What are the options for a non-EU national who wants to extend his stay in Switzerland (totaling less than 90 days)?

Question

I am currently working in Switzerland on work permit and my parents obtained a Schengen Visa for travel which has a validity of 90 days. In the visa, the duration of stay is mentioned to be 55 days - this is same as the original itinerary of the travel.

Now that they are in Switzerland for last 40 days - I wish to extend their stay for couple of more weeks which would result in their duration of day as 75 days (which is more than 55 days but well within 90 days of validity).

Could anyone please suggest if I would need a formal approval process from local canton or national immigration office?

Answer 1

Your visa is valid for 55 days ("Duration of stay: 55 days"), not 90.

You will have to contact the migration office of your canton. Adresses are listed here.

The canton of Aargau describes the requirements to extend the visa on its homepage as:

Der Visuminhaber belegt, dass er aufgrund höherer Gewalt (z.B. ein aus meteorologischen Gründen annullierter Flug) oder aufgrund humanitärer Gründe (z.B. Reiseunfähigkeit, Krankheit oder Tod eines nahen Verwandten) daran gehindert ist, den Schengenraum vor Ablauf der Gültigkeitsdauer des Visums resp. vor Ablauf der zulässigen Aufenthaltsdauer zu verlassen;

der Visuminhaber belegt, dass er schwerwiegende persönliche Gründe hat, die eine Verlängerung rechtfertigen (z.B. Verhandlungen oder Konferenzen, die mehr Zeit in Anspruch nehmen als vorgesehen).

Neither of those apply to you.

Answer 2

Thanks for all the answers! However to update the details (which might be particular to Switzerland, I am updating the post).

As mentioned by @dusky, I contacted local canton office and they advised the extension can be done as long as it is within 90 days with some paperwork.

They needed the following from me (as a host)

1. Last 3 months salary slip
2. Tax return
3. Certificate from Canton that I don't have any criminal record etc. (costs ~ 20 CHF)
4. Extension of travel Insurance for the additional days

The visa that local canton officer told me once he gets those - he would amend the visa and wouldn't take him more than half an hour.

However - due to flight unavailability/high price my parents decided not to extend.

Answer 3

As @dusky explained, your parents' visa do not allow this. They definitely need to get something else or risk a heavy fine and other problems when leaving the area.

There are some provisions to extend Schengen visas but only for serious personal reasons or force majeure so that's probably not an option in your case. Alternatively, they could also get another visa but Schengen visas need to be obtained in their country of residence and it's not possible to apply from within the area.

Formally, what could be possible is getting a long-stay visa from Switzerland. In most places, long-stay visa are intended for people who want to settle in the country and consequently are costly and difficult to obtain but a few countries do offer those for visit or tourism. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find anything like that in Switzerland. You can still try to contact local migration office but that's a long shot.