Hi EF,

Can anyone give me any information about the Preparation of Marriage Visa/ Fiancee Visa.
I'm an Indian woman engaged to a Swiss man. Are they any Indian-Swiss couples who have been there done that? The paperwork and procedure is such a nightmare.
Flying back and forth between India and Switzerland just to be together. Now we want to get married and that takes at least 3 months after one submits tons of paper. Can't get married with a visit visa, so now I'm back in India to get a Police clearance certificate for the Preparation of Marriage Visa.
How long do you think it will take for me to return to Switzerland once they have that?


Cheers
Maria

my friend who is from Hong Kong waited 4 months for the fiancee visa

As has been mentioned, it can take 3 - 4 months to get the visa. Keep in mind that the cantonal requirements vary, depending on your current citizenship. At least this is the case for St. Gallen. So it's always best to inquire with the canton & gemeinde well in advance to find out what is required. If you are running up against a deadline (flight arrangements, marriage date) you should inquire as to the status of your visa. Sometimes they might be missing a required document or something (& not necessarily notify you of this). They might also be able to expedite your visa application if it is getting close to your planned marriage date.

I inquired at a Swiss consulate abroad and was told that I only needed to fill out two forms, at least 60 days in advance. Namely an intent to marry and a statutory declaration (Eidesstattliche Erklärung), both in an official Swiss language. There was also the option to make the declarations in english, provided that they were subsequently translated into german by a lawyer acceptible (known) to the consulate. The forms were forwarded to the canton for review and we heard back in the affirmative, about 5 weeks later. In my case, no police check or visa was required to be married in Switzerland. The gemeinde also told me that the civil ceremony could usually be arranged on short notice. For those wishing wishing to also have a church ceremony, you would also need to fill out a marriage form (Ehedokumente) for the Diocese/parish (Diözese/Pfarrei). Of course, you might have to reserve the church much farther ahead. And in the case of the Catholic church, you would also need to present a baptismal certificate.

Woah...
Ok so I will probably have to go through all of this in the near future, but I was under the impression you could make the application even when you are in the country, but you need the date set etc. You can also wait in the country until the approval/rejection is made, even if it goes past your original visa expiry dates...

At least this was the impression I got when I was there and made enquiries.....

So you are saying you have to LEAVE the country, then make all the applications, wait for an approval and then you can enter?? Why can't you enter and be on a tourist visa and just be approved from there? What's the difference, and why the hell does the government get to tell us where and how we can be together?! I hate beuracracy, and this just seems like red tape and government dancing hooplas!!

Ok that's my rant, but seriously, what is the real deal and where do you get some seriously solid reliable information on this, because I have been told 3 different things in 3 different visits to the immigration office, and now it seems another different thing someone is experiencing!?

How do I get my hands on the real deal? Is there some info on a swiss government website in english, or at worst, in french?!

If you are marrying a Swiss, you need to contact the gemeinde (community) where they originate and ask what is required. They will typically have a list which will tell you precisely what you need to do. The list may vary by your country. I didn't find the process difficult at all, it was actually quite straightforward.

edit, to add link - http://www.dv.admin.ch/eda/en/home/r...-Show%3D1.html

Hello all!

let me introduce myself in a word or two: I am currently dealing with the Gemeinde and the Zivilstandsamt about my binational marriage. When I saw this post I just had to register.. a fun forum you have here!

@itinerant: what you're saying is very important, go to the Gemeinde, the Zivilstandsamt and talk to these people.

They have a so called "Ermessensspielraum" that means they can decide how hard they make it for you to get everything. Once you go there two or three times they usually become humane. DON'T go to immigration or Ausländerpolizei, those folks are payed to keep you out. (Unless you have to of course, but they're less than helpful)

The biggest problem with the visa for preparation of marriage is that the Immigrationsamt decides if they want to give it to you. There is no right to get one as such. But in the end they have to give you a visa to get married, given you are allowed to do so.

Well, in the end all the talking to the people in the Zivistandsamt and Gemeinde is very useless the very instant the entire case is handed to the "Aufsichtsstelle" for rechecking. I received a letter basically saying that the documents are useless and that I should send them back to get the proper stamps on it. Two calls and days later it turns out that the responsible person simply hasn't checked anything but just sent it back to me. And since I live in a cow town, of course I even happen to know the son of that one I have to tell him to say hi to her once this is over..

So to sum things up: talk to Standesamt as soon as possible, you need their letter stating that you have given them the necessary papers. Afterwards it's a piece of cake, given you happen to have a police clearance on you. Go to the Gemeinde, fill out two forms, give them a passport copy and that's it!

You do NOT have to be abroad to decide to get married. However immigration doesn't help you if you are not getting married within the limits of your visa. Once you're married they have to accept that. There is no law saying you have to go back for that!

Well i hope that in the end we pass the watchful eyes of the Schweizermacher, you have to see this movie if you come across it by the way. Very old but still (again?) very true

Good luck to all of you!

Rahip

oh and all of the above is of course just valid if one of you comes from a "bad" region.. Namely South-America, Africa, Asia.. Black sheep, all of them

I think she needs to go back because she can't get her police clearance in Switzerland.

That's what i think...

Hi miyax

you just have to send your passport back, get somebody to get the police clearance, then send it back. If you have all the time in the world that's fine. But sending your passport off some weeks before your visa expires is a bit delicate.. Plus the cost of speedposting it twice with the risk of it getting lost almost makes up for a ticket.

technically you're wrong.. although we also did the going back

Rahip

Hi,

I had to come here to let some "steam" out.
I´m Finnish and I still live in Finland. I have a Swiss fiance who lives in kanton Thurgau and we want to get married next summer. I´m staying in Switzerland now so we are trying to get all the permits in order. After the marriage I will still stay in Finland because I want need to finish my studies.

Well today we got a letter (after sending millions of papers and visiting the commune some times) that I`M NOT ALLOWED TO MARRY. In the other words the commun refuses to marry me with my fiance because he doesn´t earn enoung. He got a salary of 4000 franken per month with is enough for living (from our point of view)

So, you can guess how angry we both are at the moment. The boss of my fiance called to his lawer and this lawer told that we should go to the commune and try to be really nice and exlpain again that I´m not going to stay in Switzerland untill my studies are finished and maybe that will help.

The other options are that I find a job (which makes no sense because i have to return to finland) or that we go to Finland and get married there. I´m soon going to really consider the latter.

It just so wierd. It´s not like it makes sense for me to come to Switzerland to live in social support (if they worry this) beause the support in Finland ins ten times better that in Switzerland. So. if I would be a social case I would stay in Finland.

Huhh...I´m sorry that this is maybe off the topic but I just had to let my anger out

We married in Basel in 2002 and my wife only had a visit visa , the process was painless but of course it was a long time ago in a different canton so that may have changed. Your Civilstandsamt should be able to give you all the requirements. Our wedding took place 2 days after the visa was due to expire because there was a minor delay in getting my divorce papers from the UK. The day after the wedding my wife got her B permit. ash

I'm getting nervous now because I will submit my marriage application here in Thailand this year. What if they will refuse it also? Our fiance got the same salary.

We want to get married in Switzerland and live there. He is in St. Gallen.

Hello Finngirl

sorry to hear you have issues with the government also.

Can you tell us the exact text of their letter? I'm unaware that there are financial reasons to keep you from getting married. They haven't asked me for any income statement at all to get married, just for the "preparation of marriage visa". And there the Gemeinde just checked taxes I paid recently..

Last year I only received 3600 each month due part time work, so 4k should be ok. Who rejected it? The Aufsichtsbehörde from canton? (Departement Volkswirtschaft und Inneres)

Personally I think the lawyer's advice was good, go to those people and talk to them. After my experience I always got a different reply when I was there happily smiling alongside my girlfriend.


Rahip

Can anyone give a link to swiss marriage visas ? My wife was on a standard visit visa and we had no problems getting wed in Basel admittedly in 2002. She is Thai and I'm British and was then on a B permit. I know the UK has marriage visas but can't see any reference to such a beast in Switzerland ash

Hi smithash

search for spouse dependent visa..
Or read this: Indian Spouse dependent visa for B permit holder

Rahip

How to process Dependent Spouse Visa(India) faster

EU+non-EU spouse (living non-EU) permit question

UK citizen (with Chinese Spouse and USA children) permit query

Scavenge through the above links, you might find some answers. Search for Dependant/Spouse visas on EF.

Cheers

Thanks Maria!

i came across the imdb entry for "Die Schweizermacher" http://german.imdb.com/title/tt0078212/

even though it says german the entry is in english don't worry. I can't tell you if there is subtitles or even dubbed versions available but that every 6th person in Switzerland watched the movie when it came to cinemas around 1980. Almost one million people! Watch it

Rahip

I meant can someone point to a reference from the Swiss about marriage visas because I am 99% sure such a thing does not exist. It certainly did not exist when I got married they told me that my wife's existing visit visa was sufficient. The rules may be different if both parties are non EU nationals but my wife did not provide police checks etc. If its changed then my apologies but I checked a few web sites I used previously and can't see anything.

Hi,

More about my situation.

When we first started to apply for me the permit to stay here untill we get married, we had to send with the application salary papers of my fiance, in fact from six months. We also had to addmit:copy of my passport and a letter that we are serius about our relationship.

The decision that we have finally got now says that I can´t get the permit to stay here to get married. And the reason they gave was that my fiance don´t earn enough to support me. We dealt with Migrationsamt and they called it the "visa for the praparation of the marriage."

But how are we then supposed to marrry if I don´t first get the permit to stay here? Well this is what we want to find out now. Or maybe it is just possible to marry on my 90-days visiting period?

I don´t know how much do you have to earn here to have enough money for a two persons. The lawer told us it depends from municipality to municipality and in those where the SVP has majority the limits are higher.

So we will do a new trip to the office next Monday. In case things will not work out we just get married in Finland.

just adding something for my previous post.

To make it little clearer we are now trying to find out can we marry without that I have any kind of permits to stay here.

I mean, as far as I know I can stay here three months without that I need to do something for that (normal travelling time). Afer the three months i could apply three months extended period (L-permit) if i say I´m looking for a work. So there are other means to stay in the country but we just don´t know how will it be with the marriage.

I will let you know what they tell us in the office.