missions permanentes (also "Manuel d'application du régime des privilèges et immunités") — operational reference work of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. It gives concrete shape to the practice on the issuance of the carte de légitimation, defines the categories of accompanying persons and describes the cooperation with the cantonal migration authorities in granting the Ci permit.
  • SEM — Host State Directives: occasional directives of the State Secretariat for Migration on the interface between GSG status and ordinary foreign-nationals law.
  • OCPM Geneva — cantonal practice: the Office cantonal de la population et des migrations operates its own Section Organisations internationales, responsible for the operational issuance of Ci permits as well as for preparing the conversion into ordinary B residence permits.

Who receives a Ci permit?

In principle entitled to a Ci permit, under the V-GSG (Host State Ordinance, SR 192.121) and the practice of the FDFA, are:

  • the spouses and registered partners of the principal person (accompanying person in the narrower sense);
  • children up to the completed age of 25, provided that they are economically dependent on the principal person or are in full-time education;
  • exceptionally, other family members (e.g. parents, siblings) who live in the same household and whose dependence on the principal person is established — the practice here is restrictive and shaped by case-by-case assessment.

Not entitled to a Ci permit, by contrast, are:

  • former spouses after a divorce that has entered into force — the entitlement lapses with the divorce; see the section "Separation from the principal person" as well as the presentation on Divorce and Residence Permit (Art. 50 FNIA);

  • partners without a registered partnership, unless the FDFA recognises in the individual case a so-called "concubinage stable" (a de facto cohabitation established as stable and lasting within the meaning of French-speaking Switzerland's administrative and judicial practice) — recognition is at the authority's discretion, the practice is restrictive and inconsistent;

  • persons who are themselves the principal person of a carte de légitimation — they receive their own carte, not a Ci permit;

  • family members of persons with an ordinary FNIA permit (B, C, L, G) — for these the family-reunification provisions of the FNIA apply (Art. 42–45 FNIA, SR 142.20), not the GSG regime.

Important distinction. The Ci permit is not family reunification for the family members of Swiss citizens. These receive a B residence permit under Art. 42 FNIA (SR 142.20). The frequent confusion "Ci = family of Swiss citizens" is factually incorrect and leads to misdirected advice. For the correct constellation see the presentation on Family Reunification for Relatives of Swiss Citizens (Art. 42 FNIA) (in preparation).

What may the holder of a Ci permit do?

Gainful employment

The most important point in practice: the Ci permit permits gainful employment — and in a form that is greatly simplified compared with the ordinary FNIA regime:

  • Salaried gainful employment is permitted without a cantonal labour-market test. In particular, the priority of domestic workers under Art. 21 FNIA (SR 142.20) does not apply. The accompanying person may in principle work for any employer in Switzerland — in the private sector, in the public service (Confederation, cantons, communes), in non-governmental organisations or in another international organisation.
  • Self-employed gainful activity is likewise possible under the V-GSG (Host State Ordinance, SR 192.121). It is subject to Switzerland's general commercial, tax and social-insurance obligations, but not to the foreign-nationals-law restrictions that apply to third-country nationals under the FNIA (SR 142.20).
  • Studies and training are possible without an additional permit; a separate student permit (typically a B residence permit under Art. 27 FNIA, SR 142.20) is not required.

Profession-specific restrictions remain in place. Anyone who, as a Ci holder, wishes to take up a regulated activity — physician, lawyer, architect, nurse, teacher — is subject to the general recognition of foreign diplomas (procedures of the SERI or of the SRC; for the legal profession, entry in the cantonal bar register under Art. 6 (SR 935.61) of the Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers, LLCA). The Ci permit does not replace the professional admission.

Social security cover

Accompanying persons with a Ci permit are in principle subject to Swiss social security (OASI/DI, UI, OPA, health insurance under the HIA) as soon as they take up gainful employment. This contrasts with the principal person, whose social-insurance liability is typically governed by the organisation's headquarters agreement or by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) (exemption or the organisation's own system). The concrete scope depends on the relevant headquarters agreement and may vary from one organisation to another.

In practical terms this means: upon taking up gainful employment, the Ci holder must register with the competent cantonal compensation fund, choose a Swiss health insurer and, where applicable, take out occupational benefits (OPA insurance through the employer).

Period of validity and renewal

The Ci permit is accessory to the status of the principal person:

  • It is generally issued at the same time as the accreditation of the principal person by the FDFA and entered in the residence document (Ci foreign-national residence document), which is issued by the cantonal migration office — in Geneva by the OCPM.
  • The period of validity corresponds to the duration of the principal person's assignment or mission, typically staggered according to the duration of the contract.
  • Renewal: it takes place in step with the renewal of the principal person's carte de légitimation. An independent renewal of the Ci permit without renewal of the principal person's accreditation is not provided for.
  • Lapse: if the principal person's activity ends — through completion of the assignment, retirement, rotation to another duty station, death — the accompanying person's entitlement to the Ci permit also lapses in principle.

Under the V-GSG (Host State Ordinance, SR 192.121), the accompanying person typically has, after the end of the principal person's activity, a departure or transition period (in Geneva practice regularly in the order of about three months) in which to either leave Switzerland or submit to the competent cantonal migration authority an application to convert to an ordinary residence permit (B residence permit) under the FNIA (SR 142.20).

Conversion Ci → B after the end of the principal person's activity

General

The V-GSG (SR 192.121) does not itself provide for any automatic transition of the Ci permit into a B residence permit. Rather, upon expiry of the transition period the accompanying person passes into ordinary foreign-nationals law, in which they are treated like any other third-country national. To this is added a feature of the host state regime that is significant in practice: time spent under the Ci status is not, without more, treated in the same way as ordinary residence for the ordinary time limits of foreign-nationals and citizenship law — notably the period of residence for the C settlement permit under Art. 34 FNIA (SR 142.20) and the period of residence for ordinary naturalisation under Art. 9 SCA (Swiss Citizenship Act, SR 141.0). The extent to which GSG residence time is counted is not conclusively settled and depends on the concrete constellation.

The treatment of GSG residence time is among the most consequential features of the special regime. A family may have lived in Geneva for many years — the children at the local school, the accompanying person in gainful employment — and nevertheless, upon transition into ordinary foreign-nationals law, not be placed without more in the same position as a person with an ordinary residence of equal length. The scope and exceptions of this counting question are assessed differently by the FDFA, the SEM and the cantons and are the subject of ongoing legal development; the concrete counting in the individual case is to be clarified with a lawyer.

Procedural routes

Within the transition period, the following typically come into consideration for the conversion:

  1. B residence permit on grounds of gainful employment (Art. 18 FNIA, SR 142.20, et seq.) — if the accompanying person took up qualified gainful employment during the Ci period and the employer submits the application. The ordinary conditions then apply (quotas, overall economic interest, priority of domestic workers, personal requirements).
  2. B residence permit on grounds of hardship (Art. 30 para. 1 let. b FNIA, SR 142.20) — in the case of particularly close ties to Switzerland, notably in the case of long-lasting residence, integration of the children, lack of a possibility to return. See the parallel presentation on the Hardship Provision under Art. 30 FNIA.
  3. B residence permit on grounds of marriage to a Swiss citizen or to a B/C permit holder — if the accompanying person entered into a marriage during the Ci period with a person holding a right of residence in Switzerland (family reunification under Art. 42–43 FNIA, SR 142.20).
  4. Student permit (Art. 27 FNIA, SR 142.20) — if the person took up studies in Switzerland and wishes to continue them.

In Geneva practice, the OCPM Geneva handles these conversion applications in a specially established case-processing unit, coordinated with the Section Organisations internationales. The preparation of the dossier — in particular the documentation of the children's integration, of professional anchoring and of Swiss language skills — should begin well before the end of the principal person's accreditation, ideally six to twelve months in advance.

Separation from the principal person

Divorce

With the divorce that has entered into force, the status as accompanying person lapses. The former wife / former husband loses the eligibility condition of the marital bond to the principal person and thereby in principle also the right of residence under the GSG.

In practice, the divorced person is transferred into ordinary foreign-nationals law. The following come into consideration:

  • Remaining under Art. 50 FNIA (SR 142.20) — where the marital union lasted at least three years and the integration criteria (Art. 58a FNIA, SR 142.20) are met (Art. 50 para. 1 let. a FNIA), or where important personal grounds make continued residence necessary (Art. 50 para. 1 let. b FNIA). The precise applicability of Art. 50 FNIA to former Ci constellations is assessed in a differentiated manner in the practice of the Federal Supreme Court. See the detailed treatment in the presentation on Divorce and Residence Permit (Art. 50 FNIA).
  • Hardship under Art. 30 FNIA (SR 142.20) — see above.
  • Independent B residence permit on grounds of gainful employment — if the divorced person is in qualified gainful employment in Switzerland.

Death of the principal person

In the event of the death of the principal person during an active assignment, the transitional rule of the V-GSG (Host State Ordinance, SR 192.121) applies by analogy: transition period and the possibility of conversion into ordinary foreign-nationals law. For remaining under ordinary law, the death of the spouse comes into consideration as an important personal ground within the meaning of Art. 50 para. 1 let. b FNIA (SR 142.20) in conjunction with Art. 50 para. 2 FNIA. The practice differentiates here according to the concrete circumstances — duration of the marriage, integration, existing children.

Family of the Ci holder

A Ci holder may in turn bring in family members, whereby a distinction must be made:

  • Spouse of a Ci holder: provided that the spouse is themselves a family member of the principal person, they likewise receive a Ci permit — derived from the principal person, not from the Ci holder. If they are not a family member of the principal person, but rather a union arising later, the ordinary FNIA family-reunification law applies (Art. 44 FNIA, SR 142.20), with its more restrictive conditions.
  • Children under 18 years: receive a Ci permit without the right to work until they come of age. From the age of 18 and up to the completed age of 25, the Ci permit may — provided that full-time education is continued — be renewed, then with the right to work.
  • Adult children over 25 years: no independent Ci entitlement; they must, where applicable, apply for an independent B residence permit (studies, gainful employment).

Tax status — a frequent source of misunderstandings

  • The principal person (holder of the carte de légitimation) is typically, under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) and/or the headquarters agreement of their organisation, exempt from Swiss direct taxes on the service salary; the scope of this exemption depends on the relevant instrument of international law and may vary from one organisation to another. The remaining tax status remains differentiated (tax domicile, wealth tax on assets located in Switzerland, property tax, etc.).
  • The Ci holder, by contrast, is typically — as soon as they take up gainful employment — subject to ordinary taxation for their income from this activity. The principal person's carte de légitimation does not extend to the accompanying person's earned income. Concretely:
    • As a third-country national without a settlement permit (C), the Ci holder is typically subject to withholding tax on the earned income. The withholding taxation of earned income is a tax levied at cantonal level; the harmonised tax law and the applicable cantonal tax law are decisive, in Geneva the practice of the Administration fiscale cantonale (AFC).
    • If the earned income exceeds the threshold relevant for subsequent ordinary assessment (in Swiss-wide practice often set at around CHF 120 000), a subsequent ordinary assessment takes place. The exact threshold and the applicable tariffs are bindingly prescribed by the cantonal tax authorities or by the relevant circulars.
    • The accompanying person's tax status does not automatically coincide with their foreign-nationals-law status; the OCPM and the AFC conduct separate procedures.
  • Social-security contributions: the Ci holder pays the Swiss social-security contributions (OASI/DI/LEC, UI, OPA, NOAI) like any other employee in Switzerland, provided that they are in gainful employment.

The frequently encountered statement "as the family of a UN staff member I am exempt from taxes" does not apply to the Ci holder in this generality — and conduct based on it can lead to considerable back taxes.

Carte de légitimation ≠ Ci permit — the legal separation

This conceptual clarification is among the fundamentals, because it is constantly conflated in practice:

  • The carte de légitimation is issued by the FDFA. It is the primary document for the principal person — diplomats, international officials, consular officers — and bears a letter code that reflects the function category and the scope of privileges (B = highest diplomatic category; further letters for graduated categories, for example H for certain employees engaged under private-law contracts without privileges, or K for private domestic staff). It confers the privileges and immunities provided for in the relevant headquarters agreement or in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961).
  • The Ci permit is issued by the cantonal migration office (SEM-coordinated). It is a foreign-nationals-law residence permit within the meaning of the GSG. It confers no diplomatic privileges or immunities.

Practical consequence: the Ci holder is not protected by diplomatic immunity. They are subject to Swiss civil, criminal and administrative jurisdiction like any other foreign person with a residence permit in Switzerland.

What the Ci permit is not

To avoid the most frequent confusions:

  • Ci is not family reunification for families of Swiss citizens. These receive a B residence permit under Art. 42 FNIA (SR 142.20); in a constellation covered by free-movement law, family reunification under Art. 3 AFMP (Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons Switzerland–EU, SR 0.142.112.681) applies. See — once created — the presentation on Family Reunification for Relatives of Swiss Citizens (Art. 42 FNIA).
  • Ci is not the permit for UN officials themselves. These receive a carte de légitimation from the FDFA, not a Ci permit. The Ci permit is exclusively for their accompanying persons.
  • Ci is not the general third-country-national status. Third-country nationals with no connection to an international organisation or diplomatic mission receive — depending on the constellation — an L short-term permit, a B residence permit or a C settlement permit under the FNIA, not a Ci permit.
  • Ci is not the asylum or protection regime. Anyone seeking protection on humanitarian grounds falls under the Asylum Act (AsylA, SR 142.31) and the relevant protection practice — and not under the GSG (SR 192.12). Compare, for example, the presentation on Protection Status S for the S protection status.

Geneva special practice — notes for advice

Since the overwhelming majority of Ci permits are issued in Geneva, it is worth looking at the cantonal practice:

  • The OCPM Geneva maintains its own Section Organisations internationales, which works in spatial and organisational proximity to the FDFA's Bureau de l'Hôte. Applications are processed there in a consolidated manner.
  • For the conversion Ci → B, the OCPM applies a practice of its own which — within the framework of federal law — takes into account the family's long-standing anchoring in Geneva. The exact criteria are not publicly codified and are a matter of administrative practice, not of formal law. Sound advice takes this practice into account.
  • School integration: the Ci holder and their children may attend both the Geneva public school (Département de l'instruction publique, DIP) and international schools (such as the École internationale de Genève or the Lycée français). The choice has no direct effect under foreign-nationals law, but it may play a role in a later hardship argument (Art. 30 FNIA, SR 142.20) — a school biography anchored in the public school is, in experience, weighted as an indicator of integration in administrative practice.

When legal representation is recommended

Unlike with the ordinary B/C permit, the density of advice for the Ci regime is traditionally lower (the HR departments of the IOs often provide support with the initial issuance); the legally delicate moments lie at the end of the residence:

  • before the end of the principal person's accreditation (ideally six to twelve months in advance): preparation of the conversion Ci → B;
  • in the event of divorce or separation, notably where children are subject to compulsory schooling in Switzerland;
  • in the event of the death of the principal person, in particular where the accompanying person has no independent gainful employment;
  • in the event of disputes with the principal person over the use of the carte de légitimation; in constellations of domestic violence, the special protective rules under Art. 50 para. 2 FNIA (SR 142.20) may gain significance once the person passes into ordinary foreign-nationals law;
  • in the event of tax disputes over the scope of the Ci holder's tax liability;
  • in the event of later naturalisation, because the counting of GSG residence time is contested.

In all these constellations, it is recommended to mandate a lawyer entered in the cantonal bar register; the lawyer's professional and due-diligence obligations under Art. 12 (SR 935.61) of the Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers (LLCA) are of particular significance here.

Sources and further references

Primary sources

  • Host State Act (GSG, SR 192.12) — https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2007/719/de.
  • Host State Ordinance (V-GSG, SR 192.121) — https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2008/734/de.
  • Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (FNIA, SR 142.20) — https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2007/758/de.
  • Ordinance on Admission, Period of Stay and Employment (OASA, SR 142.201) — https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2007/759/de.
  • Swiss Citizenship Act (SCA, SR 141.0) — counting of the period of residence for ordinary naturalisation (Art. 9 SCA).
  • Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers (LLCA, SR 935.61) — the lawyer's professional and due-diligence obligations.

Administrative practice

  • FDFA — Manuel pour les missions permanentes / Manuel d'application du régime des privilèges et immunités: https://www.eda.admin.ch/missions/mission-onu-geneve/de/home/manuel-application-regime/intro.html.
  • SEM — Host State Directives: to be checked at https://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/de/home/publiservice/weisungen-kreisschreiben.html.
  • OCPM Geneva — Section Organisations internationales: https://www.ge.ch/organisation/office-cantonal-population-migrations.

Related files in the corpus

Anti-Scope

This file does not predict any individual prospect of a permit (no-eligibility-prediction). It does not replace advice from a lawyer entered in the bar register (LLCA). A concrete assessment of the conversion prospects Ci → B in the concrete constellation takes place exclusively within the framework of a mandate.

Revision note