Before I write my question, let me honestly say I looked in the forum and did not see a question similar. Here it goes:

- I am an American citizen, who recently married my Swiss husband in the US. We are moving to Lugano and we are applying for my D visa/ Family regroupment visa. We have already began the process for the marriage certification.

I plan to go to Switzerland on January 10th. Can I begin the permit application process IN Switzerland? Or, do I need to begin it at the the consulate here in the US? What are the consequences if I begin in Switzerland?

We have been making numerous calls to the consulate and to Bern, and to my husband's canton and this problem never arised the past few months and the problem never arised; we thought it was okay to begin the process in Switzerland granted I had all of my necessary paperwork with me.

We will be calling the consulate and Bern tomorrow first thing in the AM, but this is killing us. My husband's canton is Ticino (capital, Bellizona).

Anyway- t minus 13 days until my big move, and whether they want me or not, I am super excited.

Thank you englishforum

You need to apply for an entry visa (D visa) it in your place of residence, in your case the US, at the Swiss consulate that is in charge of your part of the country. You simply can not apply for an entry visa in Switzerland. The consequences will be that you have to go back to the US to apply for your entry visa.

What consulate in Bern are you planning on calling? The US one? They can't do anything for you as they have no part in issuing Swiss visas.

Just to be clear: You need a D entry visa and then you will apply for your residence permit when you arrive in Switzerland which will be a B permit.

D visa, B permit two different things.

You could try to apply directly at the canton for the B permit. But you have to be prepared for them to send you back to the US to get the appropriate entry permit.

__________________