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Switzerland and Schengen

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Wanderer
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Switzerland and Schengen

Post by Wanderer » Mon Nov 10, 2008 10:05 am

As the Swiss are due to join the Schengen Zone on 15th December this year, does this mean the visa-free concession they gave to those visa nationals in UK with longer than six-month visa is abolished?

I think it does, just wondered if anyone knew for certain?
An chéad stad eile Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile....

Siggi
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Post by Siggi » Mon Nov 10, 2008 10:24 am

Yes that is correct, so in the future you will need a Schengen to visit Switzerland or a UK -ILR, which is a bit of a funny one, but non the less true.

Plum70
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Post by Plum70 » Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:22 pm

What about family members of Swiss nationals holding a UK Residence Documentation to this effect? Does anyone know if a schengen visa will still be required?

By the way wanderer, where did you get the 15th of Dec. from? I was on the Swiss website last night and saw nothing of it.

Thanks

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Post by Siggi » Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:34 pm

Plum
I must say I thought the Switzerland started the Schengen visas as from the 1st Nov 08 and not 15th Dec 08.
As for your problem if you have ILR in the UK, you will still be able to enter Switzerland, without a Schengen visa.

Wanderer
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Post by Wanderer » Mon Nov 10, 2008 1:15 pm

Siggi wrote:Plum
I must say I thought the Switzerland started the Schengen visas as from the 1st Nov 08 and not 15th Dec 08.
As for your problem if you have ILR in the UK, you will still be able to enter Switzerland, without a Schengen visa.
Re 1st Nov - me too. But AFAIK they've not done it. I got the 15th Dec from a Belorussian website and another that just says 'December 2008'

I really must find something more interesting to do!
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Post by Ben » Mon Nov 10, 2008 1:16 pm

Plum70 wrote:What about family members of Swiss nationals holding a UK Residence Documentation to this effect? Does anyone know if a schengen visa will still be required?
No Schengen visa required, so long as the family members in question are travelling in the company of the Swiss national.
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Wanderer
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Post by Wanderer » Mon Nov 10, 2008 1:48 pm

As a matter of interest, anyone herd Swiss German, it's very different than German German, I was surprised!
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Post by Ben » Mon Nov 10, 2008 1:51 pm

Wanderer wrote:As a matter of interest, anyone herd Swiss German, it's very different than German German, I was surprised!
I haven't personally no, lol. But then I'm not a German speaker (unfortunately).
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Post by Siggi » Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:45 pm

My Father was German speaking from Namibia and I too speak German, with a Schwabish accent, Swiss German is very heavy and most Northern Germans will battle to understand it, but southern Germans find it esasier to understand.

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Post by Wanderer » Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:01 pm

Siggi wrote:My Father was German speaking from Namibia and I too speak German, with a Schwabish accent, Swiss German is very heavy and most Northern Germans will battle to understand it, but southern Germans find it esasier to understand.
Yeah my gf although native Russian speaks what I consider fluent German, started working for a Swiss company. They're all on the phone speaking Swiss-German and she is struggling with it, although they speak German-German in the office. She Austrian-German almost the same but although she's getting it now Swiss-German was a bit more uphill!

We're thinking of moving to Munich - I wonder if the dialect is similar there? GF hasn't struggled with UK dialects - can't imagine German ones being harder!
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Siggi
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Post by Siggi » Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:46 pm

German's a funny old language, with high German spoken mainly in Northern Germany and various dialect of high German.
In southern Germany the two heavy dialects are Schwabish and Bayerish(spoken around Munich), both of these dialect are similar to Austrian and Swiss Germany and generally if you understand one of them you understand them all.

To compare the German accents with English ones I would guess one could compare them as follows:

Scottish Accent - Austrian Germany
Welish Accent- Swiss Germany
Northern English Accent - Bayerish/Schwabish

Please dont take my comparision to literally but more or less

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Post by Christophe » Mon Nov 10, 2008 6:07 pm

Well, not taking the analogy with British accents literally, but I think Swiss German is more different from standard High German than a Welsh accent is from, say, received pronunciation. It is a dialect and is not entirely mutually comprehensible with High German. All (or virtually all) speakers of Swiss German would know at least some High German, but not all German speakers could get by in Swiss German — and even if they could understand it they couldn't reply in it.

It's also worth noting that Swiss German is not really a written language (apart from in advertisements, in novels for the representations of dialogue, and things like that).

Austrian German is much more similar to High German than Swiss German is, but there are dialectical differences.

I think that Bavarian German is also more similar than Swiss German is, but there are differences and a non-native but proficient speaker of High German would probably take some time to become used to it.

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Post by Plum70 » Mon Nov 10, 2008 6:09 pm

Siggi wrote:Plum
I must say I thought the Switzerland started the Schengen visas as from the 1st Nov 08 and not 15th Dec 08.
As for your problem if you have ILR in the UK, you will still be able to enter Switzerland, without a Schengen visa.
Not the case. The Swiss Embassies will be issuing Swiss visas throughout the transition period (up till 30th Nov.) to assist those families who have planned to travel during the switch over to the schengen.

I don't have ILR but a UK Residence Card as the spouse of a Swiss National.

Benifa: Nowhere have I seen the visa-free concession for spouses of Swiss/EEA nationals in possession of a UKRC travelling to Switzerland with/to join their spouses. Do you have a link to an online resource I can peruse?

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Post by Ben » Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:04 pm

Plum70 wrote:Benifa: Nowhere have I seen the visa-free concession for spouses of Swiss/EEA nationals in possession of a UKRC travelling to Switzerland with/to join their spouses. Do you have a link to an online resource I can peruse?
It seems I have, rather stupidly, forgotten that Switzerland is not an EU Member State, and so Directive 2004/38/EC does not apply.

If it did, this would apply:
Directive 2004/38/EC Article 5(2) wrote:Family members who are not nationals of a Member State shall only be required to have an
entry visa in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 or, where appropriate, with national
law. For the purposes of this Directive, possession of the valid residence card referred to in
Article 10 shall exempt such family members from the visa requirement.
I have found this though, which *I believe* provides info on Switzerland's provision to provide entry and residence for EEA nationals and their family members. That said, Directive 2004/38/EC does not itself apply to Switzerland, and so I was wrong in my previous post.

I'm not experienced at all with Switzerland, and since it's not part of the EU and not subject to the Directive, I'm out of my depth. Signing off. :oops:
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Post by Plum70 » Mon Nov 10, 2008 8:59 pm

It seems I have, rather stupidly, forgotten that Switzerland is not an EU Member State, and so Directive 2004/38/EC does not apply
Though Switzerland is not part of the EU, Swiss nationals do enjoy similar rights as EU/EEA Nationals due to the 7 bilateral agreements between Switz. and the EU/EEA, one of which is the' free movement of persons' (came into force 1 June 2002).
I am quite aware of the EU Directive, in this case Article 10 and also the info on the Swiss bfm site, moreso now that they would be joining the Schengen states and still don't seem to know the modalities involved (as at when we visited the embassy some weeks ago). I will pop into the embassy again and see how much info they can unearth.
I'm not experienced at all with Switzerland, and since it's not part of the EU and not subject to the Directive, I'm out of my depth. Signing off. :oops:
No sweat! At least you tried n'est ce pas? :D

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Post by charles4u » Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:15 pm

http://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/rep ... mpnot.html

Important notice
Switzerland aims to join the Schengen visa scheme on 5 December 2008. Therefore all foreign nationals residing in the UK who require a Schengen visa will from that date onwards also require a Schengen visa to enter Switzerland.

In order to ensure that persons affected by these changes can finalise their travel plans in time for the Christmas/New Year holiday season the Swiss Embassy London will be issuing - with immediate effect - Swiss visas valid for Switzerland only as a precautionary measure to persons who:

intend to travel to Switzerland between 5 December 2008 and 5 January 2009
do not already hold a valid Schengen visa
and are travelling to and from Switzerland by air only.
In these cases, it is strongly recommended in your own interests that you apply for a Swiss visa valid for Switzerland only as soon as possible but not later than 30 November 2008.
Charles4u

Plum70
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Post by Plum70 » Mon Nov 10, 2008 10:14 pm

Thanks for the link Charles. As per my initial post to Siggi and Benifa, i'm already aware of this info. I'll see what the embassy has to say...
Last edited by Plum70 on Wed Nov 12, 2008 10:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

86ti
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Post by 86ti » Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:33 am

I found this interesting link. The last paragraph basically says that the EU made it clear to Switzerland that they could not have Schengen without the freedom of movement of persons (what the Swiss call 'Personenfreizügigkeit').

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Post by Siggi » Wed Nov 12, 2008 10:25 am

86ti
If I understand this correctly the Swiss are saying provisionally the Schengen agreement will be inforced as from the 12/12/08 on all land boarders and from March 09 at airports.
Please correct if I wrong, it also seems like the Swiss are hesitant on the final decision to join that from your article.

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Post by 86ti » Wed Nov 12, 2008 10:45 am

Siggi wrote:86ti
If I understand this correctly the Swiss are saying provisionally the Schengen agreement will be inforced as from the 12/12/08 on all land boarders and from March 09 at airports.
Yes that's right if they get the green light on Nov 27/28 from the EU.
Siggi wrote:Please correct if I wrong, it also seems like the Swiss are hesitant on the final decision to join that from your article.
The article is very short on details so I wouldn't try to interpret too much into it. The Swiss are confident to join by the dates given at least technically. They do not see any political hurdles. The EU made it clear again in their last meeting with the Swiss on Fri Oct 31 that freedom of movement is an essential part of the Schengen agreement. I cannot read any hesitation from the Swiss side into the article, quite on the contrary. The article doesn't make it clear what the Swiss think about free movement or if there would be any particular objections.

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Post by Siggi » Wed Nov 12, 2008 11:10 am

86ti
One way or another I don't really care if the Swiss join the Schengen agreement or not, I just read a slight hesitation in the free movement issue, where the Swiss don't really commit in the article. :lol:

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Post by Plum70 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 8:38 pm

Quick question:

I have a french schengen visa which I am yet to use and my husband and I are flying to Switzerland (via Geneva), spending a few days there and then flying to France.
Just so that France is my 1st point of entry when we arrive in Geneva we plan on exiting the airport via the French Sector - Ferney Voltaire - (then driving through the French border into Switz.)
Does anyone know if there would be French border control at either the Geneva airport or the Ferney Voltaire exit so that my schengen visa is stamped showing that I indeed entered France 1st? I don't want the French to raise any eyebrows when I apply for my next schengen visa and we also don't want to go through the hassle of applying for a Swiss visa...

Hoping to hear from someone soon!

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Post by Plum70 » Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:18 pm

Anyone :?:

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Post by Siggi » Sun Nov 23, 2008 4:59 pm

Hi Plum 70,
I have used Geneva airport a lot in the last six months and from my personal experience, they dont even stamp your passport.I travel a on SA with ILR and one one year multi entery Schengen.
I wouldnt worry about trying to get the 1st stamp in France, if you are asked again by the French just tell you have been to France but on the 1st entery they never stamped you in.No probs as they know not all entry ports stamp you in.

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Post by republique » Sun Nov 23, 2008 5:52 pm

Siggi wrote:Hi Plum 70,
I have used Geneva airport a lot in the last six months and from my personal experience, they dont even stamp your passport.I travel a on SA with ILR and one one year multi entery Schengen.
I wouldnt worry about trying to get the 1st stamp in France, if you are asked again by the French just tell you have been to France but on the 1st entery they never stamped you in.No probs as they know not all entry ports stamp you in.
correct that border there is too many legitimate people going back on forth to insist on stamping each and every passport
thus no point exiting french side whatsoever

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