I currently reside in Wisconsin(usa) and will be starting college in Luzern on Sep 14 2009 but my problem is i would like to come to switzerland for the summer (june, july, august) my question is how can i go about doing so because they obviously wont give a vise 3 months before...

Thanks!

tourist visa, 90 days?

That was my first thought, I can get my visa for the 14th of september and be there for 90 days as a tourist then my visa would kick in

but i dont belive it is legal to enter before your visa is valid?? I think it would be a problem at passport control if they saw the visa in my passport

my best guess. Except that (usually) one must enter CH with the long-term
permit. Thus the OP must leave CH for a week before school starts, then
re-enter with the new permit.

Would I have to come all the way back to usa or would it be possible to go to Italy or something for that week?

personally i'd go to barcelona (c; but presenting yourself at any CH border for entry would probably be enough. but you need to make sure you get your visa stamped! that is not necessarily as easy as it sounds now with schengen. coming from US to CH i think you go through imigration always. from italy if you actually see some one on the road you might be lucky. as for the trains, even less so and probably no stamps. use the search facilitiy, i think this was covered in one of the threads.

No, just outside of Switzerland.

Yes i noticed that when i flew from geneva to paris my passport didnt even get stamped

so all of this has been helpful, but i am still concered about having a student visa that wont be valid for 3 months in my passport when i first enter switz from usa, whats the worst that can happen??

Question and answer session

One thought to consider: It is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for
permission.

ok what about if i fly from usa to milan, then just go up to switzerland for the summer then back to milan at the end of my 90 days and get it stamped that i am leaving italy, thennn go to switzerland and check in the immagration then

i think it sounds like a sure fire plan? any thoughts? because i know the schnegan visa is for italy too but it will say on there i will be in luzern so i dont think italy passport contol will care?!

nothing is sure fire when it comes to immigration and certainly not when it comes to taking amateur advice from the likes of me, i'm an unofficial nobody! (c;

you need to fill in a few gaps here:

you refer to 'having' a visa: what type is it? D-type? i think this allows you ONLY to enter CH to collect you L or B residency permit in CH, which becomes your EU schengen visa, WITH your passport. A D-type visa is not an EU wide schengen visa, at best i believe it to be an EU transit visa to the CH in this case.

but as a US'er you are pretty much able to go where you like as a tourist for 90 days anywhere in the EU.

if you present yourself at a CH border you risk 'activating' your residency in CH in which case things like health insurance can be back dated to that date. that coul dbe expensive on a student budjet.

you really should be getting proper clarification from the CH embassy in your country.

Hi

Just out of interest, what and where will you be studying in Luzern?

We are not going to verify your plan, give you a green
light and a bypass jail card. If you get caught, telling
the authorities that the EF said it was OK... just won't
get you off the hook

If you ask for a stamp at a border, you will be arousing
suspicion. I travel throughout the EU without getting
checked now with the Schengen stuff. Just travel around
and enjoy. You may have to turn in your passport to get
the CH-Permit, in this case be sure to do this before
traveling to or through Europe.

Hi! Why not discuss this with the Swiss embassy responsible for issuing your visa? I had a similar situation -- I wanted to travel to North America and from there go directly to Switzerland (I'm from Asia). The problem is the student visa is normally printed one month before departure (i.e. start of studies), so I wrote a request if it was possible to print my visa 2.5 months beforehand. They actually granted my request after considering the reasons that I have named..

Hochschule luzern or lucerne university of applied sciences,,same thing

international business and economics program in english

yea i will accually be applying for a schengen visa, when i called the consulate in chicago they said it will be issued in one day with no issue but if i ask for an extra 2.5 months before to go in the summer it wont go through

and health insurance is not a problem i am on an international plan under my parents currently and untill i am 26 so thats nice

LOL, that may not be the case in in CH, is suspect you will have to get your own insurance! i would suggest you look at health insurance threads.

nah i already checked into that and it is accepted in full theres just a list of some specific doctors i can go to...thanks though

I think the university has been growing recently, there's certainly a few more students about.

Luzern is a fantastic town, plenty to do if you're active or not.

glad to hear, yes im very excited, but freaked out because i dont know anybody out there and def. cant speak swiss ha! im always up for an adventure