I am curious if anyone else has been through the family reunification Visa process recently and has heard back from the OCPM (in Geneva)?

I have a B permit and my partner and I are both from the USA. I submitted the paperwork in the U.S. on June 8th and it's now nearing 15 weeks and still haven't heard anything from the OCPM or Consulate. I tried contacting the OCPM to inquire about its status a few weeks ago, but I haven't heard anything back from them.

I know that the process is going slower than expected because of COVID, but I am curious if anyone else has had better luck so far than we have?

Any iota of information would be really helpful. Thanks!

Hi,

I have almost exactly the same situation. Here is the latest response from the OCPM:

"Monsieur,

Après consultation de nos registres, votre dossier est en attente de traitement.

Compte tenu de la situation exceptionnelle, le temps de traitement des différentes demandes déposées auprès de notre office est allongé. Selon les cas de figure, les délais d'attente peuvent être de plusieurs mois.

Meilleures salutations"

With the help of the Google translate, I understand that we have to wait.

Thanks so much for your reply!

Hi,

My spouse is EU and we know Geneva received our application on September 11 (only a week ago). I'll post here if I hear back from the canton and/or consulate. She hasn't started working yet, we are both living in Ireland and we applied through the London consulate.

We received a tracking (orbis) number to check the paperwork status with the cantonal authority but we haven't contacted them yet. I'm not sure if that wouldn't be a good idea after learning that it's taking more than 15 weeks for yous.

Fingers crossed

Great information! Thank you for the update. I look forward to hearing what happens!

I sent a query to the OCPM about a different topic on August 17th and they replied to me today. That's 5 weeks of processing time for a short query.

I can tell they are overwhelmed at the moment.

Hello,

In the most efficient of the Cantons i.e any canton towards north after Vaud the time is 3 months approx for the first time B visa. My experience is from Zurich non EU ,my partner is Swiss and it took us exactly about 3 months. After that any renewal we did worked quite efficient i.e with in a week's time (and we changed 2 cantons ) until we moved to Geneva. The change of canton took 9 months and we applied before covid started , we got my renewed permit about 2 months before when it was supposed to expire (and my partner called Bern EDA etc and they said they know Geneva has problems but unfortunately they cant do anything since its cantonal thing).
Around 20 days before expiry this year i got the letter for renewal , am eligible for permit c but the renewal letter didn't say what its going to be. I dropped a note and required documents for c along with letter. Its been about 2 weeks.
Since my renewal letter didnt arrive in time ,i had already applied for c with Y form and other documents for which i got a tracking number in about 2 weeks.
Its been a month and nothing much. So, the message is there is no timeline for anything in Geneva.

Wow! That is wild. Thank you for the information though. It sounds like the Geneva OCPM is among the most backed up in Switzerland.

Since my previous post included my bad experience just want to say its not all doomed , since I got positive response to my permit C quite quick and efficient (unexpectedly) . Its just you never know why sometimes it takes time, all we can do is speculate.

Sent my application 9 weeks ago to the London embassy and it's been 6 weeks since Geneva received my application.

I tried calling the OCPM but couldn't get through. I sent them an email to inquire about the status of my application and if they needed any further information.

Has anyone on this thread had better luck?

I finally got a reply a couple of days ago from the OCPM (I sent the email 6 weeks ago), but it wasn't much information other than to say that my file is going to be reviewed and that they have it.

It has taken exactly 1 year for Geneva canton office to respond back abd request my wife to submit supporting documents, i had submitted the request on 10th October 2019 in India and exactly on 12th October 2020 they have sent a letter.

I'm very sorry to hear that it's taking so long for you Chetanks.

What supporting documents are they requesting after so long?

• Swiss criminal record extract
• Foreign criminal record
• Proof of financial resources (3 Months salary slip)
• Certificate of non-subsidy from the general hospice dated less than three months (for the spouse residing in Geneva)
• Certificate of non-prosecution for less than three months (for the spouse residing in Geneva)
• Copy of rental lease or housing certificate in a student residence (if it is a sublet, attach the fully completed EL form, date, sign and copy of its annexes and a copy of the identity of the landlord)
• Explanatory letter on the grounds for the request for family reunification, the circumstances of the meeting, the possible existence of the spouse's child (ren) and the intentions concerning him (her)

These documents are required as part of normal process, am surprised Swiss Embassy in India didnt inform you to submit all these docs 1 year ago.

I don't know if OP had it's stuff resolved but I got an answer from the OCPM 11 weeks after I applied. I received a letter of authorisation so the Embassy can grant me a 12-month visa and I received an appointment to get my biometrics in Geneva.