As of midnight tonight, I officially won't have a work permit! It expires tonight and I still haven't received a decision on whether I will be upgrading to a B-permit.

I'm travelling to the US in a couple of weeks, and can't be issued a visa without a decision from the AWA. I'm still thinking of going, because it will cost me and my girlfriend ~$3000 or so if we just cancel. But I run the risk of being turned back at the border when I return home.

Has anyone been turned back at the border before (particularly at the airport)?

frequently !

Did you speak to your Gemeinde or Migration?

Naturally. Immigrationsamt told me I can't get a one-time visa to re-enter without first having the document, the permit decision, from the AWA. But the AWA said (to my HR rep) that I am allowed to still live and work in Switzerland while my new permit is being processed. It just seems that I can't leave the country

If any questions are asked just don't say that your intention is to work after you get a permit.

I was almost turned back from entering the UK. Said I was entering to "do some work" and didn't have a work permit but had one that had expired a couple of months earlier. That work was painting my apartment to rent it out.

If you have to cancel your trip, can't you claim on your travel insurance under force majeure since it is definitely events beyond your control?

Utter rubbish, no case whatsoever of Force Majeur, it was within the OP's control to organise earlier the renewal of the work permit or wait untl the permit was issued before travelling

Your mileage may vary on this advice - however - we were told there was a new law (April), as non-EU, we could re-enter schengen countries for upto 90 days with our expired permit. Obviously check it out yourself as we never had the chance to try it out!!

We are Canadian, and when returning to Switzerland from trips, we are frequently asked for our Swiss residency permits (this has happened in Canada, London and very recently Rome), . I asked about this once and was told that if we don't have a return ticket (even if it is the return ticket back to Switzerland), they must see this or they are not supposed to let us on the plane. Now, we don't get asked every time, but that was the explanation.

In this case, I think you need to be more worried about leaving the US rather than getting back into Switzerland. Once you are on the plane, you should be fine, but then again, you never really know with border guards do you?

Hope it works out.

When in doubt I have always purchased a refundable return ticket.
Then, as has happened twice before, when entering a country I can show the return ticket if immigration get jumpy. Then once through the gate find the airline counter and cash in the return ticket. Cost, if I recall correctly, 50 quid for the 'insurance'.

CK

If you don't have a valid for US don't bother to travel. I believe/I'm positive that they will not let you in the country. I was 5 years student in US , and even traveling with student visa it was always so frustrating going through immigration check. They are very strict !!!!
However, prior to that I don't think that they will let in you in the plane, here at the airport.
Just try to get your money back....

An Indian colleague of mine is currently "between" work permits, as his expired recently. He went to the geminide thingy and was told he could go shopping in, say, St Louis or Weil am Rhein (he livesin Basel) but couldn't travel further than that.

It seemed odd, as what happens if he's asked to show ID coming back from the Rhein Centre? If he's allowed to show an old ID, then he could have spent the last few weeks taking trains all around Germany and they wouldn't know.

I asked him to test the geminide's advice and let me know but he refused

Maybe a silly point but if your flight is routed via frankfurt or munich why not break the journey and catch the train? no visa checks from Shengen countries

Would there be a visa check at Frankfurt (or wherever he first entered the Schengen area)?

As a non-EU (US) I don't understand this Shengen visa thing. I am able to enter EU countries for up to 90 days on my US passport. Why would i need a Shengen visa?

Not as a tourist

Ah. Sneaky.

As far as I know, once you're in a Schengen country, you don't usually get asked again for ID unless you're acting suspicious at the border.

In practice, the Swiss border guards still patrol the trains near the border, but I haven't seen them asking anyone for ID like they used to before Schengen.

So once you're in Europe, you can enter Switzerland without any check.

Yeah, it's a bit of a tricky situation. I'm hoping against hope that I get my B-permit within the next week, or at least something from the AWA that tells the Immigrationsamt to give me a visa, but I don't really think that will happen.

I have never been asked to show a residency permit in a foreign country when returning to Switzerland, and I've been to the US, Australia and England.

My flight is direct back to Zurich, so I can't fly to Munich and then take the train (although I totally would have done that if I had such a ticket). What I think I'll do is, if they don't let me get on the plane in the US, or they don't let me enter Switzerland, I'll buy a one-way ticket to Germany and then take the train back into Switzerland. I already had a look at the prices, and it will cost me a pretty penny though.

But this is really insane bureaucracy from the Swiss government. The left arm has no idea what the right arm is doing, it's driving me mad.

I am not sure what issues you may have when re-entering Switzerland, but if you are detained there is a chance they will only let you exit back to the country of origin you arrived from.