American married to Swiss/American

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Hey everyone,

I'm totally new to the page and could use some help.

My husband (who is a dual citizen of Switzerland and the US) and I just recently got married in NYC.

Our plans are to move back to Switzerland (where he was living when we were dating) this February. However, I am having trouble trying to figure out exactly which permit I would apply for and the process in which to go about it. I eventually would like to be able to work in Switzerland, as I am a registered nurse here in Brooklyn.

Since I do live in NYC, the Swiss Consulate is a stone throw away. Is that my best place to start? Any and all help is much appreciated

2
Yep, start with the consulate. You'll register the marriage there (a few bits of paperwork) and apply for a D-visa for long-term entry into Switzerland. After that is stamped in your passport, head on over. Within 14 days, register yourselves at the local municipality where you'll live. Tip - Have your husband inform his Heimatort (place of origin) that paperwork will be coming through and they can help keep an eye on things.

As for nursing, you'll want to contact the Swiss Red Cross to see if your qualifications would be recognized of if you'd need to do some additional training here. How is your German, French, or Italian? Fluency in a local language will be very helpful for finding a nursing job here. Edit - This thread has some helpful info as well.

3

Hi, welcome to the forum.

As 3Wishes says, start with the consulate in New York, they’ll tell you what documents are needed. Your husband will need to apply for a dependent’s permit for you, you can’t do this yourself, but you will need to also apply for a Type D visa to allow you to enter Switzerland long term legally. Get him to check with his Heimatort too for any additional paperwork they may need.

You will need a good level of both written and spoken Swiss language skills (French, German or Italian depending on where you based yourselves) before you’ll be able to get a job nursing I’m afraid. The Swiss Red Cross will look at your qualifications and decide whether they’re okay or whether you need any retraining to bring you into line with Swiss practices.

Swiss Red Cross (SRC)
Contact point for recognition of foreign qualifications
Postfach, CH-3084 Wabern
Tel. +41 0900 733 276 (Mo-Fr, 08.00 am – 12.00 pm)
Web site: www.redcross.ch

Be aware that you both will continue to have US tax filing obligations even though you’re no longer in the States. You can start researching here:

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Inter…-Aliens-Abroad

Also both being American any bank accounts you open will require you to sign a W-9 form to allow the bank to pass the account info on to the IRS. Your bank choices are likely to be limited: UBS, Credit Suisse, PostFinance and the cantonal banks of Zurich and Basel seem to be the only ones still accepting American clients. Bear in mind too that you’re unlikely to get either a mortgage or investment account, only a basic checking/salary account. This is all due to the US’s FATCA law so research that by googling it and also search the forum here in the Finance/Taxation section; there are plenty of threads (unfortunately) about the problems it has been causing Americans here.

4
@3Wishes & @Medea Fleecestealer

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply to the post. So glad I asked because I had never heard of the D-Visa before now. I just assumed we could just show up at the gemeindehaus with marriage certificate etc. Guess the adjustment to Swiss life will really be shocking after all.

As for my language skills, I have been taking German classes offered here in NYC on and off and would say I'm at about A1/2 level (depending on how many martinis I've had ). I do know that the SRC requires at least a B2 level competency. So, once I arrive I'll be looking into taking intensive courses to bring me up to speed. Going to wait until we are in Switzerland in order to begin the recognition process of the SRC.

We are lucky that my husband already has a bank account established there from when he was living there last. I am just worried about being about to open one for myself, or jointly for that matter. Gotta love the good ol' USA raking in taxes. I'll be researching today!

Thanks again. By chance do either of you know the process for applying for a driver's license there? I know I wont really need a car since the Swiss make NYC transportation look like child's play, but it would be a shame for me not to at least have it.

5
Easy-peasy. Briefly - Within one year of your arrival, get a basic eye exam done at a local shop - need not cost more than 20 Francs! Tell them you need it for the DL. Get some passport-sized photos at one of the railway station kiosks. Then with the eye test and photos in hand, head down to the local Strassenverkersamt (spelling optional) with your license and your permit. They will take your license and issue a gigantic photo copy of it back to you so you can drive in the interim.

In a few weeks, they will call you back in to pick up your old license and your new one. The old one will have a sticker or stamp on it that says it's not valid in CH. It IS still valid in the U.S. provided it has not expired. Swiss license do not expire. Cost was about 110 Francs, iirc.

If your current U.S. license is less than 3 years old, get a copy of your driving history from your DMV before you come. Otherwise you'll get a provisional license here.

Note to future readers - this is the basic process for American license switch to Swiss. If you're not American your experience may be a bit different.

6
Just to add my own experience:

I am an American married to a Swiss/Canadian. We went to the NYC Swiss Consulate (fantastic people there! We had no problems) to register our marriage. They required recent copies (within 6 months) of both my birth certificate and our marriage license. Sort of a hassle, but not too bad, overall. These were sent off (by the consulate) to the Swiss authorities who then approved them, making me Officially Married to a Swiss.

Once we arrived (in Basel) we went to the Gemeinde and there I registered for a B (not D) Visa. This gives me the right to work, and so far it has been an annual renewal.

Overall, it was a quick an relatively painless procedure. Happy registering!

7
No, this is wrong. You receive a D Visa, while you are still in NY, which is afixed inside your passport which allows you to enter Switzerland as something other than a tourist. You also will receive a B Permit which is the little credit card-looking thing that you keep in your wallet which is your residency permit. Two different things altogether.

8
I used to be one of those!

Tom

9
@3Wishes phew! so happy it's a simple enough process! I'm hoping it won't be an issue if my US license also carries a motorcyle license as well. After all, it's always been a dream to ride a Ducati through Berne Oberland

General question, would it really matter if I arrived to Switzerland sans the D-Visa? I mean I am technically allowed to be in Switzerland for up to 90 days as a tourist. I plan on immediately applying for the B permit once we arrive. I don't really see the B-permit process lasting longer than 90 days... In any event guess I'll just apply for one for formalities.

10
No problem at all, they just exchange it for a Swiss one with full endorsement.

Tom

11

Don’t confuse the visa with the permit as DantesDame did. The visa allows you to enter Switzerland long term legally and that’s ALL it does. The permit grants you the right to live and work in Switzerland. If the permit isn’t approved you won’t get the visa, simple as that. And yes, it does matter. As a tourist you’re only allowed to be here for 90 days and then you have to leave the whole of the Schengen Area (most of Europe) for 90 days. Depending on the canton they can be very difficult if you don’t follow the rules so get it right first time. If you get a stroppy canton authority you’re likely to be told to return back to the US and apply for your visa there as it’s supposed to be applied for in your home country. At the least you could have to go to another EU country and apply for it there. Either way it will mean being out of Switzerland for months while you wait, is that what you really want as a newlywed? Don’t assume that everything will just be okay, the Swiss are very fond of their bureaucracy and it takes MUCH longer to do things here than you would imagine sometimes. Besides, do you really think that, assuming your husband didn’t have American citizenship, you both could arrive at the US border and he’d be allowed in as a permanent resident just like that? Of course not. The Americans have their procedures for allowing people into their territory and so do other countries so please abide by what they ask of you. It will also get you off to a good start in your new home country.

Well, you may be lucky with the bank if he already has an account, but I hope the bank knows he’s also American. If they don’t he needs to tell them because if he doesn’t and they find out later he could find the account being closed down immediately.

12
Definitely will take care of all that then. Thanks for reinforcement. I certainly am not trying to cut corners, just eager to get out of the USA. After all, the long term goal (assuming I love living in Switzerland) is to renounce US citizenship. I will make sure to get all my ducks in a row

13
I think that's close to right, but for me the permit itself was not approved until I was physically here in Switzerland. So I think for OP she will get the marriage certified/registered, get the D-visa stamped, then travel here and register at the gemeinde/commune. My B-permit was finalized and in my hands about a month after I moved here.

14

Yes

15

And what went wrong

16
He's not American anymore, for one.

17

But I ask "What went wrong "

18
Ah yes. After reading others' comments, it is all coming back to me. Hey, it was two years ago and a whirlwind of paperwork and new stuff!! When I moved here I had a special little card stapled into my passport which was checked when I came into the country (the D Visa, apparently).

THIS I can help you with!! I have a MC endorsement on my license and when I went to the office to exchange it there was at LOT of hassle because they thought the "M" on the back meant "Moped" My husband started his process before I did, and he did a lot of work of printing out and bringing in NJ gov websites that shows that the M = Motorcycle. A lot of back and forth, but he finally got his and when I went in a month later, it was a much smoother rider.

BTW - do you know where you'll be moving to? I haven't noticed that yet.

19
I became Swiss, wife died, I stopped being US, and then I married a Swiss who only speaks Italian.

At least I got out when it was still free.

Meanwhile, kids are triples.

Tom

20
Not exactly. They don't "expire" under their own terms but as my lady wife recently found out, they must be "renewed" within 30 days or so when you reach age 70 by securing a health certificate from an approved physician.

As we are not returning to Switzerland until 6 weeks after her 70th, that meant that we had to return her license for cancellation, schedule a medical appointment for after our return, and she can then have it renewed. (The old "never expiring" license was sent back to her with 3 holes punched in it "as a souvenir". Severe penalty, they said, if she did not.)

(She got that license (actually a paper one from Geneva) in 1991 as a foreign diplomat: no tests, no nothing; to exchange it for another canton in credit-card format, cost 45 francs a few years ago.)

I have a UK license, and once I reached 70 no other EU license was valid in the UK (and mine was not exchangeable since I never took any tests for it, it wasn't valid in the UK either for that reason but I didn't know that then); indeed I had to take theory and practical tests in the UK (probably easier than CH but considerably harder than the NY and Quebec tests I took as a teenager). Third time lucky. To renew those every 2 years only requires my signature. It would seem that DVLA take it that if I can sign my name I don't have dementia and am not sight-impaired.

We are dual resident, and in principle (it seems) we should exchange licenses every time we move from one country to the other; but since my vehicle is UK-registered I keep just that one, fearing that (with my CH ID card) I'd be hit by Customs if I conceded CH residence for anything but tax purposes: we are taxed in 3 countries and it hurts.

(It seems I could have exchanged my QC license for a GB one but without proof that I took the test (53 years ago!) on a manual transmission I would have had a GB license limited to automatic. Nonsense. Anyway, as my driving instructor said, over the past half-century I have picked up bad driving habits, though no tickets yet.)

Wondering what that means, maybe triple nationality? Daughter, her son and I were at the Swiss Embassy on Montagu Place yesterday to apply for Swiss passports. Daughter is US-GB-CH; her son is GB-CH only as she has never lived in the US. Apparently -- never mind the migrants massing at the border -- nobody living abroad and with more than $10,000 of assets ought to want to be American. So, they say, he is truly blessed. We have another grandchild, and when his mother applied at the same Embassy a few weeks ago for a passport for her newborn the Swiss consul said "another from your family". Guess we are the last generation to have lots of Swiss children. (That kid is CH-GB-IRL-AUS. Don't ask.)