Just curious: does Switzerland thing you need any college degree, or a computer science/software engineering degree specifically?
Ask HN: My work permit was just denied because I don't have a degree. Can I
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Re: Ask HN: My work permit was just denied because I don't have a degree. Can I
#12Any skilled worker position, even in US or Canada requires a degree from an accredited university. You might be able to circumvent the process if the company offers you a managerial or executive position. IRC those positions usually require a separate visa application that may not have the same requirements.
This is not entirely correct, and I'm assuming you meant to say "skilled worker visa" not "skilled worker position".
In many cases, depending on the Visa you are applying for, work experience can count instead of degrees.
I don't have a University Degree, and I can go to the US on a TN Visa (as a Canadian) due to my work experience. I now live in Australia and am on a 457 Visa where my work experience was considered instead of a degree.
Re: Ask HN: My work permit was just denied because I don't have a degree. Can I
#13Any skilled worker position, even in US or Canada requires a degree from an accredited university. You might be able to circumvent the process if the company offers you a managerial or executive position. IRC those positions usually require a separate visa application that may not have the same requirements.
This is not entirely correct, and I'm assuming you meant to say "skilled worker visa" not "skilled worker position". In many cases, depending on the Visa you are applying for, work experience can count instead of degrees. I don't have a University Degree, and I can go to the US on a TN Visa (as a Canadian) due to my work experience. I now live in Australia and am on a 457 Visa where my work experience was considered…
I am working in US under TN status and you definitely need a computer science or engineering degree for anything tech related.
Re: Ask HN: My work permit was just denied because I don't have a degree. Can I
#14If you know enough to be offered ~$140 000 by a Swiss company, I'd say forget schooling or degrees. Mighty waste of time and money. Just find another job. I'm sure there's at least one startup in the US or Canada that would consider you.
Even in the US and Canada it's difficult... work Visas in particular are typically very difficult to get without a degree. I'm in a similar boat as someone working in IT (over 20 years now) without a degree.
If you have a wife and she does not mind studying you can have yourself a nice visa and a work permit in Canada
Re: Ask HN: My work permit was just denied because I don't have a degree. Can I
#15Talk to a Swiss immigration lawyer. Unlike what some people seem to think, lawyers do actually have a purpose. This is one of them!
Also, good lawyers can more often than not find new ways to interpret existing laws to your advantage. There might be some obscure statute somewhere that exists that you don't know about.
Re: Ask HN: My work permit was just denied because I don't have a degree. Can I
#16If you know enough to be offered ~$140 000 by a Swiss company, I'd say forget schooling or degrees. Mighty waste of time and money. Just find another job. I'm sure there's at least one startup in the US or Canada that would consider you.
Thanks for your response. I really like Europe, especially Switzerland. That company is also very interesting, I could learn a lot there. And as I understand, I still need a degree for the US H1-B visa.
Talk to your future employer if they can arrange at least remote working for initial few months and if you are not able to gather paper works then revise the process. Meanwhile you will have breathing room to look for ways that you can travel and work. You can take short trip and work there for initial few weeks(though I am not sure about the other visa, these are my guesses) to know the system and team. As an experienced person then you can work from anywhere. So talk to company if remote work is a possibility even with a pay cut.
Re: Ask HN: My work permit was just denied because I don't have a degree. Can I
#17Option 1: Talk to a immigration lawyer specialized in Swiss immigration system.
Option 2: Talk to your future employer if they can arrange at least remote working for initial few months and if you are not able to gather paper works then revise the process. Meanwhile you will have breathing room to look for ways that you can travel and work. You can take short trip and work there for initial few weeks(though I am not sure about the other visa, these are my guesses) to know the system and team. As an experienced person then you can work from anywhere. So talk to company if remote work is a possibility even with a pay cut.
Re: Ask HN: My work permit was just denied because I don't have a degree. Can I
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even in the US and Canada it's difficult... work Visas in particular are typically very difficult to get without a degree. I'm in a similar boat as someone working in IT (over 20 years now) without a degree.
If you have a wife and she does not mind studying you can have yourself a nice visa and a work permit in Canada
And this is getting down-voted because? Unlike US in Canada spouse of the student can get a full time work permit.
Re: Ask HN: My work permit was just denied because I don't have a degree. Can I
#19I don't have a degree but have successfully acquired US visas before. Forget university, just get a decent lawyer. If the company wants to pay you, they will find a way. In the mean time, you can explore options like living in Germany or France and commuting: which I hear can be preferable anyway, as it's a lot cheaper than Swiss real estate.
Re: Ask HN: My work permit was just denied because I don't have a degree. Can I
#20Just curious: does Switzerland thing you need any college degree, or a computer science/software engineering degree specifically?
Its complicated, and depends very much on which country you are from, which permit class you are applying too etc... Which means the usual applies, if you are from a generally rich country then it's easy otherwise its hard and can be a lot of paperwork and worries.
See http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/work-permits/29191706 for an introduction.