Comment by hocuspocus

6 days ago

Schengen is not FoM. Visa isn't an acronym. And CERN workers are on diplomatic permits anyway.

Lost me on the reply.

  • You're throwing a lot of words that you don't understand nor have much relevance to the topic.

    Before bilateral agreements and the freedom of movement, not Schengen which was ratified much later and is completely irrelevant here, you needed a work permit, not a visa (lowercase), which anyway at CERN is the equivalent of a diplomatic permit given to all international and tax-exempt NGOs in Geneva/Switzerland. And of course you lose your CDL permit quickly after your contract expires.

    Getting a B permit before FoM would specifically not have been as hard for you as for someone from another continent.

    • Getting a B permit in 2003 - 2004 was indeed hard enough experience that I ended up not staying there and refuse any job offer from Swiss companies to this day, regardless of the Swiss friendships I managed to make there.

      My stay at CERN was temporary, and every single company where I had an interview clearly communicated to me that the paperwork to get a B permit instead of a Swiss national, or a foreigner with existing permit.

      The need to switch permit status from the CERN diplomatic one into a B one, killed all conversations.

      But lets be pedantic in the meaning of words instead, which I used for folks that never lived in Switzerland, that is what is relevant for the whole discussion about foreigners how experience Switzerland.

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