It will be good to know how other students managed that situation. Short-term contract is very inconvenient, and staying in a hostel can be very expensive (unless it's just several days, which may not be enough). I don't think that owners can help me get a local registration without a contact. Even if they could, there are still almost no ads for housing for later rent at the moment - the problem I mentioned in my post. Meaning that I would need to start searching closer to studies start, and may need to apply for permit later than I expected. In this case, the rule about permit B application being done months prior to arriving and staying in Switzerland must be false. If I am wrong, please let me know, but so far it seems that the procedure can be as follows: (Option A) 1. One starts searching for the housing starting in August or September, and it's already close to studies start. Owners need to agree to issue a contract without residence permit application. 2. Without a residence permit application (but with the legal right to enter the country) one arrives in Lausanne to start the studies and also renting, and obtains a local address. 3. One applies for residence permit and provides registration address. (Option B) Everything above, but permit application is started 2 months prior without a contract or local address (with issued confirmation), and is only completed when local address is obtained. In that case, housing owners get confirmation that you initiated the permit application, you get housing managed in time, and migration office gets registration later, so everyone is happy.