Hello everyone, I lost my B residence permit when I am travelling abroad.I have a photocopy of permit, however I dont think it will be useful document.
I have my flight to Switzerland this Sunday and am hardpressed to enter the country because of prior work commitments.
Does anyone know, what is the easiest and fastest way to enter Switzerland ? Should I apply for a multi entry visa ? Please help me on what should I do.
Did I understand correctly that legally you have a B-permit, you just lost the document? Then there is no obstacle for you to enter Switzerland with your normal passport and report the Ausländerausweis as stolen/lost asap and they will issue a new one.
Is there a swiss embasssy/consulate general near where you are living ?
We came back from our summer holidays and our new permits had not been issued. All we had was a copy of a letter from the migrations authority saying our work permission for Zurich had been approved - and apart from being looked up and down (and we kept smiling!) - it was OK...
The last three times I have been out of the country fell in a period between my old permit expiring and the new one not being issued on time to leave, the customs guy (or girl) just huffed and puffed, gave me the Swiss stare, two clicks on the computor in front of him and hey presto - no problems Mr RTN, welcome home. As long as the permit has not expired you should not have a problem. You will need a police report before you can get a new one.
I had my permit stolen from my car in France a few years ago, I had to report it to the French Police & then go and make a second report to the Zurich Police. I was then able to get a new permit, small fee as expected.
Could you tell me at last how you went back to Switzerland. Now I am experencing the similar situation with you. My purse was stolen in Scotland and I try to contact the embassy they said I need to go to London to apply a visa to go back. It is so annoyying. So I want to know with the copy of the permit and my passport can I go back?
What nationality are you ? That will make a big difference whether you are 'free' to re-enter Switzerland.
As an Australian, we re-entered on expired permits but with only a letter from the migration authorities saying that our permits had been approved, and we got through.
If you are a UK or EU citizen I'd expect you to not have problems with a copy of the permit and your passport, since you are free to move anyway within the Schengen agreement for 'vacation' purposes.
If you are non-eu then you may have further difficulties - certainly the airlines check we have our permits before we board the plane...every time...
Thanks for your reply. The situation is really difficult for me now. I am Chinese and studying in Switzerland. I try to contact the swiss embassy in UK, they asked me to go to London to apply a visa to enter Switzerland. But now I am exchanging in Scotland, it is really troublesome to travel to London and apply the visa. Btw, it costs a lot. But since bad thing already happened, what I can to except try my best to get myself out of this hard situation. This is life.