sum1 wrote:How so without being in conflict with the Schengen rules or the bilaterals? Neither provides for visa-free travel as you say. How do you propose to break out of this corset? Does the Schengen agreement allow extensions beyond the original agreement (it would obviously not be a problem for the other Schengen members)? Could a change be legally challenged within CH, in other words would it be lawful?
These changes would NOT be in conflict with the Schengen rules, or let´s say only indirectly, or at least it wouldn´t matter.
Fact of the matter is, that "family members of EU-citizens"
may already travel to all Schengen countries (except Switzerland) without a visa. However, they may travel to these countries
>>because these are EU/EEA countries<<, not because they are Schengen countries.
For exactly and only this specific reason such people may travel to all EU/EEA countries, but not Switzerland.
If Switzerland, in the light of the above, would unilaterally
also accept such people, especially since there are no "checks on persons" between CH and any neighboring state, this would be much more logical than anything we have now.
Hope this is clearer?
Other real life story (I already posted this before, but can´t find it now): I know a German/Colombian couple, living in Dublin. They went to Munich to visit their German parents(in law). Obviously they went to Germany visa-free.
Next they wanted to skii, and did so by driving to Switzerland. They had a fantastic week in Switzerland and drove back to Germany....
....they weren´t even aware of doing something illegal, and when I told them that their visit to Switzerland was illegal, they initially didn´t believe me.
They wrote (just like me) 2 or 3 emails to the
>>ministry of foreign affairs<< venting their anger, but got nothing back except "you do need a visa for Switzerland"...
...ever since they skii in Liechtenstein or Austria. Bad luck for the
>>very well running Swiss tourism industry<< (although this is a year old, the situation remains unchanged
).
