Greetings,
Long time lurker, first time poster. A little about myself for the forum before I burst into... song - no, a query to be honest, no-one has ever thought much of my singing voice. I'm an American, living in CH for about 7 years, C permit, previously married to another American, who is also living in CH.

A little bit of background to put this question into perspective, I moved to CH back in 2006 with my then girlfriend when I was under the delusion that Switzerland had domestic partnership laws. Lo and behold, much to both mine and HR's surprise - post moving and registering - we found that CH did not in-fact possess such laws and we either had to get married, or she had to leave. As we had been together for many years, and countries previously, we decided to go ahead, and get married and live happily ever after. Well, that didn't work out, we decided to go our separate ways and finally had a divorced finalized - amicably - just a few months ago.

In the meantime of that happening, I am happy to say that we both found new partners, and are continuing our lives. I, however have a problem. My new girlfriend (USA), and now my fiancé, lives in the US. After many international flights, and much discussion, we have decided that we will consolidate our lives here in CH, and not back home in the good ol' USA.

So the questions:
· As a C permit holder, I understand I am entitled to family reunification? (mostly rhetorical)
· We are getting married here in the US in the fall, and would like her to be able to move here fairly immediately thereafter, is there a pre-marriage visa or some such? Or do we need to wait for the official documents from the US (which I believe we receive on the day) and the subsequent long CH processing times?
· Should we get married in the US, or in CH? Will this make a processing time difference?
· In reference to point 2, can she just move right off after we are married and process the immigration from CH?

Any help is appreciated, and, if possible, repaid in beer.

Thanks,
FH

Even B permit, it allows the family reunification.
You can get married in Switzerland.
You can apply for her visa in Switzerland, you explain to migration that you want your girlfriend coming to get married. Then they launch the visa process for you and your girlfriend. Normally it takes about 6 to 8 weeks.

And in the case of getting married in the US? Can we start the process before the event, or only post marriage?

You can not apply for her visa in Switzerland. She will need to apply for a D entry visa and then when she gets that and arrives here she applies for her permit.

I'm not sure if you can apply for this before you are married. I don't think so. But if you already have a date set, etc, I'd contact the consulate and ask them. If you can't they can at least tell you all the papers you'll need and so you can have them all ready to submit as soon as the day after you are married.

ETA: You can apply for her entry visa with the intent to get married here. But really, it's just much easier to get married in the US.

So in the case of marrying in USA - nothing to do but file visa papers post facto and then waiting 6-8 weeks?

I imagine so because up until you are married that person isn't a family member yet.

The other option is getting the entry visa for marriage purposes. But that is for you getting married here. Maybe you can apply for that before the wedding and then just get married there. I'm not sure though if that would be on the up and up.

Your best bet is to talk to your commune here or the consulate there on which is your best option.

The process is the same, no matter in US or in CH. The migration has to check and the working time is about 6 to 8 weeks. I have english colleague, his girlfriend is US. His girlfriend applied for the visa with purpose of marriage, then the community here got the application, they asked my colleague to submit the necessary documents. Then they accepted it. They give the girl the visa for certain period. During this period, they have to be married. That's it.

I believe that you must be divorced for a period of one year before you can get married in Switzerland. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but thats what I read.

Thanks for the replies - however, I think that's not correct, my reading of this post indicates that there is no waiting period:

http://www.fr.ch/bef/de/pub/familien...gsfamilien.htm

Anyone have any experience in this area?

Thanks

Well, an update on this situation for those who care. I'll keep it short:

• Married in Chicago October 19th
• Got officail Marriage license 2 weeks later
• Submitted Visa type D form same day
  • Note we had already gotten together all expected paperwork
    • Birth Certificates
    • FBI Backgroud Checks
    • Passport Photos
    • Copies of all other documents
• Mailed to Swiss Embassy in Chicago
• Waited one month (Nov 21st), called Aargua Immigrationsampt, they said they had everything, and its was processing.
• Dec 17th recieved letter from Canton requesting yet another copy of everything and Swiss Credit checks on me. Submitted same day.
• They called today, and said they are submitting the approval and visa can be picked up latest Feb the 1st.

Success!

Well, don't know about the Visa, but you can apply for the B-permit in Switzerland. I did, and got it. But that is Solothurn. I came over on a tourist visa, from America in 3/30/2012. So that's fairly current.

We've discussed this elsewhere on the forum, technically, you have to get your D entry visa first because you are not entering Switzerland for purposes of tourism. This is usually more true if you marry a Swiss person, less true if you are married to an EU person.

Some people have skipped this processes and been OK, others have been sent away to apply outside of Switzerland. It varies by canton and by person you meet at the office. Not for me to make that choice for them. They need to take the risk or not themselves.

Thanks for the update Frank. Merry Christmas

You are probably right about that, usually its best to ere on the side of caution.