Okay so this seems like a unique situation - but not so sure. I am American in a long-term relationship with a Swiss man - not married - we have one child (who is Swiss/American) and one on the way - which we were hoping to give birth here in April. I am on a tourist visa - tried to get a "B" permit - from inside the country - was denied. I just found out that I got accepted to to be a UK citizen (via ancestry) and will do a ceremony in a couple of weeks. I was also just told I have to leave Switzerland by the 18th of Feb and wondering if when I get my new passport - can I start anew? Of course I will also attempt to request a B permit again (from the UK) - but just wondering if I can just pop over with my "new passport". We will most likely get married - but my understanding thus far is that I have to ask for permission to get married from outside the country. We are excited about the pregnancy - though it wasn't planned - so we are all out of sorts now. Thought they would just let us stay together as we have a Swiss son and are pregnant - alas - no such luck. Any thing I left out? Just ask. Thanks for any insight. Cheers! L

You don't need permission to get married outside the country.

My wife and I got married while on vacation in the US, though it was weird on our return to CH as my marriage was accepted immediately, but hers wasn't as she was Swiss (took many months, and CHF 35 to sort that out, yes, only 35!, but her marriage date got back dated in the end).

Tom

Get your UK passport, enter Switzerland on it and then register using it.

What do you mean by "register". I have yet to look into the details of being a UK citizen in Switzerland - but it's my understanding that I still will need to ask for a "visa" outside the country if I want to stay for longer than 3 months. Thanks! L

Everyone living in Switzerland needs to register with the town hall/police. You'll end up with an EU permit, not sure if they're B permits or C permits for EU citizens these days.

No visa required for UK citizens.

That doesn't make sense - UK citizenship via ancestry takes six years, how did you 'just find out'?

Also you have to be a Commonwealth Citizen and as I understand it you cannot become a UK citizen without living there - unless one of your parents is British then or course you are British and no ceremony is required.

Please explain, these are the criteria;

You will qualify if you can show that:

• you are a Commonwealth citizen
• you are aged 17 or over
• you have a grandparent who was born in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man
• you have a grandparent who was born in what is now the Republic of Ireland before 31 March 1922
• you are able to work and intend to do so in the UK, and
• you can support yourself and any dependants without needing any help from public funds.

So I filed a UKM form - my mother and grandmother are both English citizens. (Well, my grandmother is passed away now). If you see the UKM form - it is pretty basic - I just had to show that I was a person of good character, provide my mother's passport, and that was basically it. Perhaps the laws have changed. I was originally thinking I was going to have to pay 500gbps - but it turned out to only be 80 as the fees had recently been decreased. Anyhow, there were no questions about my financial standing. My sister lives in the UK - and really I am part time here and there right now. So I do have an address in the UK. The application process took about 2 months all in all. I received a letter welcoming me into UK citizenship. I am not understanding why there is a ceremony - as I do know someone who did the same form and did not have the ceremony. My ceremony is scheduled for the 16th of February. No other questions have been asked of me.

The ceremonies are relatively new. They do it to welcome you. It is meant to be a time to celebrate! Nothing sinister intended.

See link for more details

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/br...ying/ceremony/

Ahh, so not an Ancestry Visa per se! You were always a British Citizen by decent so all you should have had to pay was the passport fee, 80 quid about right for that. Odd that there is a ceremony tho - that's usually for those becoming British - you have always been British assuming your mother was born in the UK

I am still trying to figure out all of the ins and outs myself of the whole Swiss visa situation but the one thing that I know so far is that as UK/EU citizen, you have the right to feedom of movement throughout the Schengin states. This should make it a whole lot easier for you than having only American citizenship.

The only issue I can think of is if you have entered on your US passport u'd need to leave and re-enter on your British Passport, sounds stupid I know but that's the law. Step out, step in!

Yup, but the young lady needs to go and get her passport from the UK so no problem there.