Hi All!
This is my first post here. I dug through the forums a bit before posting, and learned quite a bit, but I'm still unclear on a few points for my situation.

Here's my situation:
I'm a US citizen and I've been in Germany for about 6 months. I came in as a tourist to the schengen area, and then applied for and got a visa for student applicants. I'd planned on studying for a master's in IT here, but I didn't get the scholarship I was hoping for.

My visa will expire at the end of April, and my German girlfriend just found work and got hired in Switzerland. I would also like to get work there, and maybe study for that Master's sometime down the road in Switzerland.

The question here is this:
Can I travel into Switzerland as a tourist for 90 days, even though I
was already in the schengen area for more than 90 days? I don't think Switzerland will be part of the schengen area until Nov. 2008, but they do cooperate with some schengen things.

Secondly, if I'm there as a tourist, can I attend job interviews and get hired? I realize that at some point I'll need a work & residency permit (Long term B would be nice), but will I have to leave the country and re-enter in order to get that work visa?

My main concern is if I can go in as a tourist, find work, get a work permit, and be allowed to stay without having to leave the country and come back in.

Also, if I did leave the country, could I just spend a few days in England and then come back? I say England, because they are not part of the schengen agreement and they're much closer than a flight across the ocean.

Thanks for all your help and keep up the great work! This site is really helpful!

- Tom

Yes you can, your stay in other countries has no bearing on your stay in Switzerland.

Attend interviews, I guess so, Get hired? Not unless you have some very unusual skills that can't be filled by someone from Switzerland or the EU.

You have to apply for the visa in your country of residence, so yes you will have to go back to the US to do that.

Hi Tom
here is a link of the Federal Office of Migration. You'll find useful information about living and working here in Switzerland. How to apply for a work-permit and what you, as a US citizen has to do in order to stay legally. As a tourist, you are not allowed to work here. You have to get a work permit first or a job and the employer will have to apply for a permit for you. You also could ask your embassy what you need to do. Maybe they are also able to help.

http://www.swissemigration.ch/themen...x.html?lang=en

I hope I have been able to help,
regards from a Native Swiss
Verena

Honestly, for us unfortunate Americans, it's easier just to try and get EU citizenship than anything else. I have no idea what your ancestry looks like. But it's quite easy for some nationalities. I'm third genration Italian /American and I still qualify in Italy. My friend 4th generation Irish just got his.

Maybe that's an option.

Wow, thanks everyone for the quick replies.

Sparks1061 - I was afraid of that (having to do things in the US). Have you ever heard of being able to do this process remotely? (via post, email, and other means). For example if I was in Switzerland as a tourist, could I send in copies of whatever documents were needed to a Swiss Consulate in the US in order to save a trip over the ocean.

Would I have to give up my US citizenship to do that? If that's the case, I'm not sure that would be the best for me, because US citizenship is not as easy to get as it used to be, should I ever want to move back.

As for my ancestry, my grandmother moved to the US from Italy when she was 15 and my great grandfather also came from Italy. On the other side, I'm mostly of German heritage.

I was also considering marrying my girlfriend who is an EU citizen, but having only been together for a year, I'm not sure that I'm ready for that yet.

For Italian citizenship, would I need to be fluent in Italian? Some of my family can still speak it, but the mindset at the time was to leave everything from "the old country" behind in order to get accepted faster, so Italian was not taught to us from our grandparents.

I am fluent in German though (but as a result of my own studies).

A bit dodgy staying in Switzerland while your passport spends several weeks in the Swiss Consulate waiting to get stamped, even if they will accept it by post, which I have no idea about. and then they will only send it back to a US address so you would still have to get it forwarded to ou in CH

Speaking of passports, mine will expire in 2011. Does anyone know how it works when you have a work permit/residence permit already in there and you then need to get a new passport? What kind of procedures would I be looking at to get that sticker into the new passport?

Is it possible to just go to the nearest embassy or consulate and get it renewed, or would I have to travel back to my country of origin for that?

Hi...if I can just ride in this thread instead of creating a new one.

How difficult to get a tourist visa in Switzerland for filipino national?