Hi All,

I hope someone can guide me with this issue as it´s been really confusing for me and my Swiss partner.

We got married in Spain this past summer, as you know in Spain gay marriage is fully recognised. I was a legal resident in Spain before we got married but the Swiss consulate informed us that prior us moving to Switzerland I needed a visa, this visa took nearly three months. When we contacted Bern to make the arrangements to get my swiss ID card they informed us that the visa was not completely necessary as I was a legal permanent resident in Spain, it was done already so we just had to accept it although until today no one has ever checked that visa in my passport.

Now I just got two questions which I cannot find their answers in the official websites which are:

For how long does my permit B is valid for? Someone said it was one year some others five. in the case is one year, do I have to follow all the procedure that we previously did for the initial card?

and the second is: we are moving to The Netherlands next summer and we have been told that we have to register together in the Swiss Consulate but I don´t understand why as it says that Gay foreign partners are not allow to ask for the Swiss Citizenship (this last part i´m not sure, some say yes Gay foreign partner are allow after 6 years of living with the Swiss partner, some others say no we cannot).

Can somebody help me with this two questions?

Thanks to all.

Pink Cross. Go to them for gay related issues as the laws do not always apply the exact same way as for straight partners. I wouldn't trust the administrations too much on that, you sometimes have to explain them the rules for gay partnership. Let them lead you through all that.

It may be easier for you to stay in Spain and move directly from Spain to the Netherlands.

Welcome to the forum. The residence permit ( B and so on ) is issued by your Canton upon request by your commune ( Gemeinde ). But I think your partner, being a Swiss national, would have already known this or can get authoritative responses from your Einwohnerkontrolle of your Gemeinde with respect to his non-EU partner i.e. you.

Swiss citizenship is triple level ( Communal, Cantonal and lastly Federal ). One needs to have spent at least 12 years of residence in CH before being eligible to ask for naturalisation.

B permit first ( temporary residence ), then a C ( permanent residence ) and finally a Swiss ID and passport as part of the naturalisation.

http://www.bfm.admin.ch/bfm/en/home/...rgerrecht.html

http://www.bfm.admin.ch/content/bfm/...recht/faq.html

The issue of your orientation and civil status is not important as opposed to your continued residence in CH towards naturalisation.

Thanks Faltrad,
I think that´s what I should do. At first we wanted to move directly to The Netherlands but we thought it was gonna be easier to come to Switzerland first, but we didn´t know it was gonna be such a hell, we had to explain everything twice or even three times, they asked us so many weird questions like the name of the place where we actually met!!! they told us that my visa and some other papers won´t be charged and suddenly we receive invoices for stuff we didn´t know. I can tell you, my partner is Swiss and he is even more disappointed and sad than me about living in here.

Thanks Jrspet,

Everything has been done, so I´v been granted a B permit which should be arriving within the next week. What I don´t have it clear is for how long this temporary permission is issued?
and Considering the fact that we are moving next summer 2012 to The Netherlands and not planning to move back to Switzerland for at least 5 or six years until we both finish our studies in Amsterdam, would I still have to wait for 12 years to be eligible for the Swiss citizenship?

B permit is normally valid for 5 years... but there are exceptions, students can have a B permit only valid for 1 year. All details are on the permit.

From the link:

http://www.bfm.admin.ch/content/bfm/...uergerung.html

Check this out, it has some helpful info and links:

http://geneva.angloinfo.com/countrie...rland/pacs.asp

B permit should be 5 years, as others have stated, but you can check the permit itself no???? should have the expiry.

As to your other questions, I can add more tomorrow if no answer already I have a close friend who is gay and his partner just joined him here. They had to do some registering and form filling but no real issues.

I am gay and I also did a partnership registration with my swiss partner 2 and half years ago. I receive a yearly B permit which needs to be renew every year, perhaps I am from a non EU country.

I have read in this www.bfm.admin.ch about Naturalization, "I am a foreigner and married to a Swiss citizen. How can I apply for naturalisation?
You must have lived in a stable marriage with your spouse for at least three years, have lived in Switzerland for five years all in all, the last twelve months of which must be without interruption."

It was not written clearly that it appies just for nornal couples, or for same sex marriage as well, so I consider it is for both cases

So let say after five years living in Switzerland u can apply for that. I have a Thai gay friend who become swiss already after a few years living with his partner. So, if u qualify those conditions, give a try.