THE LEGITIMATION CARD AND “CI” PERMIT What you should know as a spouse! CONFEDERA Département suisse des af TION SUISSE faires étrangèr es Nom Prénom Titr e/ Profession Date de naissance Nationalité CONFEDERA Département suisse des af TION SUISSEes CONFEDERA faires étrangèr Département suisse des af Nom TION SUISSE CONFEDERATION SUISSE Prénom Titre/ Profession Nom fair Département suisse des affaires étrangères es étrangèr Date de naissance Nationalité Pr énom Date de naissance CONFEDERA es Département suisse des af Nom Titr CONFEDERA e/ Pr Département suisse des af TION SUISSENationalité ofession fair Prénom es étrangèr TION SUISSE Nom es Prénom fair Titre/ Profession Nom Titr e/ Pr es étrangèr CONFEDERADate de naissance ofession Date de naissance Département suisseNationalité des af Pr énom Nationalité es CONFEDERATION SUISSE Titr Date de naissance Département suisse des affaires étrangères e/ Pr Natinalité ofession Nom TION SUISSE Prénom Titre/ Profession CONFEDERA Département suisse des af fair Nationalité Date de naissance Nom es étrangèr TION SUISSE fair Pr es es étrangèr énom Nom Date de naissance es Pr Titr énom e/ Pr Date de naissance CONFEDERA Département suisse des af Titr TION SUISSEofession e/ Pr Nationalitéfaires étrangèr ofession es Natinalité Nom Prénom Titre/ Pr ofession Date de naissance Nationalité EDITOR: F-Information 67 rue de la Servette 1202 Genève tel : 022 740 31 00 - fax : 022 740 31 44 [email protected] www.f-information.org WRITER Camille Maulini, lawyer TRANSLATOR MWS Marc Woodwars Service DESIGN Emilie Fargues - emkidesign PRINTER Atar Roto Presse SA, Geneva PHOTO CREDITS (COVER) Emilie Fargues, AnastasiaSonne/ shutterstock.com PARTNERS • Department of Security – Bureau of Gender Equality – State of Geneva • Department of Finance and Housing – Delegation Agenda 21- City of Geneva ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS F-Information addresses its sincere thanks to : • Mr Pierre Maudet, State Councillor in charge of the Department of Security and Mrs Sandrine Salerno, Administrative Councillor in charge of the Department of Finance and Housing of the City of Geneva, for their financial support for the publishing of this brochure. • The Bureau of Gender Equality, and more particularly Mrs Muriel Golay and Mrs Isabelle Monnin-Vasquez, as well as the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UNOG for the proofreading of the brochure. • Mrs Fabienne Saunier for the legal contribution to this brochure, and Mrs Geneviève Bordry for the overall coordination. • As well as all the partner organisations for the distribution of this brochure i.e. : the Welfare Offices of the international organisations, the Geneva Welcome Center, the Bureau of Gender Equality, the Geneva Cantonal Population Office, the Service Agenda 21-Geneva Sustainable City, the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UNOG, the Bureau for the Integration of Migrants, the Bureau of the Amiable Compositeur, the U.N. Women’s Guild, the Liaison Center of the Women’s Associations, the associations members of the Women’s Network. TABLE OF CONTENTS p. 4-6 Introduction p. 7-10 The Legitimation Card p. 11-12 The Right To Work p. 13-21 Separation And Divorce p. 22 Remaining In Switzerland After Separation Or Divorce p. 23-27 Requesting a Residence Permit Under Ordinary Law; Naturalisation p. 28 Permits For Children p. 29 Public Assistance p. 30-31 Legal Residence In France p. 32-33 Conclusion p. 34-37 Useful Addresses p. 38 Sources And Bibliography INTRODUCTION This is the fifth edition of this brochure. often encountered spouses of in- ternational officials who were in a Many organisations in Geneva work particularly precarious position be- in immigration law, but only a few cause their status had been based on specialise in the legitimation cards a legitimation card or “Ci” permit. issued to members of diplomatic and consular corps, permanent and This brochure attempts to provide special missions, or international or- answers, ideas, and especially sup- ganisations, along with their spouses port for spouses affected by “Ci” and children. permit issues and those who help and guide them. Its objective is to These residence permits are very furnish general information. For common in Geneva given the large specific questions about individual number of international organisa- cases, we recommend contacting tions here, yet they are unfamiliar to one of the legal clinics on the list of many associations, NGOs, and even “Useful Addresses” at the end of the legal professionals who practice im- brochure to seek personalised advice. migration law or work with foreign nationals. For reasons of readability, this bro- chure was written using feminine At the drop-in legal, social, and pronouns (“she”, “her”) for the professional aid clinics held by the spouse/domestic partner of the le- F-Information Association, we have gitimation card holder, since most of them are women. Some numbers: • The number of legitimation card holders is fairly stable. • Currently, there are 42,807, including 4,447 spouses living in Geneva and 660 in Vaud. 4 INTRODUCTION EXAMPLES separates, she will lose her Swiss legitimation card, and under no Though the following two cases do not circumstances will she be able to cover every situation, they are real-life work once she stops living with him. examples and serve to illustrate the difficulties experienced by the spouses Since Mrs. D.’s marriage was of legitimation card holders. “arranged” by her family in her country of origin, there is no way she can return to her family if The Case of Mrs. D. she separates from her husband. So Mrs. D. has no real ability to Mrs. D. is the wife of an official leave her husband, who is keeping who works for an international her in domestic servitude! organisation. She is originally from Africa and arrived in Switzerland four years ago. She has three The Case of Mrs. O. young children. Mrs. O. is from an Asian country. Mrs. D. is a victim of psychologi- She is married to an internatio- cal abuse by her husband, who nal civil servant and has been living constantly belittles her and pre- in Switzerland for twelve years. vents her from leaving the house Her two children, now five and or forming social connections, thus nine years old, were born here. isolating her completely. He ma- She has a “Ci” permit. nages the entire household budget, doling out money to his wife for Mrs. O. separated from her hus- household expenses, such that Mrs. band, who acted inappropriately D. has no financial independence. towards their son. Her husband Three years ago, the family moved left home and Mrs. O. decided to nearby France. Mrs. D. is now to start the process of seeking at the end of her rope and wants measures to conserve the marital to separate from her husband. relationship (legal separation). Since she no longer lives in Switzer- Mrs. O. is no longer in contact land, she cannot request a residence with her family in her country of permit on humanitarian grounds. origin. Her entire support system and all of her friends are in Gene- She has a “Ci” permit, and so is va — the parents of her children’s completely dependent on her hus- classmates, who have stepped up band and on living with him. If she to support her. 5 However, by deciding to sepa- rate from her husband, Mrs. O. loses the right to hold a “Ci” per- mit and risks a forced return to her country of origin alone with her already traumatised children who may now soon be uprooted and taken to a “country of ori- gin” where they have never lived before! Finally, Mrs. O.’s Swiss work permit also depends on her “Ci” permit, so she runs the risk that she will soon face major problems in this regard. 6 THE LEGITIMATION CARD PARTICULARITY Another characteristic of this resi- dence permit is that it is issued by the Mission to the United Nations Of- Article 17 The legitimation fice at Geneva (UNOG) (hereafter the par. 3 HSO card serves as a re- “Swiss Mission to the UN”) on behalf PARTICULARITYsidence permit and certifies the of the Federal Department of Foreign holder’s privileges and immuni- Affairs (hereafter “FDFA”) and not by ties. It exempts him from any the government authority responsible visa requirement for the dura- for alien residency issues, which in tion of his function. Geneva is the Cantonal Population Of- fice (Office cantonal de la population, hereafter “CPO”). The main distinguishing characteris- tic of the legitimation card is that The Swiss Mission to the UN has ju- it is not governed by the Foreign risdiction over all requests when the Nationals Act (Loi fédérale sur les principal individual beneficiary works étrangers, hereafter “FNA”), but by in a Geneva-based international orga- the Host State Ordinance (Ordon- nisation or mission. Questions about nance relative à la Loi fédérale sur the legitimation card issuance process les privilèges, immunités et facilités, can be asked in person at the Swiss ainsi que sur les aides financières ac- Mission to the UN. cordés par la Suisse en tant qu’Etat hôte, hereafter “HSO”). UNDER WHAT Article 3 This ordinance derives CONDITIONS CAN A par. 1 (i) HSA directly from the Host LEGITIMATION CARD State Act (Loi fédérale BE GRANTED TO THE sur les privilèges, immunités et facili- SPOUSE? tés, ainsi que sur les aides financières accordés par la Suisse en tant qu’Etat 1. Beneficiary of the main card hôte, hereafter “HSA”), which allows Switzerland to grant certain privile- The first condition is Article 2 ges such as exemption from the FNA’s that the legitimation par. 1 and 2(a) provisions concerning Swiss entry and card must be granted HSA residence requirements. to the principal individual beneficiary. 7 The Swiss Confederation may grant pri- Switzerland, recognised under vileges, immunities, and facilities to an equivalent foreign law, or the some categories of people, especially partner is considered an official those working in intergovernmental or- partner or dependent by the relevant ganisations, international institutions, institutional beneficiary.