Legal basis: Art. 27 para. 1 let. b and Art. 24 FNIA
According to the law, students must have appropriate accommodation. This is in fact a general condition imposed by the FNIA on the issue of all Residence permits.
The concept of appropriate accommodation implies having access to an adequately sized living space based on a defined ratio of the number of residents to the number of rooms.
This ratio is set in federal regulations as: the number of residents = the number of rooms -1.
However, in Geneva, unlike other regions in Switzerland, the kitchen counts as a room. Therefore the number of rooms must be at least equal to the maximum number of residents.1
Legal basis: Art. 4 RGL
Furthermore, case law takes into account the housing crisis in Geneva, and has accordingly reduced the size requirements for “appropriate accommodation” as defined by migration law.2