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I'm travelling to Switzerland and France on a tourist (Schengen-C visa). The visa was issued by Switzerland (for 15 days), but my return flight is from Paris.
In the hypothetical case that I'm positive for Covid (or have another medical emergency) and its inevitable I have to overstay my visa whom should I contact for a visa extension or any other indemnifying document. Should it be Swiss authorities or the French authorities and which department?
Should it be Swiss authorities or the French authorities?
Article 33 of the Visa Code provides that
- The authority competent to extend the visa shall be that of the Member State on whose territory the third-country national is present at the moment of applying for an extension.
So it is likely where you encounter the medical emergency (or other major reasons preventing you from leaving the Schengen Area).
and which department?
In Switzerland, it would be the migration office of the canton where you stay.
In France, the competent authority is the prefecture where you stay.
A list of competent authorities for each state can be found in Annex 27 of the Visa Code Handbook (link courtesy of the Danish Immigration Service, unfortunately I could not find a working link anymore from the EU site).
