How and if i can go live with my Swiss boyfriend without being married

Welcome and Introductions
1
hi this is my first post, and am totally lost, I am from Honduras and currently dating a swiss citizen from bern. We want to take our relation further and be able to spend more time together so we decided i move to switzerland to be with him. We both agree that we want to live together for at least a year before deciding on taking another step like getting married.

I have contacted my consulate and they gave me the option of applying for the VISA D - family reunification, they said that we could apply for this even if we are not married, she even sent me the forms and list of documents i need to get... and it basically all depends on if my boyfriend can financially support me during this time ( he can)... but we have not found anything online or on official websites where it states that we can apply for family reunification without being married, we are basically relying on an email that i got from an assistan at the honduran consulate..

Is this kind of visa available without us being married under the family reunification? How long does it allow me to stay in switzerland if it is approved? If it is available we have been told we will be interviewed, any tips on what to expect?

Thanks so much any information at this point will be great especially to know if our situation actually applies for this type of visa

2
Possible, but with restrictions and you might have to jump through a lot of hoops.

https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home...rmalities.html

3
omg thank you I had not been able to find that.. yeah im sure the jumping through hoops will be kind of inevitable.

4
First, note that a visa in Switzerland is only to enter the country. Then there is the residence permit that allows a person to stay and live here.

You have two options that would allow you to come here for a longer term than as a tourist.

1. Fiancee visa. This means you're actively planning a wedding and want to get married in Switzerland.

2. Concubine permit. Yes, that's what it's called. Not all cantons offer it. Basically your boyfriend agrees to be financially responsible for you for 5 years. Generally speaking, you're not allowed to work with this type of permit.

I can't find the links quickly, but as your boyfriend is Swiss let him do some of the legwork. Have him call his cantonal migration office and ask for the relevant information.

Expect to provide detailed information about your relationship - how and where you met, how long you've been together, how many times you've visited each other, vacation photos and receipts, etc.

Good luck!

5
Thank you so much. As a honduran i dont need a visa to enter and can stay th 90 days that the schenfen treaty allows. But we need a visa if im planning to enter and stay for longer which is what we are trying to do. Ok so i will tell him to look for the concubine permit in his canton. Thanks again and if you find the links even more thanks

6
Yes, you can stay 90 days out of 180. So say if you came June 1 and stayed 90 days, you have to leave for 90 days after that. It's not convenient but you could probably manage.

I can't find anything on whether Bern offers a concubine permit. Here's a link to the cantonal migration page: http://www.portal.sites.be.ch/portal...migration.html

7
This means that a partner (your boyfriend) takes a far greater risk with a "concubine permit", as it is called, than if he were to marry.

Marriages (and their financial obligations) can be ended through divorce, but the 5 year-guarantee, as far as I understand it, is for any expenses incurred by the concubine (you) during the 5 year-period, so his financial burden can effectively last beyond the 5 years, even if you are no longer together or have left Switzerland again by then.

I'd recommend that you and your partner have a good, long talk to compare the pros and cons of your visiting repeatedly, as 3Wishes set out, of living together under such a concubine commitment, and of being married.

8
Yes we will we had just been told we could get a visa d through the consulate without being married. So now we will start looking into this concubine permit and then see what choice we make..

Thanks again for all of the info and links you have no idea how much we appreciate it

9

Bear in mind that this type of permit is usually only issued for couples in long term, committed relationships. If you’ve only been together for a few months it’s unlikely to be granted.

10
Strongly second this excellent advice from 3Wishes!

IMO it really is important for your boyfriend to take the lead on researching what permit possibilities might apply to your situation and then working with the authorities to apply. Your boyfriend speaks the language, understands 'the Swiss way' to deal with authorities.

More importantly, I have seen over and over again that taking the lead on the permit process often opens the Swiss partner's eyes to issues he or she might never have considered wrt the kinds of hurdles a foreign partner might have to face here - which IMO is very, very important to the stability of the relationship.

Few of us understand the rigors of immigration in our home countries - doG knows I wouldn't know where to begin if I wanted to sponsor someone in mine - so I understand first turning to other foreigners to learn about their experiences, share their knowledge. And folks here are happy to help.

But as the sponsoring partner, your boyfriend will need - and should want - to get up to speed on the process in order to make the transition easier for you both.

All the best to you both, and thumbs pressed you are successful.

11
yes he has been in contact with the migration office but its all kind of mixed messages..they told him that we could apply for the vissa d under the family reunification without being married which to me sounds strange.. and no one from his immigration office o here at the consulate has said anything about the "concubine permit" so its still pretty much he said she said

12
One of the aspects that sometimes get consufed is that a VISA is not the same thing as a PERMIT.

A VISA is permission to enter Switzerland, that is, to cross the border. Some nationalities (like those of the EU) don't need any visa to enter Switzerland. Others do.

There are different types of visas. One, for example, is the visa "for the agreed purpose to enter the country to get everything prepared to get married soon". Another type is a tourist visa, just to have a holiday and then leave again for quite a long while before coming back.

A PERMIT is the certificate that gives you permission to live in Switzerland, to move in, bring your luggage, and make your home here. There are different types pf permits, too. One type allows someone to live here, with their Swiss partner, but it does not automatically include permission to work here. Other types of permits give someone permission to work, and in fact they are allowed to stay because they have a job.

Even your Swiss partner, if he has never had to make this kind of enquiry before, might not know the difference; many people do not. Most of the information one gets starts to make more sense if you (and he) can divide it up between VISA and PERMIT.

VISA

https://www.ch.ch/en/entering-switzerland-visa

PERMIT

https://www.ch.ch/en/renewal-overvie...sidence-permit

I also totally agree with 3Wishes and meloncollie, that your partner should be doing a lot of this research. If I were in your shoes, I'd want to understand, too, so great that you are reading and thinking, too, but it will probably be much more accessible for him, since he knows the "Swiss way" and will be able to read the laws.