What is a good way to get information from Migration Office of Canton Zurich as a non-German speaker?
The situation is that I applied for a national visa (student visa). I included a 'power-of-attorney'-ish authorization for a school office to act for me during the visa application. A while ago, I contacted Canton to ask something and also ask about application status. They told me to direct any question to the school office. The issue is that the school officer has been on holiday for a few weeks already.
Now I am left in the dark. The embassy and the school mentioned earlier that after 6 weeks if I don't hear anything, I should contact the Canton or the school office. I am not sure if the Canton has communicated or requested something to the school office during the school officer hiatus.
I am aware that the visa application can take arbitrarily long. I am okay to wait, but just want to check if there is any issue after 6 week elapses :-)
Students starting their studies in September 2020: Please do not apply for your entry visa until 15.6.2020! Visa applications that reach the Migration Office of the Canton of Zurich before this date will not be processed! At some embassies it takes several weeks before you receive a personal appointment for submitting your visa application. Please check with the relevant embassy to find out when you can make an appointment for mid/end of June.
In general (but not always) the Swiss way is to follow the instructions. So if you've been told by the immigration authorities that you should contact your university (ETH), then that's what you should do. It seems unlikely, to me, that the ETH will be shut down.
Here's another page saying more or less the same thing as above:
There, however, on the right, are the contact details of the admissions office, specifically for Masters students. You could mail there. Even though they're very busy, it is likely that they will reply within a working week, if not sooner.
ETH international student office (the one I am told to contact) has an automated email response saying that the officer is out of office for 2+ weeks already.
I feel ghosted out because other students emailed zurich migration office asking about visa application status and they did get direct responses.
Another strange thing is that other students who applied at the embassy I applied on the same day already got their visa approved 3+ weeks ago. I don't think my application and personal circumstance are too different from those students who applied at the same embassy, so I am quite confused why it takes very long for me. I wonder if there is an issue with my document (such as documents went missing) that the canton didn't let me know but instead inform the ETH now-closed office long time ago, but because the office is closed I don't know about this issue.
The link I posted above has a mail address specifically for incoming masters students . That seemed to be the appropriate route.
You could at least ask them what you should do next. Perhaps forward them the mail that you've addressed to the other office, and also their response that they are now closed.
They're much more likely to know than we are, here, since they deal with enquiries like yours, all the time.
Edit: I'd like to add that I understand your frustration. It is awful not knowing what's what and when things will get sorted out. However, as this forum shows, and the website of the ETH shows, every single academic year some students have to wait a long time for their applications to be processed. This year, in particular, everything is even more delayed because of covid. I wish you patience!
Yes, thanks for your kind encouragement! I think I might try calling ETH office next week during their consultation hour, which should be quicker than emailing back and forth.
My point was certainl ynot that you ask them what the migration authorities are doing, but that you ask them what you should do next, given that the other office seems to be closed. The answer might just be, "sorry, wait", but perhaps they could tell you when that other office will be open again.