I am an EU national with C permit and my girlfriend has a student D visa (L permit, deepening knowledge of German langage), which expires at the end of September (coming from Ukraine).
We have just decided to get married, and we are kicking off the whole marriage preparation process. However we are concerned that we may not make it before the VISA expeiration as it appears it will take some time to obtain the documents in a timely manner and book the civil wedding location (Zurich, where we would like to get married, seems booked out already until end of September!). At the same, given the corona situation, Schengen is currently closed for Ukraine.
With these constraints in mind, would you have any recommendations on how to make it possible to extend her stay legally and get married? I reckon 1 extra month or max 2 would be sufficient to organize the whole thing.
I thank you very much in advance for the help and tips!
It’s not a question of when the D visa expires, but when does the L permit. The D visa has done it’s job allowing her to be in the country for more than the 90 day tourist limit. It now means nothing. The L permit gives her the right to live/study here.
If the L permit expires at the end of September then you/she should apply for a fiancé permit which allows her to stay here to help with the wedding preparations.
Many thanks for your reply. I must have misexplained indeed, her L permit expires end of September.
For the fiancee permit - I understand that would have be to requested from Ukraine? For this permit I am also concerned about timing requirements (in some websites I read 8-12 week ), e.g.
I book the location for Zurich on 23 October - but the Fiance permit only starts 1 November basically meaning - 1. She'd have to leave the country for a month 2. Location cancelled
I’m not sure, did you ask the cantonal migration office? Pretty sure some people must decide to marry when they’re living here and don’t need to go back to their home countries to get a new permit.
I went to the immigration office two days ago when I didn't have a lot information on docs required...
They "shut me down" by saying 2 months is a lot of time and I will figure it out, but the more I am looking into it, the more I realize two months is quite a limited amount of time..
Hi, I have never applied for the financé visa/ permit, but here is some information that might be helpful for you:
First, you need to understand the difference between visa and permit. Visas are only necessary for people entering the country (i.e. Switzerland) from outside. Permits are what you need to stay legally in the country over a longer period of time. Since your fiancée is already residing IN Switzerland, she will only need a permit, not a visa. That means, she does not need to go back to Ukraine and apply for the fiancé visa at the Swiss Embassy/ Consulate there. She just needs to submit an application for the permit here in Switzerland.
What you need to do is to go to the immigration office of your canton and submit an application for that permit. (Permits in Switzerland are only categorised as L, B, C, G, etc. There is no "fiancé permit" so to say, but I don't know exactly which kind it will be, maybe an L permit, and then switched to a B once you are married) Between the day when you submit the application and the day of decision (approval/ refusal), your fiancée will be allowed to stay in Switzerland legally. So there shouldn't be any problem/ scare with regards to her current expiring permit.
I have an EU/EFTA citizenship and I am doing a PhD with B student permit. My husband has non-EU citizenship. After graduation (back then he hold B student permit), he could not find a job, because of permit issue. After getting married, he has received B permit based on mine and now already for 2 years he is working based on it. Since it is now his 10th year (uninterrupted) here in Switzerland, and he has a german certificate, he will apply for C permit. However, can we really hope that he could get C permit, even he has now B permit based on mine?
Thanks in advance for sharing opinions/knowledge. Anyway, I will share all info as soon as we start with this procedure and get respond. Best, Klara