The movers came today and packed all our things and tomorrow they will load them into the container for shipping. I was offered a job at the end of May to begin at the start of July—I was delayed because my employer's HR didn't get me the job contract until June 30th. I'm due to fly this Friday.
My newly minted husband of (of June 28th) has been looking into how to go about family reunification. This is what I thought the process was:
(1) I have to physically move to CH, get a lease and present the signed lease and job contract at the Gemeinde to get my own work permit (I'm an EU citizen)
(2) At that point, I inform the Gemeinde that he (non-EU) will be joining me
(3) He then applies at the US embassy or consulate for Family Reunification
(4) His application is granted if the apartment is big enough (since I'm EU there's little to no chance of bounce)
(5) He flies over and joins me
Here's the snag: the government websites say the family reunification application process takes 8-10 weeks minimum. There is no appointment available at the nearest consulate until August 24th.
He had intended to move over in 5-7 weeks time, second or third week of August.
Is there any way we can speed this process up? Can I put in his application in CH? And do we have to get all our documents translated into German (we're moving to canton Bern) first? I don't want the application to bounce.
He's a US citizen and I'm a British citizen. Can he enter CH and then complete the process there while learning German? Can he enter on a tourist visa and then receive a family reunification permit while in the country? I believe the visa and permit to work are separate, right?
No you’re applying for him to join you here under family reunification when you register.
He’s applying at the embassy/consulate for a Type D visa to enter Switzerland legally long term, not for family reunification, though that is the reason he needs to give on the visa application form.
No, English for the documents should be fine. It’s usually a Swiss language or English so there shouldn’t be any problems there.
Speed it up? Unlikely. Technically he’s not allowed to come here on a tourist visa and then apply for the Type D visa. That said, some cantons will make exceptions, but others will insist he leaves Switzerland again and either goes back to the US (if he already applied for the visa there) or to another country to get the visa. Zurich is noted for doin this, what Bern is like I don’t know. Given that you’re just married too, they may look more closely at the application in case this is simply a sham marriage to get him a permit and bypass the non-EU hiring rules. Whether you want to take the risk is up to you, but don’t be surprised if they do tell him to leave again.
I would advise talking to them and asking what the steps are. Sometimes these people are receptive to such things; one way we could accelerate for my wife was that everything was being sent by diplomatic post.
We convinced them to start working based on scanned and emailed documents, and just do the final stamp when the physical document arrived.
Thanks. This confirms my worst fears about the process. So we are looking at 8-10 weeks for processing with him in the US and me in CH: we might get lucky and it might take less, but we shouldn't plan on it.
He's calling the Swiss Consulate General this morning. Tried yesterday but their phone lines have short hours and he works all day and commutes.
He did phone a 24-7 365 days a year line and the people on the other end were singularly unhelpful. "Have you read the website." Little to no info on timelines or who to turn the info into, whether it has to start with an appointment, etc.
I have this past year's lease in both our names as some proof we've lived together a while (3 years). The previous lease was just in my name.
We only got married because of the move to Switzerland. We wanted to stay together so we did it.
I'm really hoping that we won't be separated for 3 months. Does this happen to families with children?
I didn't get a relocation package, so I suppose when you have a relocation package the relocation agent helps you process the paperwork and stay ahead of the process?
Times and policies have probably changed since I got married and moved to CH, but I don't see any reason why he must stay in the U.S. the entire time.
As an American citizen he's free to come and go as a tourist (i.e. to visit you) for up to 90 days in a 180-day time frame. At the very least, I'd think he can come and visit you for a while, then go back to the States to get the D-visa stamped if necessary.
Do you know which Gemeinde you're moving to? Some are more lenient than others and might let him come with you from the start and complete the registration together, since you're EU and not subject to as many hurdles as non-EUs.
We're hoping to settle on the Eastern shore of Lake Thun. Right now it's looking like Sigriswil. I'll phone them when I get a chance and see if they have someone there who speaks English. With the short time frame, our German is just A1 level. :/ He also was thinking of returning to the US for Thanksgiving and staying there until early January. So maybe we can plan on him starting the process, being in CH from 8-25(ish) until 11-20ish and then completing the Visa app. Just worried about risking the ire of the powers that be is all.
By the way, he phoned the consulate general this morning and got their phone system. It said "Press 1" for visa questions, so he pressed 1. "All information about visas can be found on our website. . . We do not answer any questions about visas by phone."
Well, to add to everything else you need to do tell him to make a note to find out what his US tax filing obligations will be in the future. As an American citizen he’s required to file US tax returns no matter where he lives in the world.
Also he/you may have trouble getting a bank account here if you want a joint account, or even separate ones. Due to FATCA and the subsequent American “taint” you’re both likely to need to sign W-9 forms to allow the bank to send the account info on to the IRS. And if any foreign, ie outside of US, account/s he has or has signing rights to comes to more than $10,000 at any time of the year they will also need to be reported on an FBAR form, again detailing account info and amounts held. And your bank choices are severely limited - UBS, Credit Suisse and maybe PostFinance. Good news - they all provide banking/info in English.
Thanks. I'd read about this before. We visited in June so he could see Switzerland and see if he wanted to move with me. He's never lived outside the US.
I tried to open a bank account and they wouldn't even give me the forms or tell me about it. Same for a contract phone.
He emailed the consulate yesterday and they said he could just post in the application and docs but it's not clear from the document they sent him whether or not he needed a copy of my residency permit (don't have one yet) or not. If it turns out they don't need one, we could have started this process a long time ago.
Do you guys think the American birth certificate will suffice or will we have to get an apostille? I'm a dual US/EU citizen. But I'm going through the process for an EU citizen. I got 5 certified copies of the marriage certificate from the issuing office. Do I need to send one off to an apostille office?
I`m in a very similar situation. My Dutch husband has got a job offer to start mid September, we are married and leaving in Australia at the moment. i`m an Australia citizen.
I am thinking to apply for my visa type D as soon as he gets his contract all signed off, so i`m not planning on wait for his residence permit to be issued, as this will take a while..
So, I`m very keen to hear if your husband could lodge his application without the residence permit and also how long it took for him to get a positive feedback..
We are going to leave around Berne, so will be neighbors.
Good luck and really hope he gets his visa granted soon.
Boo hiss! I started the apostille process yesterday just in case. Well, I guess, better safe than sorry. And maybe they'll be impressed and speed it along? I know I'm dreaming on that front!
Hi Cristiblue! So far my husband started the process but has not submitted. He's getting the photos today. The form he was told to fill in did have a space for my residence permit number so he left that blank, and once he has the photos and marriage certificate he's going to submit it. We're hoping that if it doesn't have my residence permit info yet he'll be able to add it later. What else can you do?
Just to let you know, we managed to contact the Swiss embassy here in Sydney. They instrcted us to write "EU citizen" in the field where the permit nUmber is requested.
They also said i am free to visit Swtizerland as a tourist when waiting for my visa to be issued. And when it is granted, i can also request to receive it in another Swiss embassy in Europe, like Paris. i don't need to fly all the way to Australia to have the stamp!!
Yes, yes and yes. This can hardly be stressed enough. Medea Fleecestealer is right about this! About whatever steps you take, whether to do with the permits or anything else, you need to check that you conform to the rules of the Canton and, in some areas of your life, the Municipality (called "Gemeinde" in German) in which you live.
Just a quick update: I registered with my Gemeinde and did ask them whether my husband can join me on a tourist visa while he waits for his D visa and they said yes. So all's well almost ends well.
At the same time, I am still waiting for my work permit. The Gemeinde says my employer should have applied for it (I'm an EU citizen so I don't think that's true). The employer says it's the Gemeinde's responsibility. The canton migration office person I spoke to on the phone said she didn't have access to the system to check if an application was even filed by one or other, so I should just email. ...I am getting used to the Swiss life.