For Single Tourists from ‘Risk’ Areas – No Visa
Single young men coming from certain ‘risk’ areas –such as particular African or Asian countries—have difficulties obtaining a visa for a short term visit to Switzerland. The Swiss authorities consider that the risk of illegal immigration from these candidates is too great.
For the young and unmarried, a tourist visa to visit Switzerland can be difficult to obtain.
For example, when a couple of retired Swiss Iranians sought to invite their nieces for the summer, the visa was refused. The two young Iranian women (24 and 26 years old) undertook all the appropriate steps at the Swiss embassy in Teheran, but their request for a visa to visit Switzerland was refused, with a check in the box: ‘exit from Switzerland at end of visa term not guaranteed.’
Even with documents attesting to the fact that the applicants are employed and are therefore not seeking to emigrate, the Swiss embassy gives little weight to these arguments.
The case is common. Tourists from the third world seeking visas to
visit Switzerland are suspected of seeking to remain clandestinely, to try to find work, or to try to find a spouse and obtain a residency permit.
In other similar recent cases, two Moroccan men wanted to visit their family living in Switzerland to attend the marriage of a parent and were refused a visa with the explanation that they were single young (and therefore, ‘mobile’) men.
Multiple guarantees and documents have no effect. “In view of the personal, professional, and family situation of the applicant (young, unemployed male) and the socioeconomic conditions prevalent in his country of origin, the departure of the applicant after his visa’s expiry if not sufficiently assured.”
According to the Federal Tribunal, experience has shown that in analogous cases, numerous foreigners seek by any and all means to establish themselves in Switzerland. Adding that Switzerland obviously cannot accommodate all the foreigners who would like to come here, even for a short stay, the judges recommended in the
case of the Morroccans brothers that if the family wished to have them attend they should hold the wedding in Morocco.
The Office Federal des Migrations (ODM) assures that there is no such thing as a “black list,” but that there are countries considered ‘risky,’ for which special directives exist. The ODM admits that coming from certain countries can be a big handicap.
For example, Chinese students are a high risk category, applications from whom are strongly scrutinized.
The federal regulations governing the process of according visas to foreign tourists stipulate that the applicant must present the necessary guarantees proving that he intends to leave Switzerland at the expiration of his visa.
