Hi folks,

Not important or anything but was at the Office de Population et Migrants in Fribourg this afternoon asking for a new residency permit. No problems at all but was asked whether I lived alone or with friends. I do live alone but will be moving into a colocation soon which I didn't mention. I didn't think anything of it at the time but am curious now as to it's importance.

Just wondering why they would ask this?

Because they are going to kick your ass out of there when they find out you've got two people living in one place that you specifically designated was going to be lived in by one person.

Why is this always a "Swiss-idiot-landlord" thing? These are also the rules in the US and, I'm sure, elsewhere. It's a basic question, i.e., how many people live in the apartment? Isn't it? Or am I just missing something here?

Umm this has nothing to do with my apartment..

Office de population et migrants is where you go to get your residency permits and has nothing to do with how many people live in my apartment (as far as I know).
This apartment actually currently has one person living in it where we stated there would be two. Don't you just hate break ups. The landlord actually uses the top two floors while I use the first and is well aware of the situation.

I have no idea what this has to do with my original question

For clarity, while requesting a new residency permit I was asked , in passing, whether I lived alone or with friends. What would this have to do with my residency permit application (which was granted on the spot by the way, nice 5 year permit coming)?

So they can cross-reference everyone living at that address and follow up anyone who 'forgot' to register at the Gemeinde...

It's a way for them to check their records, without having to do anything extra...I used to do house-to-house checks for the electoral commission in Australia (registering voters) and asking the resident who lives there was the fastest way of finding out....dum dum dum....who lives there ;-)

I wonder if it could be for purely statistical purposes ?

Hadn't thought of that swisspea, my ex was swiss so would have been interesting to have seen them busting down the door and demanding to see her residency permit! Guess I missed out on that one, ah well.

Could be for statistical purposes but she didn't note anything down in our 3 minute conversation and just took my word for it all. Only thing she wanted was attestation from work for the permit.

Might actually ask next time i'm in there.

These people are trained in asking seemingly meaningless questions about you and your situation, to build up an overall picture and look for any possible gaps, or something that may not seem right, or contradict, (hence the not writing anything down) to try to see that your residency status is legitimate for renewal.

Alternatively they may well just be checking that you haven't invited 20+ relatives, for an extended winter break, who may overstay their welcome.