Dear All Expats,
It is so nice to write here and thank you to English Forum.
I am Indian Passport Holder.
I was living in CH for about 9 Years and I had Permit C.

2 Year ago I moved to Canada as Permanent Resident
and I went to Monturex to give back my Permit C where I fill the request to HOLD my permit and after 2 months they grant me the permission to hold it for next 4 years.

Now I still have my permit Valid for more 3 years.
Can I travel to Europe or Switzerland on this valid Permit ?
or I need to ask the Embassy for a visitor Visa?

Is there anyone who was in the same situation ?
Please guide me.
Regards
From Canada

No, you haven´t. It is on hold and not active.

So what does that HOLD status means?
Can I travel or not to Swiss as short visit?

You do not have a permit until you live here again and reactivate it

ok, So how do you travel to get that?
or you have to contact Embassy for it?

You cannot just activate it unless you move here again.....,


Get a visa?

You have to move back here, not just visit.

Tom

Totally not advising to do that at all, but just so you know, only Switzerland border guards will know that this permit is on hold.
Schengen countries do not share this kind of internal information between each other, except for documents that got stolen or lost.

So one probably won't have any trouble crossing the outer Schengen border with this permit in any country except Switzerland.
It is a genuine non-expired permit card which was never stolen or lost after all.
It would be very illegal of course

So what I would advise is asking the migration office of the canton that you used to live in what to do next. Asking the local embassy first likely won't help as they wouldn't know what to do with you and will contact the aforementioned migration office themselves.
Most likely the canton will tell you to go get a visa AND send a visa authorization to the embassy, saving you one bureaucratic roundtrip.

Because I still have an Indian Passport,
then I need to get a Travel visa to come? right?
or you can just travel on that permit that I have?

If you want to mainly visit some other country(-ies) in Schengen than Switzerland, then the easiest way is indeed to apply at a non-Swiss consulate for a tourist Schengen visa. They won't care that you're a 'suspended' resident in Switzerland, for their purposes you'll just be a non-EU foreigner living outside Europe.

I don't know how getting a Schengen visa from the Swiss embassy would work with a suspended C permit. In that case I'd ask your previous cantonal migration office first.

You don't have a permit, it's on hold.

Tom

Thank you guy.
So shall I connect the Embassy and ask this Question Directly?
If they say I need to get a Visitor Visa then I can take that visa from any country right and travel also in Switzerland?

Should work as any other visa application. He's not moving back just coming for a visit so the permit doesn't really come into the equation.

You do not have an active permit so it's useless for entering Switzerland. Only if you move back permanently will you be able to reactivate it. Until then your status for any visits here are as a tourist.

Thank you so much guys for great help.
Finally I dial the embassy and I will email my permit copy.
Front desk lady told me as long as permit have valid date on it, you can travel but she will send the email to the authority and re-confirm.
I will post the answer when I get from the Embassy so that we all know what is the correct answer of this situation.

Thank u again.

Dear all friends, Here is the Final Answer that I find out:

First I send the email to Swiss Embassy in Canada and they told me answer below:

Then I contacted them on this emails that Embassy provided me:

So it confirms that after HOLD you can travel as visitor and enter as Visitor in Swiss. all comments and Feedback are welcome.

Hi all,

Bumping this thread. Is there any clarity on this? is a C permit 'on hold' still valid for entry as a visitor?

Thanks

Absolutely not, you have zero rights whilst it's on hold.

So is the quoted (by the other member) email a hoax?

I don't know about that, but look at it this way: If your C permit is on hold, you're not a resident. Therefore it seems logical that you don't have any of the rights a resident has. I imagine you're like any other tourist.

If you can come to CH as a tourist without a visa, then you can still come as a visitor without any problems. If you need a visa then you need a visa.

the entire issue seems to revolve around 'valid' and 'on hold'. If the email recieved by harpalsingh is true, it means 183 residency is not a must