Why do you assume that all foreigners came here to get away from their 'crappy homecountry'?

There are many things about Switzerland that are pure crap.

Sorry to burst your nationalistic bubble, but high salaries and low crime rates aren't everything in life.

Haha, they have an excellent sense of whom to trust (see BM above)

Such as?

Tom

A couple of months ago I had cause to deal with plain clothes policemen when I was in a very upset and distressed state. A car with no markings pulled up abruptly infront of me and 3 very ordinary (and yes one with longish hair) individuals leapt out. I barely had a second to register any surprise as all three of them had big id badges hanging round their necks that they all removed (without me asking them to) to hand to me to look at. I was in a state so I probably wasn't as cautious as I otherwise would be but looking at their badges, I had absolutely no doubt that they were indeed policemen. Which they were.

Sorry, even in my super crappy home country things like fake police men happens:

http://www.20min.ch/schweiz/basel/story/10498967
http://www.20min.ch/schweiz/basel/story/23144276
http://www.srf.ch/play/tv/schweiz-ak...d-7f14d8b7945a
http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/panorama/f...aus-1.18203590
http://www.tagblatt.ch/aktuell/panor...253654,3503456
http://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/blauli...ette-114546723
http://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/blauli...nken-111062176
http://www.polizei-schweiz.ch/ger_de...ngehalten.html
http://www.jungfrauzeitung.ch/artikel/83415/

__________________
"Whoa, careful now. These are dangerous streets for us upper-lower-middle-class types. So avoid eye contact, watch your pocketbook, and suspect everyone."

I hear so many stories of people being attacked by fake policeman - it is front page news every day in 20Minuten.

I know literally hundreds of people who have opened their doors to people claiming to be the police - showing them fake ID and then murdering them.

You must have a lot of very unlucky acquaintances. I don't know anyone who was murdered by someone posing as a policeman, I guess I must live a very sheltered life.

Such as the somewhat predominant mentality of 'You are lucky to be here and not in your own crappy homecountry',

or 'Because you're a foreigner, i'll offer you some work at rock-bottom pay to do you a 'favor'...and then wonder why you don't feel integrated...'

Getting fined for having your mailbox full

Being charged 2 chuffs for a glass of tap water

Mandatory quiet time on holidays

Rules about everything to the point of absurdity

Poor customer service, limited selection

Provincial mentality

etc., etc.


Don't get me wrong, I love it here. But no place is paradise. As a whole, i'd say the people of Nicaragua, the 2nd poorest country in the Western hemisphere, are happier on a day by day basis than your average Swiss. But you could work all year long there and not earn enough to change the oil on your bimmer...

May I suggest you don't google: Nicaragua gun crime

(First link on google search)

Ive spent a lot of time in that country, never felt threatened at all. Once I was camping next to a field of melons, about to fall asleep, when I saw the shadow of a guy approaching with a rifle. He asked what we were doing there. I apologized for trespassing, and explained that we needed a place to camp. 'Oh, no problem. I thought you were maybe here to steal watermelons. Anyway, you're more than welcome to camp here. And would you like some watermelons?'

Last month I was riding my bike home from Luzern, in the bike lane. Dead quiet outside at around midnight. A car came up from behind me, blared it's horn when it got to me, and swerved into the bike lane just to be an asshole.(just missed clipping me) I consider that assault with a deadly weapon...

So in my personal experience, Nicaragua was a safer place...

Sorry OP, I don't want to derail your thread. Have you figured anything out from a legal perspective in regards to the pending charge?

You know people who have been murdered?

You have an oudja board or something?

It varies across Europe, most ask for the passports now, however some will only ask you to complete and sign the registration card and typically want your credit card too. It's what is done with your information once they collect it that's interesting. You can read about it here is it's something of interest or any concern.

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/p..._hotel_int.pdf"
And before anyone jumps all over Switzerland is not in the EU stuff...

This has been reported in the Swiss papers, on the front page of the NZZ one Sunday when they grabbed a German from his hotel room for an unpaid speeding fine. Most hotels now use their reservation systems to electronically transfer the data to the authorities and I guess it depends on the Canton as to how frequently it's reviewed and how it's used.

Was it Starsky and Hutch?

I did know Ross McWhirter who was assassinated by the IRA on 27 November 1975, he is the only one, Dodgyken knows literally 100's

Don't forget that cops here, undercover or not, are armed.

Saying NO to people with guns isn't smart.

First thing my undercover ZH kripo friends did when visiting was to pull out their guns and place them on top of the fridge or other high object, though I can't remember where they put them when we went camping.

Tom

Hahahah my oldest one is with the Toronto (Torono for tom ) finest.


Couple years ago he was with the "Gun and gang task force" . My first question , when I was visiting him at the station, was "Do those guy you working with ,belong in a cell block ?

Nope, 'Tronna'.

Tom

Same here. Stayed in lots of hotels around the country. Have been asked for "ID", though, sometimes.

It would be bizarre if a passport were required within Schengen, right? Whatever identity documents are acceptable for checks in border areas should also be acceptable for other purposes like tracking by hotels, says common sense.

The one from Interlaken is from 2008.
Others from 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014.

One of the more recent ones was just a prank and they were caught immediately.
Another was in a retirement home.
Most are happening in the streets (easy getaway) or near Autobahn gas stations (easy getaway).

I don't think the OP did anything wrong - but that has never stopped the police from issuing a fine.
;-)

Lets not get too wrapped up on which id is required. As mentioned most hotels now ask for a passport but not all as indicated by others and supported by the paper I attached earlier. It can vary from hotel to hotel and country to country. What doesn't change is the fact that the law requires hotels to collect the personal data of their guests similar to the aviation PNR laws about passenger list, so what ever they consider "official ID" is up to the individual state and the hotel it's located in. I've traveled in the US on flights where passports were required to board on one flight yet not asked for on another. Likewise I've had the same on both flights and in hotels within Europe where it was required to present a passport while others were satisfied with a simple drivers license or Swiss Schengen visa.

The point I was making was that one can expect in Switzerland, as in Europe that this information, your personal details is being gathered, according to the laws and passed onto the police. I simply meant to inform and highlight to the OP that she would find herself in a predicament if she failed to comply with and notify the police of her new location after leaving the Arbnb apartment. Airbnb hosts are not required to comply with this law which is probably one reason the OP is in the predicament she is in. Most governments are not happy with the circumvention of these laws through the use of the sharing economy but that's a whole other subject/thread.