Hello Kate,

For as long as the overstaying in the Schengen states is not documented, there should be no problem getting back to Switzerland.

I think one way to get a visa is if your Swiss boyfriend will declare you as his partner. You can look for a job or take internship jobs while you are here under that visa. The main issue would be your boyfriend's financial status though if your financial status is good, there should be no problem.

I hope this helps. Cheers.

I would at the very least try to have your passport stamped by some non-Schengen country as proof that you were outside the zone at some point.  I believe  that there is a policy to restrain non-Schengen visas at the moment due to unemployment here and in the EU.

You may well have to become a student instead of a teacher, which will entitle you to work a certain number of hours every week, perhaps as a teacher !

Easiest way perhaps:

1) Become a student as Poster advises above;

2) Then ask the Canadian consulate/embassy/missions in Switzerland whether you might serve as an intern;

3) Or research and apply for positions with Canadian companies through the Canadian/Swiss chamber of commerce...

http://www.canswiss.ch/english/presentation.html

Good luck!

thank you all SO much for your advice, i will be looking into all of it!!

i did actually get a stamp when i went to croatia in december, so hopefully that will make my departure easier. i'll be leaving from paris ;)

Hi Joy,

Thanks for your advice! Do you have any idea where my bf would have to go to declare me his partner? And since I've overstayed, would I have to leave Switzerland anyway before being able to get such a visa?

Again, I really appreciate your help!

Agreed with the above comments. Also, when and if you do apply for a visa, they will ask for a copy of your CV. Make sure nothing on there indicates that you workedinterned/volunteered for longer than 3 months here. This is how they caught a friend of mine, who is now banned from coming back and working in Switzerland.

Good luck!!

If this is a critical, potentially life-changing issue for you, you might have to spend the money and get professional advice from an immigration lawyer to be 100% certain.  As mentioned above, the Swiss are becoming increasingly vigilant on these matters and the may ban you from returning to Candyland if you get caught...

You can try asking your questions to the OCP, but I would do it anonymously in  case they document who you are.  Marriage is an option, but you can't marry in Switzerland if your visa has expired, and the Swiss are going to be really picky about the papers that they are going to ask you to get.  They will tell you "Go back to Canada, and then apply for a marriage visa, but if you over-stayed it could be a problem"

If you are not from the EU it can be really difficult to get a work visa, and it is not easy to get in under the guise of being a student as they doubt even the most plausible well presented applications.  Age is a problem too.  The older you are, the more they fear that you have a secret plan to settle down here.

Basically the way the Swiss see it is that there are several billion people who would like to come and live here, and they want to keep as many of them as possible out.  Switzerland is already full of illegals who came here as students or tourists but never left, and they don't want to add too many legal ones on top.

It would be a lot easier if you could find a way to get an EU Nationality.

update!! i've made it back to canada problem-free. leaving through paris was a breeze!!

now i need to find that ever-elusive visa....i do have czech grandparents, any ideas on how i would go about finding out if i qualify for an EU passport???

Thanks for all of everyone's advice, it's been great!

http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/archiv2008/rady/zakladni/stat_o2.html

Here is a link to the Czech foreign ministry. You might want to go to the nearest Czech consulate in Canada and ask.