I am currently on a B permit in Zurich. My permit expired a few days ago and despite having applied for a renewal well in advance, I still haven't received my new one yet. To make things complicated, I had planned a vacation to Spain for next week.
After having read here about similar cases, I think I can get a return visa at the Migrationsamt. But I am a non-EU citizen and I am wondering whether I can visit Spain without a valid residence permit? I would suppose the return visa is only for entry back to Switzerland. Is that not the case?
A national visa of type D issued by a Schengen state (which the CH return visa is) allows one to cross the outer Schengen border at any point and legally stay in all the Schengen states except the issuing one for 90 days in any 180 day period (i.e. just like a Schengen residence permit). So don't worry, going to Spain having that visa in your passport instead of a permit card is completely fine.
I am also non-EU and a few years ago I was required to travel within Europe during my B permit renewal process. Like you, my travel date arrived before I received my new B permit. I was issued a D visa that covered me for I think 3 months.
I had to physically go to the strangers office to get the D visa. It took only minutes for them to process this, hopefully you have the same outcome.
If you already have a B permit in the process of renewal, getting a D visa should be straightforward.
I'm in a similar situation. I just wanted to ask how long it took to get the re-entry visa? Last I heard the migration office in Zurich is backed-up with work.
Mine took minutes, as it was an over-the-counter service I queued up for. The backlogs in the migration office refer to regular residence permit processing.
One thing to note is that they can print a D visa on the spot and they will stick it in your passport, but you need to bring a photo of yourself (plus your passport), and you will of course have to pay a fee. This Is Switzerland.
No, in Zurich you don't actually need to bring a photo for the return visa, they take a photo (and fingerprints) for you at the biometric station (the same as for the permit) on the spot. It costs 90 or 92 CHF, yes, I don't remember exactly how much