C permit at home, about to expire

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
My (adult) son is stuck in Abu Dhabi, as he's recently recovered from covid and needs two negative PCR tests before he can come home (in fact, before he can even go into the airport). He's a permanent resident in BL. Since 30% of people still test positive a month after recovery and it can take 3 months to be clear, he could be there for a while.

The thing is

a) He left his C permit at home

b) It's up for renewal 18th February.

c) It'll be a swap to a biometric permit from the paper one, so he needs to be there in person!

Obviously, he's going to call to ask what to do.

I have two questions.

1. Has anyone has faced a similar situation concerning renewal - and what did you do?

2. What is the experience who are back in Switzerland from a third country (in this case the UK) and they left their permit in their Swiss apartment?

2
I’d say he’s better off with his permis C in hand, even if it’s expired. Courier it out to him. C permits don’t really expire, they just need to be renewed from time to time.

He should contact his control des habitants and inform them of the situation, or perhaps you can do that for him. They might be able to give him a temporary document.

Third country nationals need their permits to reenter Switzerland from a non-Schengen country.

3
As a British citizen, he doesn't - but he'd get a stamp in his passport which could cause difficulty!

Yep - he'll call the migrationsamt. Good point about the C permit. I've already suggested we can courier it to him.

4
Before I became Swiss I was a third country national and I had to present my passport AND my permit when arriving by air.

That since the early-naughties, before that they weren’t so worried.

All Brits should carry their permits with them if they are leaving the country.

Only Serbian tennis players are exempt from this rule.

5
I've impressed that point on him. As has his wife, because it cause some fun when he didn't have it on the way to Abu Dhabi.

6
Are you a British Citizen? Residency permit isn't required to enter.

7
It's not. But if you don't present your permit, you get an entry stamp in your passport, which could be problematic at a later date, possibly.

The bigger problem is the renewal.

8
As others have said, it is best if he has his C permit with him, even if it expired.

And the other advice, to contact the migration amt and ask them how to solve the problem, is the best idea.

The consulate in UAE can certainly issue whatever document he needs, and the sooner they are advised of the problem, the better...

https://www.eda.admin.ch/countries/u...s/embassy.html

9
Problem sorted. They decided that his wife and kids would fly back today, and he'd wait until he got a negative test. Turned out the airport were happy with one negative test (and Etihad).

He got a negative test yesterday, so flew back with them. Zürich immigration weren't happy about the lack of C permit, but as he was travelling with his Swiss family, they let him through anyway.

10
Great news.

ACs are a pain in the proverbial though, hey. They always know better- say 'don't nag' and then call for 'HELP'