I found myself in an interesting situation a few months ago when I first came here due to a mistake in the students handbook published by the university I attend. They said that students from my geographic location didn't need a visa just the permit.

When I went to apply for my permit...I was told I needed a visa if I was going to be in CH for more than 3 months. They gave me some extra paper work to fill out and a few weeks later after I'd completed and turned it in ,they mailed me a B permit. I asked about the visa when I turned in the paper work and they said they'd get back to me. They haven't.

My question is...does this mean I don't need a visa since I got the permit? Or if I still need a visa even after getting the permit , how do I go about applying for one? This bothers me because I'd like to go home and I don't want to have trouble getting back into CH, due to being in the rather odd situation of having a permit but no visa.

Unless I'm missing something, the residence permit is your visa. It's all I have in any case

A visa is a document which allows one to enter a country, a residency or work permit allows one to reside or work in a country.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_(document)

The Permit is your visa.