Background :

Im EU working in Lausanne with B-permit. My GF is brazilian (5 months pregnant) and here on vacation with me.

We were told in Admin office in Le flon that she could get a "dependent" visa based on my B-Permit visa. The forms we filled in were "Séjour du concubin".

The woman in the office told us we had a very good chance of getting the permit.

This morning we went to Divsion Etrangers office in Lausanne to see if we go to france for the weekend will GF be allowed back into Switzerland.

The very unhelpful grumpy and rude man said NO WAY. He also said that he was giving us an official oral update that my GF application for permit will be refused and that we will receive this in writing soon.

He was very rude and said she must leave the country now and apply for a permit in Swiss Embassy in Brazil.

We are completly deflated and devastated. How can one office tell us we have very good chance and not to worry and an other office tell us NO WAY.

We are together 3 years, love each other very much and are having a baby in December. We do plan to get married after the baby is born. We having been planning a wedding summer 2010 for the last few months.

Can anyone please give me advice.

Will they make a 5 month pregnant woman leave the country ? Can we contact a lawyer for help ? Can we do anything for her to stay ?
If we get married here now can she stay ?

thanks

Sorry to say it, there may be a financial motive here. Having a baby in Switzerland is covered 100% by the state, and if your girlfriend comes here then it will cost the state a good deal of money. There may be some racism here too.

You will need permission from the prefecture/town hall to get married, and if you girlfriend has no permit then they may be in a difficult position.

That said, I know somebody who was in the similar position. He married the girl and she got a permit. She had already been told to leave the country officially...

If I were in your situation, I would ask for professional help.

It's always better to be informed as good as possible.

http://www.swisslawyers.com/

I am paying CHUV every month for the appointments. How does it cost the state 100% ?

How did your friend do it ? Where did he go for advice etc ?

thanks

Listen, although it pains me to say so in honestly given your girlfriend is having a baby it would make more sense if she stays in your home country where she has the support of her friends and family, you will need to work out your schedule so that you can be there at the "critical moment" if possible.

Once the baby is born then I am sure the path you need to take would be easier. As I understood all my friend did was talk to the local commune about their situation who agreed to marry them, no lawyers, special advisors involved. I am personally wary about talking to anybody who has a vested interest in billing you for their time. Also sounds like a route for confrontation which is the last place you want to be.

What are you talking about? The state paying my a**e!

you are wrong... My very private-very expensive health insurance covered the costs of my doctors visit and hospital (and many things I paid under franchise etc. My contributions (and those of everyone else who works) to AHV for at least 5 months of the 9 I was pregnant covered the state funded maternity leave (80% salary capped at around 106000 CHF for 14 weeks) and my employer the rest.

so... pls don't make statements like that without having all the knowledge as it just confuses the OP into thinking $ issues may be involved when they are not.

Thank you for your comment. I was sure this wasnt true.

hmm what about the support of the father?

strikes me that she might have to leave but when the child is born, the phrase "family reunification" will be key.

one of the issues, though, is that they are probably miffed that she's already here. She can, however, apply for the permit from outside Switzerland (and does not have to be her home country).

Marriage would ease the woes. Do the authorities know she's pregnant? Can you support her and the child (I am assuming you can)?

Thanks for your comment

We want the baby to be born in switzerland. We have already picked the hospital, midwife, gyno etc and have had 5 appointments already.

She is almost 5 months pregnant and these 5 months were not easy for her. She is still getting sick and is exhausted all the time. I am really worried about a 12 hour flight to Brazil. With the stress of 2-3 flights and time waiting for change-overs / connecting flights.

Also the doctor told us its not advisable to fly.

And to add to that, Swine flu is now rampant in Brazil.

What do you mean about appy outside Switzerland and not her home country ??

They know she is pregnant as the letter of motivation I attached to the permit application clearly stated this.

I can easily support her and child. I have very good job (I also attached salary receipts and bank statement to permit application).

Have you thought about having a civil ceremony just to legalize things?
Another reason why this may help future headaches, is the very different rules concerning unmarried fathers paternity rights here in Switzerland. There are a few nightmare threads on EF on the difficulties of registering the baby and getting them a passport.

This seems like justification enough, could you not get that in writing? I'm painfully ignorant about the whole process, but is there not an appeals pathway which would delay things a little longer?

Good luck by the way.

Sorry to hear about your predicament. This has been discussed several times before:
Non-EU cohabitation with an EU partner

Séjour auprès du concubin?!

Shocked by what I heard (unmarried couple)

From what I know, an unmarried partner has no automatic right to a residence permit as the family reunification rules only apply to married couples. The canton has the discretion to grant permits to unmarried partners but no obligation. However, there have been examples on this forum where where a B permit resident has been successful in getting his partner a permit, even with no baby on the way. It seems a bit of a lottery with each application being treated on a case by case basis with the outcome being totally up to the whim of the canton. I'm not sure whether getting a lawyer involved will make a difference but it may be worth a preliminary chat with an immigration specialist in Lausanne since it would cause real hardship if you were separated now, and that is supposed to be the circumstances where the canton should be exercising it's discretion. At the moment you've only had a verbal notice that thing's aren't going your way so maybe it's not too late to turn up the heat.
Good luck.

When we lived in the country we had to inform our local authorities about the laws they had to follow, they were not on par with the latest procedures, as we found out by contacting the Lausanne cantonal center. Contact the Lausanne authorities (I hope you kept copies or originals of all submitted documments) and good luck. I completely understand you are not comfortable letting your pregnant girl fly accross the world by herself, not mentioning missing on the birth of your child. Good for you wanting to take care of her and be present, I am sure that contributes to healthy pregnancy and childbirth. I don't understand authorities that want to split soon to be parents.

Well the cantonal authority (Le SPOP) is the real decider. Vaud has a rather busy foreigner service so it may take some time.

Concerning the birth of the baby, I would advise you to marry her (at least at the civil level) before the birth of the child. It makes the things easier. You could recognize legally the baby before instead but I am not sure it will be better on the long run.

Concerning the marriage, while the guy could have been nicer, he was technically right. She should not remain in Switzerland as the goal of her stay changed (I assumed she is in CH since more than 3 months). All the documents will have to be made from Brazil on her side. And will have to pass through the embassy.

Concerning the pregnancy, no insurance will cover the birth as a woman has to be covered since 7 months before her pregnancy as far as I remember.

I have been in the same situation 14 years ago. The law changed a bit but not the great line.

A lawyer could make a nice letter and represent your interest. Other than that I doubt it will make a huge difference.

Update :

I contacted a Lawyer and have made an appointment for tomorrow evening.

I spoke with her on the phone and explained the situation.

She said that in her experience it would be unlikely that they would make her leave the country when pregnant but we need to sit down to discuss everything.

I will post tomorrow evening with an update after the meeting.

I understood that airlines don't like women over 6 months pregnant to fly on long haul flights, for good reason. 5 months is pretty close to that, and the doctor said...

Agree with the others that marrying before the birth will make a lot of things easier.

Otherwise, if her permit is denied reapply. I know several people (myself included) who had their permits denied on the first try.

Good luck!

Thank Mud,

When you were denied did you appeal or just fill in the same forms again to reapply ??

Insurance will cover the basic pregnancy and delivery. You just can't get supplemental insurance to cover a pre-existing pregnancy. All that means is that you get a public hospital, no guarantee of a private room, and it is likely that your OBGYN won't be the one delivering the baby. But you can get insurance for a pregnant woman. I was 3 months along when we moved here.

Best wishes for keeping her in the country, especially since it sounds like she's having a tough pregnancy! I would have been destroyed if I had had to travel as far as Brasil when I was still pregnancy-tired and nauseous.