Very confused! question about Switzerland and Schengen.....

[yaom]

Ok to start with the story I want to say that I am an American citizen who worked in Belgium for 3 years, more specifically NATO, while in Belgium I never needed to worry about schengen or any type of visa as nato covered me.....

while in belgium I met my partner who is a Hungarian citizen therefore EU citizen and we started dating, so far we've been together 2 years.... my partner was working in Belgium for the EU and now was sent to Swtizerland to work for his national delegation in the UN.....

As for me my contract expired in Belgium and I needed to go back to the USA, so I quit my job and my partner and I decided that we will register our partnership as we are both males...... Hungary allows this type of same sex unions as well as Switzerland.

The main problem arises as I am currently in switzerland with him under the 90 days free visa waiver, I am on day 63..... So I know that before 90 days I have to leave Schengen

We just started looking into the whole process of registering our relationship so I could come live with him legally...... so we assume it might not be a good idea to overstay my 90 days in schengen!

however the whole registering the partnership process can take up to a month and by a month it will already be over 90 days!!!!

We were wondering about getting some type of visa extension based on registration of relationship purposes but we don't really know what to do!!!

then to make matters more complicated, will I have the right to move to Switzerland with him? he is a EU national working for the UN and in Geneva, not an actual citizen or resident of Switzerland... rather part of a diplomatic corp nevertheless however a European national..... I will be his registered under the law partner!!!!

my concern is working and studying and doing something with my life while I am in Switzerland if Switzerland actually allows me to be with my partner!!!! will I have any type of rights applicable to spouses of EU nationals?

Will Switzerland even allow me to live here while my partner is here? he will be in Geneva for 4 years!

Apparently Switzerland has a law that recognizes same sex unions from anywhere in the EU but I am a non EU national

is it a good idea to overstay my schengen 90 days visa free deal and just register our partnership? or should I go back to the USA and apply for some type of marriage/partnership visa and come back to Switzerland and take care of business?

I decided to ask this forum since I often read it looking for information and there seem to be very knowledgeable people!

I really appreciate any kind of guidance any of you can give me!

Thank you

[ca.funke]

Hi yaom,

all I know is that you are in a bunch of exceptions, which will make it hard to give specific advice.

CH not in the EU, so 2004/38/EC does not apply.

And Switzerland has some funny additional rules for EU-citizens from the memberstates which are not from the EU-15.

My experience is that the local communities are more than willing to help, thus my first instinct would be to go to the townhall and enquire about it there. If you decide to do that - be aware that the folks at the counters sometimes tell you stuff which simply isn´t right. So ask different clerks and compare their answers / try to confirm what they tell you through looking it up on official Swiss websites.

Good luck,
Christian

[Wanderer]

My people in CH say gay couples need 7 years proof of cohab/relationship.

[republique]

My people in CH say gay couples need 7 years proof of cohab/relationship.

Really, that would be discriminatory
too bad you didn't mention this before you left belgium, many people commence the eu visa status in belgium and then transfer it over to the next eu state under "reciprocity"
Anyway you can reestablish yourself or appear you are still in belgium and apply for residency and relationship visa there?

[Wanderer]

My people in CH say gay couples need 7 years proof of cohab/relationship.

Really, that would be discriminatory
too bad you didn't mention this before you left belgium, many people commence the eu visa status in belgium and then transfer it over to the next eu state under "reciprocity"
Anyway you can reestablish yourself or appear you are still in belgium and apply for residency and relationship visa there?

Well CH isn't an EU state so it can do what it likes I suppose....

[republique]

My people in CH say gay couples need 7 years proof of cohab/relationship.

Really, that would be discriminatory
too bad you didn't mention this before you left belgium, many people commence the eu visa status in belgium and then transfer it over to the next eu state under "reciprocity"
Anyway you can reestablish yourself or appear you are still in belgium and apply for residency and relationship visa there?

Well CH isn't an EU state so it can do what it likes I suppose....

I am not outraged, it is pretty consistent behavior for Switzerland, just that they try to give off the aura of neutrality. Doesn't seem to neutral this condition.

[pierre75]

Switzerland does recognize the 2004/38 but in a very strange way (by their supreme court ).

Here is the circular (january 27th, 2010) which explains that even Metock ruling is recognized in Switzerland now :

http://multinational.leforum.eu/p1918.htm

For the full story about 2004/38 or not and Metock or not in Switzerland :

http://multinational.leforum.eu/t444-La ... Metock.htm

So, in my view, the main question doesn't seem related to 2004/38 but only to know if Switzerland recognizes or not registered partnership or cohabitation.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Nice to see that some of the ECJ rulings are now (explicitly) applying in Switzerland!

Getting a formalized "registered partnership" is probably the best way to go. Can you do that in Denmark or the Netherlands or Spain in a time frame that makes sense? Uk is likely not an option because you would either need a special visa or both be settled here.

[yaom]

Hi yaom,

all I know is that you are in a bunch of exceptions, which will make it hard to give specific advice.

CH not in the EU, so 2004/38/EC does not apply.

And Switzerland has some funny additional rules for EU-citizens from the memberstates which are not from the EU-15.

My experience is that the local communities are more than willing to help, thus my first instinct would be to go to the townhall and enquire about it there. If you decide to do that - be aware that the folks at the counters sometimes tell you stuff which simply isn´t right. So ask different clerks and compare their answers / try to confirm what they tell you through looking it up on official Swiss websites.

Good luck,
Christian

So far it has been a mess

we went to the Geneva town hall and we got all the paperwork they wanted, the lady at the town hall asked us to go to the canton population office and tell them our story to see what they can do for us.

so we did and the lady at that office went hysterical telling us how I wanted to break the law by registering our partnership without having a proper marriage visa in switzerland!!! she told me that I need to go back to the US, apply for a marriage visa and come back.

then I called the swiss embassy in the USA and comes up schengen (switzerland falls within it) DOES NOT LONGER HAVE MARRIAGE VISAS!!! for an American all you need is the 90 free visa waiver, then marry and that's it!

so right now, we're puzzled as what to do, meanwhile I'm on day 84 of my schengen 90 days, and counting and I am going CRAZY!!!!

since my partner IS NOT A LEGAL RESIDENT OF SWITZERLAND, but rather a member of a european diplomatic corp and his presence in switzerland is merely based on the fact that he is a diplomat until 2013, therefore he does not pay taxes in switzerland, he is a foreign diplomat working for the UN and not really considered an actual inhabitant of switzerland.... then we decided to call hungary to see if we can marry there.

so far they told us it's ok to marry in hungary with the 90 day free waiver visa program, but I will not have enough time....

Now I am stuck, my 90 days expire on 6 days and no plain tickets available that I can buy, so I can go back home, so we're trying to see if we can some how go to Croatia, get a new stamp and then marry right away in budapest.

this schengen thing is one of the most beaurocratic confusing things ever!!!

you go to the ones who are supposed to know and they almost kick your butt for trying to understand the situation, then u go to other people and they give u wrong information etc. etc. etc. everyone has an opinion but no one can give us a definite answer!!!

from my own research it seems as if we register our partnership in hungary, then once i have some time of permit from hungary to live there, maybe I can come to switzerland with the love of my life!!!

and on the US side is not any easier.... since we're gay then no rights for me as to bring my partner back home......

it's very sad.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Just to be clear, do you want to marry or have a registered partnership?

Did you go back to the Canton person and tell them what the Swiss embassy in the US said? You might even call them from the Canton worker's office...

It is in interesting question what your partner's status is as a diplomat.

You can always marry in any of the Canadian provinces, though I am not sure what the waiting time is. (Only one couple has apparently been married in Nunavut http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_m ... _in_Canada)

[yaom]

Just to be clear, do you want to marry or have a registered partnership?

Did you go back to the Canton person and tell them what the Swiss embassy in the US said? You might even call them from the Canton worker's office...

It is in interesting question what your partner's status is as a diplomat.

You can always marry in any of the Canadian provinces, though I am not sure what the waiting time is. (Only one couple has apparently been married in Nunavut http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_m ... _in_Canada)

register our partnership as this is the only right we can get as far as marrying in both switzerland and my partner's home country hungary

we found out, switzerland recognizes same sex registered partnerships from anywhere in the european union.... so in that aspect is an advantage as hungary is in the EU.

my partner spoke to an immigration officer from hungary over the phone and they told him that try to do the whole go to croatia by land come back and get a new stamp (not sure how legal it is)

we also spoke to the cantonal employee over the phone and said that now I need some papers regarding why I am moving to CH, if our partnership is not a fraud so I can get a CH residency card (even after specifying that he is a diplomat on a temporary united nations mission here therefore he is exempt from normal immigration procedures, he is not an actual immigrant) we told them we qualify for some exceptions, because he is a temporary UN worker but they insist on going the way where I will be like an immigrant trying to marry an immigrant in CH so I can come live here! and taking that route not only makes it longer but extremly hard

yet according to swiss law I should be exempt from norma immigration procedures as I will be the mere partner or a temporary diplomatic worker in an international organization based out of geneva!!!!

it's truly frustrating, dont you think?

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Does your partner's office not have a somebody whose job it is to sort these things out for the diplomats?