The Ci permit lets the spouse, registered partner and children of someone working for an international organisation, a permanent mission, an embassy or a consulate live and work in Switzerland. It is based on the Host State Act, not ordinary immigration law, and it depends entirely on the main family member's job. When that job ends, the Ci ends too, and you have a short period, around three months in Geneva, to leave or apply for an ordinary B permit.

In short

  • Who: spouses and registered partners, children up to 25 if dependent or in full-time education, and exceptionally other dependent relatives in the household.
  • Work: allowed, employed or self-employed, with no labour-market test. Regulated professions still need recognition of your qualifications.
  • Tax and social insurance: your own earnings are taxed normally and you pay Swiss social insurance. The main family member's tax exemption does not cover you.
  • No immunity: a Ci permit gives no diplomatic privileges.
  • The end of the job, a divorce or a death ends the Ci. Prepare the switch to a B permit six to twelve months ahead.

What the Ci permit is

The main family member (the person working for the organisation or mission) receives a carte de légitimation from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), marked with a letter such as B, C, D, E, F, H, I, K, O, P or S depending on their function. The Ci permit covers their family members.

It rests mainly on the Host State Act (HSA, SR 192.12) and the Host State Ordinance (HSO, SR 192.121). The Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (FNIA, SR 142.20) applies only where these have no rule of their own, for example when you switch to a B permit or when integration is assessed under Art. 58a FNIA.

Geneva is where it matters most. Many residents of the Lake Geneva region live under the host state regime: staff of UN Geneva, the WHO, the ITU, WIPO, the IOM, the ICRC, GAVI, the Global Fund, the ILO, OHCHR, UNHCR, UNCTAD and other bodies, plus the permanent missions and consulates. The FDFA (Bureau de l'Hôte) or the permanent mission holds the exact figures.

The rules that apply

  • Host State Act (SR 192.12). Art. 1 sets its scope: intergovernmental organisations, international institutions and conferences, permanent and special missions, consular posts, and arbitral tribunals and similar bodies.
  • Host State Ordinance (SR 192.121). The detailed rules for family members, including access to work and what happens when the main family member's job ends.
  • FNIA, where the HSA and HSO say nothing.
  • FDFA practice: the Manuel pour les missions permanentes (also called the Manuel d'application du régime des privilèges et immunités) sets out how cartes de légitimation are issued, who counts as a family member, and how the FDFA works with cantons on Ci permits.
  • SEM directives on where host state status meets ordinary immigration law.
  • OCPM Geneva: its Section Organisations internationales issues Ci permits and prepares switches to B permits.

Who can get a Ci permit

Under the HSO and FDFA practice:

  • the main family member's spouse or registered partner;
  • children up to age 25 who are financially dependent or in full-time education;
  • exceptionally, other relatives such as parents or siblings who live in the household and are shown to be dependent. Practice here is restrictive.

Not eligible:

  • a former spouse once a divorce is final (see separation below and divorce and your permit (Art. 50 FNIA));
  • unregistered partners, unless the FDFA recognises a stable cohabitation (concubinage stable). This is discretionary, restrictive and inconsistent;
  • people who have their own carte de légitimation;
  • family members of people with an ordinary B, C, L or G permit, who fall under FNIA family reunification (Art. 42 to 45 FNIA).

The Ci is not for families of Swiss citizens. They receive a B permit under Art. 42 FNIA. See family reunification for relatives of Swiss citizens.

What you can do with a Ci permit

Work

  • Employment without a cantonal labour-market test. The priority for local workers (Art. 21 FNIA) does not apply. You can work for any employer: private, public (Confederation, canton, municipality), an NGO or another international organisation.
  • Self-employment is allowed under the HSO. Normal business, tax and social insurance rules apply, but not the immigration restrictions for third-country nationals under the FNIA.
  • Study and training need no separate permit, such as a student B permit under Art. 27 FNIA.

Regulated professions, such as doctor, lawyer, architect, nurse or teacher, still require recognition of foreign qualifications (through SERI or the SRC; for lawyers, entry in the cantonal bar register under Art. 6 of the Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers, LLCA, SR 935.61).

Social insurance

Once you work, you are covered by Swiss social insurance: AHV/OASI and IV, unemployment insurance, occupational pensions and health insurance. The main family member's cover usually follows the organisation's headquarters agreement or the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which may exempt them or provide the organisation's own system. The details depend on the agreement.

In practice, when you start work you register with the cantonal compensation fund, choose a Swiss health insurer and, where relevant, join your employer's pension scheme.

How long it lasts

The Ci permit follows the main family member's status:

  • it is usually issued at the same time as the FDFA accredits them, as a residence document from the cantonal migration office (the OCPM in Geneva);
  • it lasts as long as their posting, usually in line with their contract;
  • it is renewed when their carte de légitimation is renewed, never on its own;
  • it ends when their job ends, through the end of the posting, retirement, a transfer elsewhere or death.

After the job ends, the HSO usually gives you a departure or transition period, around three months in Geneva practice, to leave Switzerland or apply to the canton for an ordinary B permit under the FNIA.

Switching from Ci to B

This is the most critical moment for many families, and the point where legal advice matters most.

There is no automatic switch. When the transition period ends, you fall under ordinary immigration law like any other third-country national. And time spent on a Ci is not automatically counted like ordinary residence towards the C permit (Art. 34 FNIA) or ordinary naturalisation (Art. 9 of the Swiss Citizenship Act, SCA, SR 141.0). How much counts is not settled: the FDFA, the SEM and cantons take different views, and the law is still developing. A family that has lived in Geneva for many years, with children in local schools and a working spouse, may still not be treated like someone with the same years on an ordinary permit.

Possible routes within the transition period:

  1. B permit for work (Art. 18 FNIA and following), if you have skilled work and the employer applies. The normal conditions apply: quotas, economic interest, priority for local workers and personal requirements.
  2. B permit on hardship grounds (Art. 30 para. 1 let. b FNIA), for close ties to Switzerland such as a long stay, children's integration or no possibility of return. See hardship cases under Art. 30 FNIA.
  3. B permit through marriage to a Swiss citizen or a B or C holder during the Ci period (Art. 42 to 43 FNIA).
  4. Student permit (Art. 27 FNIA), to continue studies.

In Geneva, a dedicated OCPM unit handles these applications with the Section Organisations internationales. Start preparing well before the accreditation ends, ideally six to twelve months ahead, documenting your children's integration, your work ties and your language skills.

Separation, divorce and death

Divorce. Once the divorce is final, you are no longer a family member and in principle lose your right to stay under the HSA. You then fall under ordinary immigration law, with these options:

  • Staying under Art. 50 FNIA, if the marriage lasted at least three years and you meet the integration criteria (Art. 50 para. 1 let. a and Art. 58a FNIA), or for important personal reasons (Art. 50 para. 1 let. b FNIA). How far Art. 50 applies to former Ci holders is treated with nuance in Federal Supreme Court practice. See divorce and your permit.
  • Hardship under Art. 30 FNIA.
  • Your own B permit for work, if you have skilled work in Switzerland.

Death of the main family member. The HSO transition rule applies by analogy: a transition period and the option to switch to ordinary law. The spouse's death can count as an important personal reason under Art. 50 para. 1 let. b with Art. 50 para. 2 FNIA, depending on the length of the marriage, integration and children. See death of a permit holder.

Domestic violence. If you pass into ordinary immigration law, the protective rules of Art. 50 para. 2 FNIA may apply.

Your own family

  • Your spouse: if they are also a family member of the main family member, they get a Ci derived from that person, not from you. A later relationship falls under ordinary FNIA family reunification (Art. 44 FNIA), with stricter conditions.
  • Children under 18 get a Ci without the right to work. From 18 to 25, if they stay in full-time education, it can be renewed with the right to work.
  • Children over 25 have no Ci right and must apply for their own B permit, for example for study or work.

Tax

This is where misunderstandings are most common:

  • The main family member is usually exempt from Swiss direct taxes on their official salary under the Vienna Convention and/or the headquarters agreement. The scope depends on the instrument and the organisation. Other tax matters, such as tax residence, wealth tax on Swiss assets or property tax, can still apply.
  • You, as a Ci holder, are normally taxed on your own earnings. The carte de légitimation does not cover your income.
    • Without a C permit, tax is usually deducted at source. It is a cantonal tax, applied in Geneva by the Administration fiscale cantonale (AFC).
    • Above a threshold, in Swiss practice often around CHF 120 000, an ordinary assessment follows. The cantonal tax authority sets the exact threshold and rates.
    • Your tax status and immigration status are handled separately by the AFC and the OCPM.
  • Social insurance contributions (AHV/IV/EO, unemployment insurance, pension, non-occupational accident insurance) are due like for any employee.

The belief that "as the family of a UN staff member I pay no tax" does not apply to Ci holders, and acting on it can lead to large back-tax bills.

Carte de légitimation and Ci: not the same thing

  • The carte de légitimation is issued by the FDFA to diplomats, international officials and consular staff. Its letter shows the category and privileges (B is the highest diplomatic category; H covers certain private-law employees without privileges, K private domestic staff). It gives the privileges and immunities of the headquarters agreement or the Vienna Convention.
  • The Ci permit is issued by the cantonal migration office, coordinated with the SEM. It is a residence permit under the HSA and gives no privileges or immunity. You are subject to Swiss civil, criminal and administrative law like any other foreign resident.

The Ci is also not the permit for officials themselves, not the ordinary third-country permit (L, B or C under the FNIA), and not a protection status under the Asylum Act (AsylA, SR 142.31); compare S protection status. EU/EFTA family reunification follows Art. 3 AFMP (SR 0.142.112.681).

Geneva practice

  • The OCPM's Section Organisations internationales works closely with the FDFA's Bureau de l'Hôte and handles applications together.
  • For Ci to B switches, the OCPM takes a family's long ties to Geneva into account within federal law. Its criteria are administrative practice and not published.
  • Children can attend Geneva public schools (DIP) or international schools such as the École internationale de Genève or the Lycée français. The choice has no direct immigration effect, but schooling in the public system is, in experience, seen as a sign of integration in a later hardship application (Art. 30 FNIA).

When to get a lawyer

HR departments of international organisations often help with the first permit. The legally delicate moments come at the end:

  • six to twelve months before the accreditation ends, to prepare the switch to a B;
  • on divorce or separation, especially with children in Swiss schools;
  • on the death of the main family member, especially if you have no work of your own;
  • in disputes with the main family member, including domestic violence;
  • in tax disputes about your own liability;
  • before naturalisation, because counting Ci time is disputed.

Choose a lawyer in the cantonal bar register; their professional duties under Art. 12 of the LLCA (SR 935.61) apply.

Sources

See also paths to Swiss citizenship and the Canton of Geneva.