@Charlie R. Soles

at least in Germany the ban you issue can be national or Schengen-wide.

I have it written black on white from more competent authorities than you.

Ah Albos, quite likely indeed as it was the Swiss Consular Service who told me how it all works and is interconnected, but i'm sure you know best

I don't think your right..... and what's with the attitude. The Visa is expired, it was just the Germans that picked it up, and stamped the passport accordingly. I believe this will now be flagged in all Schengen states and the guy's faiure to comply with the term of the visa will pay himback in spades. This all sounds rather suspect to me, but does validate the checks that member states are allowed to make.

That in essence is Schengen; 1 visa, access to 12 or how ever many countries, 1 problem, no access to Schengen territory.

Once you have passed in to the Schengen area there are no further formal controls, certain times you can be checked but not on any regular basis. The only control point is when you you enter the Schengen area after which you are free to travel anywhere inside Schengen area.

Assumung Albos is right, then you fly to France, Austria, Switzerland, or wherever convenient and cross the border to Germany as there are no longer any controls. I wonder why the Germans haven't worked this out yet they're usualy quite good on the official bits......

No sympathy for overstayers...

And if it's anything like Australia/New Zealand you will have problems long-term - I had a delegate overstay after coming to Australia for a conference and the immigration authorities phoned me 2 years later when the person tried to get a visa for New Zealand. He claimed he had 'lost' his passport (the one that had the 'overstay' stamp in it)...

They actually phoned me to ask my opinion on whether there is any good reason why they should issue him the visa. I had trouble with him before he left Australia (he overstayed his welcome and his visa)...and so I gave no support and as far as I know his visa was rejected, and may well get rejected for the next 20 years...

I agree, unless you are in a coma, there is no reason to overstay. If you are in hospital, then contacting the authorities to inform them is reasonable, and they are sympathetic and will normally extent to allow recuperation. Forgeting is unacceptable, especially if they are an experienced traveller, they deserve all they get.

I think in addition to all this, whenever you apply for a visa to any country, there is a question which asks you if you have ever been expelled from a country or denied leave to remain.

The OP is certainly going to have a problem with this one.

Advice required:

My wife is now here on a family reunification visa and registered at the gemeinderhaus. Interestingly there is no stamp in the visa when she arrived at ZRH airport but there is a start/end date so think that's ok.

My question is:

Can we visit a Schengen Country on the Swiss Visa, even though the residence permit has not yet arrived. It will be 6 weeks or so. She would like to see Xmas Markets in Germany but I am unclear if we can travel without her Residence Permit in her hand.

D

@Charlie R. Soles; sorry for being rude with the earlier post but I was pretty sure of what I wrote earlier (because of a very similar case where I handled part of the writing) and was not amused when you said it was rubbish.

Germany is usually issuing national bans in such cases. However, you are right; they have no way of enforcing things at the border. The idea is that if somebody does what you said (travel to Switzerland and then to Germany) and gets caught, he/she might end up in jail.

Nilesh I think people maybe being a little bit harsh on you..... things happen, we all make mistakes sometimes and maybe there are other people here that have done similar things and not got caught for doing so!! "The only crime is getting caught!"

I for one have been travelling in foreign countries when my visa has run out and I have travelled a great deal. Sometimes you are busy with work and it just slips your mind, indeed it shouldn't but we are all human. For me it wasn't an issue because I was travelling on diplomatic visas but if not, this could easily have happened to me over the duration of my travels.

However I can tell you there is nobody on the forum that can help you with this, you need to talk directly to the German Visa authorities, they are the only people that can answer your questions........

I hope things work out