Hello members,

I am new to this group and I have a query here. I am a non-EU citizen (from India) and currently living in Germany. I am currently in India for my vacations and I will be in Germany in a couple of days. I have been selected for the PhD research position at the Universität Bern and I will be having a telephone conversation with the Professor in a week's time about the terms and conditions. So, it would mostly finalized in a week when I am in Germany.

My question is that when I am in Germany with a temporary residence permit (I have been selected for a PhD position there also, and is to begin from Feb 2012 in case I dont take the Swiss option) when I get the admission confirmation letter, is it possible for me to go to Bern directly from Germany and then to apply for the student resident permit or is it mandatory for me to apply from my Home country?

In Swiss visa website, it says people should apply from Home country to gain entry. But in my case, I wil be getting entry through the schengen permit via my German residence permit.

If anyone can give some inputs on this issue, it would be very helpful. I will be writing a mail to the Swiss embassy also in a couple of minutes...

Thank you in advance.

You have to enter Switzerland on the visa for the permit you wish to apply for.

Take this story with a grain of salt as to why I think you shouldn't do it.
A friend of mine at the EPFL was accepted late into his program, so while his student visa application was pending, he entered Switzerland on a Schengen tourist visa so as not to miss the start of classes. He then applied for his student B permit while he was in Switzerland. In the meantime, his Schengen expires and he gets a letter saying that his permit request was being refused because he came in on the wrong visa. He is now stuck in Switzerland with no permit and no visa and his only choice right now is to quit his Masters', or stay here illegally until he finishes in two years, because if he tries to leave, he will get an immigration block upon exiting (for staying illegally) which will make it hard for him to reapply.

Stranger things have happened, and I am sure someone on the forum has some sort of success story on the same topic, but unless you have some sort of permanent permit in Germany, I would find a way to apply in India. Maybe call the embassy and ask if you can start the process in India and pick up in Germany, or maybe fly back to pick it up (but that costs money). I've heard the visa processing times can be quite long in India, so I would also ask the embassy when that would be. Just my two cents.

You have to apply from where you are resident. If you are resident in Germany with a valid resident permit, then you apply for your visa in German.

Good luck & Congratulations!

This is correct. I should have been more clear in my original post- just whatever you do, do not come into Switzerland and apply for your B without having applied for the visa outside of Switzerland first! And good luck!

Thank you so much to both of you... That was really helpful and gave me an idea how to proceed... Mostly I would be applying from Germany and visit as a tourist without cancelling my German Residence Permit until I get Swiss permit... In case, it gets delayed, I can get back to Germany...

Thanks a lot... You saved a lot of adrenaline from my blood...!

Except your "temporary German residence permit" will be canceled if you do not take your PhD which starts in February (or otherwise now).

Other than that yes, applying for several PhD's and dropping from one in favour of another - i heard it's a great way to make friends in academia.

Yes, I am aware of this fact. It is mentioned in my passport (Visa) too... I will start my PhD in germany and do write a couple of publications and in the meantime i will process visa for Swiss PhD (in case all terms and conditions go well). And then I will de-register from Germany and move to Swiss for good..!

You must be a quick writer (or an unrecognised genius) if you can write not one but a couple (!) of PhD publications in the first two months of your PhD.

Either that or you have no idea what a PhD publication is.

Hahaha... I already finished the preliminary drafts for both the publications already... And all I need to do is refine them, and I think 2 months of duration is quite reasonable... And moreover, there publications belong to my Masters course, and not from PhD

Just FYI, since you are giving up a phd opportunity in Germany to move to Switzerland. Of course, I do not know the specifics of your case, but you should be aware about the work permit situation post studies, in case you plan to keep working in Europe.

I did my masters in Germany, and then moved to Switzerland for my PhD.
Am at the end of my PhD, and now am basically hunting for jobs in Germany, since the work permit situation in Germany is much better for non-EU people holding a post graduate degree from a German Uni. In Germany, if you have one, you are on par with EU people and permit approval is virtually automatic.

In Switzerland, though in principle EU parity also applies for postgrad degree holders from Swiss Unis, there are yearly quotas, anybody wishing to employ you must apply and wait for weeks to find out if they have the permit to do this. Permit refusals are common. Naturally companies are reluctant to hire non-EU postgrads due to this, so getting a job for non-EU postgrads is much much harder in Switzerland, than in Germany.

Hi,
Thank you for this information... As of now, my preference is to leave back to India after my PhD. I have to think about this now, based on the information you have given... My consideration was that the Swiss uni was offering a good pay with a good topic which has wide prospects... Unlike in Germany, it was less paid and topic was too specific, thus narrowing down my options for job hunting later... I will consider your point... Thank you