Thanks for the prompt reply swissbob. Now I have a followup question if I may; first my situation in brief.

I arrived in June 2010, and got my B permit quickly and without fuss.

My partner and children arrived at the end of August. 'Partner' as we are not married (which seems to confuse the Swiss authorities no end). We went as a family to the local Geminde to register them all. My partner's application went in OK, but is currently still being processed because she's a freelancer and past contracts proving this are in French (so they're with the translation service of SVA at the moment).

However, for the children I have nothing. I have the 'reciept' of when I went to the Geminde to do the registration at home, I don't remember if the children are mentioned on it. But I do know that neither of them have 'Auslaenderwausweis'.

- could this be because the mother's application is still being processed?
- is this situation unusual, and if so should I ask the Geminde about it?

(one daughter goes to the local kindergarten, the other does to an international school (the Geminde asked about her schooling), so the Geminde knows that they 'exist').