Hello Crimson,

I am an Estonian living in Bern with my Swiss boyfriend, have been here for about 18 months. I started the long procedure of applying for a permit 4 months before I moved here, and it took another month to get an answer, so all in all about 5 months! Together with the application, my boyfriend signed a paper that he would be financially responsible for me etc. Several months later (I applied through the Swiss Embassy in Finland, and maybe therefore it took so long time), he got a letter from the Gemeinde asking some questions like "how long have you known each other", "where did you meet" etc. He answered these, then we heard nothing again. Then some weeks later, he got another letter from the cantonal authorities, asking more questions like "what is her (i.e. my) education", "if she (I) plans to work in CH" etc. He answered, of course. By that time I was already here in Bern, and we were running out of time as I was 8,5 months pregnant and without any health insurance here. So I needed the permit urgently in order to be able to have the baby without ending up in bankrupcy He called the responsible person up, several times. After a week or so he was finally told that I will get the B-permit, but that it would take another 2-3 weeks. This much time we did not have, and after explanation of the situation (i.e. baby coming every minute ), I received a short-time permit (L) in a couple of days. Then, after 6 months I received a 5-year B permit which also allows me to work in the whole Switzerland. But it is mentioned on the permit that "has a child who is of Swiss citizenship" So, I don't really know what type of a permit I would've got "without the child"... the kind that allows to work or not...

One little experience I had showing that sometimes the authorities (especially local i.e. Gemeinde) are possibly out-of-date with their information, so maybe it's worth checking out important matters from several sources: some time after my daughter was born, I received a residence permit for her (and of course an invoice for it). I called the Gemeinde and asked why do the send me this if my daughter has Swiss citizenship, she is not Ausländerin. The answer was that since her parents are unmarried, the baby is not Swiss. I said she is, they said she isn't. Next day I got an e-mail saying that indeed, the baby is Swiss, but I would still need to pay the invoice for the permit since the permit was already issued!!! I argued that it's not my fault that they do not know their own laws and make such a mess. I didn't have to pay the invoice, of course.

Sorry for the long post

Let us know how it goes, you can also write me privately if you want and since we both live in Bern, maybe we could even meet sometimes


Ave