Hello,

I did something stupid several years ago which was serious enough to get me a 12-month suspended prison sentence. It is not yet spent in the UK. As with many people, it is one big blot on an otherwise clean record and stable life, family, job etc.

I was wondering if anyone in particular knows if cantons Geneva and Vaud ask the criminal record question on the application. I have done some looking around before just posting this, and it appears from 'B' Permit with criminal record that it completely depends by canton whether the question is asked or not.

Where the question is asked, is it a question where you are expected to simply reply honestly, or do they require formal police certification?

Two things of consideration which may be relevant:

(1) My wife is a Swiss citizen.
(2) I have dual nationality with another EU country (one of the old 15). If a criminal check is necessary, can I get the certification from my non-British nationality instead (this will turn up a clean record)?

Many thanks in advance.

bump

thanks

If, as you say, your conviction is not spent, you have to declare it if asked. Even if spent, you can be asked the question by immigration, and if you make a false declaration you can face charges. A spent conviction means nothing more than the fact that it cannot be legally used against you. This does not include immigration of permits. You can still be investigated and your crime can still be revealed to certain authorities on demand, especially immigration authorities. A clean recent past and lack of jail time may lessen the impact of your regrettable past in the eyes of those who choose to review it.

If required then the requirement is for an extract from a police record from any country where you have lived in the last X years (varies I believe with SG being 5 years).

Hello, I'm new here and I'm struggling with a similiar problem. i'm from UE and I got a job in geneva - my criminal record is clear. however my husband, who is out of UE has a criminal record. they asked on both of our application forms (regroupement familial) whether we have some criminal history. Do you know whether they check if your answer is honest by themselves, or they ask you to provide the criminal extract? and another question is can there be any other consequences than charges if they find out the lie? my husband would look for a job in Geneva in construction field, so i dont think his future boss would care, the problem is just to get a permit to stay. Thank you in advance for your help in suggestions. Maybe you know some good lawyer in geneva who I could ask for advice. I wish you all good luck and so that you can finally forget about mistakes from the past and move on! best, retro

if you lie on an official form, and they find out, then they will revoke your permit and you'll be out, simple.

"Any other consequences than charges" - I don't get it, criminal charges not scary enough for you? Anyway yes, obviously the permit can be revoked.

Nice description of the Geneva building industy though.

Putting one's mistakes behind one is indeed laudable - denying it ever happened and failing to 'fess up to the legal fallout of said mistake when legally obliged so to do is itself criminal, and IMHO worse than whatever the original crime may have been.

In addition to what the others have observed, I would add that, if caught, not only will any Swiss permit be revoked, so will any Schengen visa based on the bona fide issue of that permit. Moreover, the details will be entered on VIS (the Schengen countries' shared Visa Information System), and one can look forward to endless fun trying to get into any Schengen countries in the future.

go to disclosure online and get the basic check - see whats on there, your issue may not be noted depending when the incident happened.