Residency Permit

When I met my husband, I imagined we would share lots of adventures in life, but I never imagined one involving fingerprinting.


I haven't shared all the on-going trials and tribulations of the delay in receiving our Residency Permits. I'll be brief, for the first time ever: Switzerland's Migration Dept sent us a note 2 weeks ago saying that we have to produce an FBI background check to get a Residency Permit. We had already been electronically fingerprinted and done the bio-whatever check for our migration and thought everything was in order. The man at the migration dept had even told us that we could expect our permit within 4 weeks. Now they were advising everything was not in order. We had brought a letter with us from our local IL police dept., which was acceptable for the visa, but not for a residency permit. The FBI background check takes 3 months to complete, and Switzerland would take another month on top of that to finalize things on their end. The day after we received this notice, we went to a notary and signed a document advising we have no criminal history. They were certain to let us know that if this is found to not be true, we could be fined, jailed, or deported. Gulp ! I was wondering if a speeding ticket constitued a criminal act, but then decided it is merely a traffic violation....right?

We needed to proceed with our bummer FBI background check. We made an appt and had a retired police escort arranged to take us to the Central Police Station to guide us thru the process. Our appt was delayed, they explained, as there were "gangsters" having their prints taken and this takes priority over us. We were turned away and instructed to return in 3 hours, after the "gangsters" were processed and after their lunch break was completed. We were quite bummed - hubby had an incredibly busy day at work and was trying to squeeze this in before heading to the UK, since time was of the essense.

I was feeling quite dejected on this particular day. I had a stressful morning racing to get drop the kids off at school and get into Zurich for this appointment. I got lost as soon as I exited the train station (which I attribute to not having an Iphone App Map),upon arrival and spent an hour in the cold damp morning air trying to find my hubby's office to meet him. I really wanted a warm cup of coffee for comfort, but knew if I stopped in a Starbucks, I would only be $6 poorer and further disappointed. I admit that I was quite teary and sad during this fruitless frustrating scavenger hunt. Finally, thanks to the directions of a few strangers, I made it to hubby's office just in time to meet him for the subsequent fruitless fingerprinting expedition only to learn it was going to be delayed.

Since I had over almost 3 hours to burn alone in Zurich with just my credit card for companionship, I meandered over to the glorious Banhofstrasse where I had been lost in the morning. The sky had cleared and the streets seemed to be paved with gold now. Browsing thru Globus and Jelmoli definitely provided the girly distractions I needed. I visited the lovely grocery sections in the basements of these stores and picked up some nice fresh pasta, a marinade, some chocolates. I enjoyed a yummy eggsalad and ham sandwich on a full carb wheat roll. I was recharged; a woman once again filled with optimism and eager to conquer this country one shop at a time. Bring on the fingerprinting!

I later met hubby at the Police Station where we were fingerprinted together. A large, very serious Swiss man advised us to "relax and do not help." He thoroughly rolled ink onto a special glass looking board, and diligently took one finger at a time, and rolled it in the ink, and then with a flash of his hand would place it firmly on the white FBI fingerprint document, without a smudge. He was quite intense about it and his work was impressive and meticulous. Of course, for J & me, it was not as romantic as I'm making it out to be....

Once it was done, I raced back home with my Banhofstrasse purchases and braced myself for the long haul of waiting 3 - 4 months for an iphone and the freedom to travel. Later, I learned that we would be able to travel with J, but would need to expect a bit of a hassle at the Swiss border. Needlesstosay, it wouldn't be an easy 4 months.

But, I think all that's changed....wierd as it is....the postman had me sign for 2 envelopes today. It appears to me to be our Residency Permits!!!!! Wondering if I should get my Iphone today or wait for hubby since we have to sign the documents in German!!