Options for residency/permits: Seeking hard facts and probabilities

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Hello Forum,

Hope the power of the community can help me here

I’m British, my wife is Swiss we were married in CH, our kids are duel and we’re trying to get us all settled in CH (from the UK) asap. Reason... My father-in-law passed unexpectedly in Jan and we’ve been back and forth from the UK trying to support a struggling mum (and her very sick mum) and resolve family matters since... Its been, and continues to be infinitely challenging!

We’ve decided we have no option but to relocate to CH immediately to be closer to the mums and to provide some stability for the kids before school/kindi seasons start again in Aug/Sept. We are currently ’squatting’ at mum’s house but isn’t sustainable.

My 90 allowed Schengen days expire this week due to these visits so I’m having to leave having assumed an extension or permit was viable and in hand, but for various reasons, seems it wasn’t.

There has been much confusion regarding our options from all directions, but I’m looking for hard facts and probabilities (if needed) to help me push through with a solution to this quandary. The Aarau immigration office and the Swiss embassy in London haven’t been too helpful or responsive and the British Embassy in Bern just point us back to either of them.

Looking at this with fresh eyes, can anybody help please suggest our best options for residency or permits etc?

A few variables to throw in to cut to the chase:

- We’re both freelancers (in design etc)

- I’m scheduled to start a PT PhD (UK / confirmed remote) in Sept

- I have a Maltese birth cert (75) and am applying for dual cit (very slow!)

- The pandemic wiped us both out financially (we’re clawing our way out so not loaded!)

- Mum lives in Aargau

Tbh... With the complexities of family politics and emotions still high, things have slipped into the ‘chaos zone’ , so any immediate advice would be super helpful. (...and apologies for the lack of formal intro yet... I guess this is me at the moment... will post there ASAP)

Thank you!

Ginger

2
Your wife moves here and applies for family reunification.

3

Welcome to the forum.

Well, for EU/ETFA nationals they have to prove the main permit holder earns enough to support their dependents and that they have accommodation big enough for said dependents. Not sure if it’s the same for Swiss nationals though; it may be a case that said criteria doesn’t apply in their cases. It’s not clear on the ch.ch website if that’s the case or not.

https://www.ch.ch/en/family-and-part…reunification/

If it does apply then your wife would need to show she earns enough to support you since she’s the Swiss national wanting to bring her dependents into the country. From what you said that doesn’t sound possible financially atm; the accommodation at mum’s place might be considered big enough, but again that depends on how big the place is. Otherwise she’d need to find a place to rent that meets the accommodation requirement.

Hopefully some other EF members will be along a bit later with more info/guidance for you.

4
Have your wife and kids registered as living in Switzerland? Have they also applied for family reunification for you?

5
Accommodation requirement does not apply to Swiss, and only one family member isn't Swiss, so no problem.

Tom

6
The 90 days limit applies to any 180 day period, so unless your stay so far was uninterrupted (unlikely as you use visits in plural) you'll "gain" additional days before another 90 days have passed.

I realise money is tight. Still, Aargau is a border canton so Germany may be usefully close. I believe that, as a Maltese you have the unconditional right to stay there for up to three months, you could use that to bridge the Swiss 90 days limit and cross over daily.

Mind, I have no idea if or how that would affect the legality of your UK residence.

7
It won't.