I just received my B Permit and I'm trying to find answers to some basic questions.
My B Permit was issued this January, however I did not receive the new "credit card" permit which has been discussed in other threads.
What I have is a two page document (paper), pages are separated, one page is with the photo and the other one contains information about the expiry date, issue date, my address and DOB. Do I assume correctly that I have received the "old" type B Permit ?
Was I supposed to receive the "credit card" type permit instead ?
I'm also a holder of EU passport with Australian B Permit, however I'm now taking up the residency in Switzerland while my door is still open in Australia for the next 5 years should I wish to return (the Australian B Permit is valid for 5 years).
Am I now required to travel with the Swiss B Permit document in order to present this document whenever I'm returning to Switzerland ?
I guess my confusion is that I was expecting to get a B Permit Visa in my passport, or am I actually not required to have the Swiss B Permit "sticker" in my passport as well ?
When traveling between EU and Switzerland is it sufficient to carry just my EU identification document or the Swiss B Permit or both, or do I have to carry passport as well ?
Sounds like you have the old permit. Switzerland does not issue visas in passports, but issues the residence permit. Australia issues the permanent residency visa in your passport. You *should* carry your Swiss permit with you at all times. The credit card permit costs extra too.
Just a word of warning - should you ever wish to return to Australia you need to re-enter Australia and settle within 5 years. You can no longer extend your Australian permanent residency without living there 3 out of the last 5 years or 1 out of the last 2. Even if your partner holds an Australian passport you will still need to apply to migrate back to Australia and pay a $1000 fee the last time I checked (unless your wife goes with the kids first and then you apply).
Your B permit sounds like mine- an old style one. You need to have it with you in Switzerland but it isn't a travel document. You would usually need to use your passport or id for other countries but have your B with you for re-entry.
I'd suggest travelling with both your swiss permit and your passport at all times.
We went to the UK for the weekend, and because we stated that we lived in Zurich, the airline check-in required us to present all our residency permits...our passport wasn't 'good enough' because our official address was given as zurich...so we needed to show that we had residency there...
Thing is, it's the airlines that get fined if they 'accidentally' allow someone through without the necessary paperwork (so you need to present your passport with your ticket/e-ticket when you pick up your boarding pass - or you scan it in one of those fancy 'self-check-in' machines...
Personally, I figure if we have both, we can't go wrong...and for us that means 5x because we have three children !
And also, store a photocopy in a safe place just in case!
PS. I know someone who has permanent residency and married to an Australian, but has a UK passport, used her UK passport to get into Europe/UK then in Italy they refused her onto the plane to go back to Australia, because she had used her UK passport to get out, and didn't have a re-entry or tourist visa, and was travelling on her UK passport 'for convenience' and had nothing to show that she had the right of residency in Australia, and of course was travelling 'one way' into Australia, so couldn't be considered a 'tourist'...OOPS...it took 3 hours for someone to raise someone in the immigration office in Canberra (Australia) to look up her file and fax through an authorisation...
I can help with this question as we have been dealing extensively with the Vaud authorities in the last few weeks for many new permits.
According to the Vaud authorities, they are only issueing the credit card type permits to non-EU members. EU-members will be begin receiving them only towards the end of the year.