Hi,

I am a non-EU citizen living on a B permit in Zurich. My fiancee is also from a non-EU country (different than mine). She is currently visiting me here on a visitor visa (visa type C).

Earlier we had plans to apply for marriage preparation visa, but due to some emergency situation at home, we are looking to get married earlier so that we can visit each others countries.

We called the civil registry office and explained to them our situation. They sent us a list of documents and mentioned that we can get married if we can produce the required documents.

We also called the migrationasmt and they mentioned that it's upto us but it's not the right way. I asked them again if there is any penalty of sorts, and they mentioned the same. "It's upto us but it's not the right way." The right way is to get the marriage preparation visa.

Here are my questions:
1. Is it possible to get married now and then apply for family reunification later? Are there any penalties for the same?

2. I am technically eligible for VinTa to get C permit as long as I can learn the language. Will this situation, or getting married in general, possibly affect my application in the future.


In general, we would have preferred to do it the correct way, but we would like to speed up the process as otherwise we can't visit each other's family for the unforeseen future due to Covid-related lockdowns.

Best regards.

Congratulations !

First - get married - don't worry about the rest - it will work out somehow as you be together.

And Swiss love married people as they can tax them higher as separate couple living together so they will see it positive.

On legal side - best is to call Migrationsamt and inform them you just got married and 'what next'- I am sure you not a first person that done that as there is plenty of drunk foreigners around that once upon the time been to Vegas and returned with hangover and marriage certificate

1. Yes, you can marry here while she's on a C visa and apply for family reunification. It's legal.
The important thing to be aware of is that your marriage doesn't give her permission to stay in the country until the family reunification is approved. If the decision is still pending while her 90 or however many days she had printed on the visa are up she will need to leave Switzerland and wait for the decision in her home country (and then go get her D visa there).

2. Yes, if you get married and then apply for a VintA C in Zurich, it's not only you who will have to present a B1 German certificate, but your spouse will need to submit an at least A2 certificate as well, otherwise no C permit for you because your family is not integrated enough

Great. Thanks a lot for the very helpful and positive answers . We will try to get married then.

One more followup question:

If we are married, do we both have to stay in Switzerland for another 10 years to be eligible for a swiss citizenship for me.

Or, can I apply for swiss citizenship just for myself after 3 years (~10 years continuous stay).

It's by person based so should you reach 10 years in 3-years time , you alone be eligiable to apply for naturalization process (stnndard)

Once you have your CH passport - it be a bit different for your wife to apply


Requirements

The following persons can apply for simplified naturalisation:

the husband or wife of a Swiss citizen. They must have lived for a total of five years in Switzerland, have spent the year prior to submitting the application in Switzerland and must have been married to and living with the Swiss citizen for three years;.

the husband or wife of a Swiss citizen living abroad. They must have been married to the Swiss citizen for six years and have close ties with Switzerland.


so if you marry today one would get citizenship in 10years+2years(pricess time). Only thing which may require consultation is "living with the Swiss citizen for three years" as your years together for that purpose may start at the time one is Citizen and it may come later than your 5-years together in CH.

Anyway - I'd not think that far off - enjoy your marriage , travel across Europe - maybe your decission not be to stay in CH and you find better place for your family .

When I came here - it was for "2-3"years and that is more than two decades ago - I never planned to stay - it was "one of many places on my map" and just happened.

Only when OP has a swiss passport before he marries. If he gets it after marriage his partner has no right to that afaik

This is correct. Facilitated/simplified naturalization only applies if one spouse was already Swiss when the marriage took place.