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I'm a Russian citizen holding a Schengen visa valid from 01.08.14 till 31.07.15

For the period from 20.11.14 to 18.05.15 I overstayed for 28 days. The immigration officer at Swiss border hadn't mentioned anything and also hadn't put any specific stamp in my passport.

I'm planning to apply for a national Swiss visa and wondering what the consequences of my overstay can be...

  • Is such visa violation considered to be severe or not?
  • Will I be obliged to pay the penalty if at all and when do you think is safe to apply for the long-stay visa to Switzerland ?
  • Is it correct that I cannot enter Schengen zone again till August at least? (the online calculator indicates 17/08/15 as the earliest date of possible entrance)
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  • You have 1 year valid swiss visa. You didnt mention the visa valid for how many days? single or multiple entry? sometimes with overstay people get lucky and get away, other times worse?
    – pbu
    Jun 23, 2015 at 20:10
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    What type of national Swiss visa do you want to apply for? It might make a difference. In any case, it's true that you cannot enter the Schengen area with a short-stay visa before August but a Swiss national visa would allow you to enter Switzerland.
    – Relaxed
    Jun 23, 2015 at 20:10
  • There are cases where entering breach on a Schengen will turn off the visa altogether and this is not taken into account on the Schengen calculator. Otherwise if the calculator produced a date for you, then it's correct. There are no reported bugs in the calculator because we would have heard about it by now.
    – Gayot Fow
    Jun 23, 2015 at 21:38
  • Guys thanks a lot for your comments first of all! I have one year multiple Shengen visa 90/180 issued by Germany. With this visa I travelled to Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland. The point is that I'm planning to get married with a Swiss guy and apply for visa asap. I've read many stories about overstaying but not about my case( no fee, no stamp...). It's absolutely clear that my overstaying in 28 days is fixed in data base, but what will be the price...
    – Elena
    Jun 24, 2015 at 7:31
  • I don't know Swiss law and practices in this area but getting married should be to your advantage. You might still get a fine but it's unlikely to be a valid reason to refuse a spouse visa. The reason for that is that living with your family is considered a fundamental right (refusing the visa would incidentally also violates the rights of your husband!) and you have a right to stay long-term in Switzerland in any case so that a new overstay would not be a concern.
    – Relaxed
    Jun 24, 2015 at 10:17

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There are no Schengen wide regulations on how to react on visa violations and overstays. Each member state is free to set their own penalties and reactions. Overstays are usually settled with a fine, but in severe cases, you can also be banned from entering Schengen for a period of time. I can't find any current rates, but in 2011 Switzerland issued fines between 200 and 650 CHF for overstaying.

In this case, the Swiss immigration officer most probably didn't notice your overstay. When applying for a national visa, you must assume that the consulate will do a more thorough examination of your travel history, especially to the Schengen area, and that the overstay will be noticed and most likely cause problems.

You write in a comment:

It's absolutely clear that my overstaying in 28 days is fixed in data base ...

Fortunately, this is actually not the case. There is no Schengen wide database for entries and exits and even if some countries operate their own databases, the data is not complete and not suitable to track your travel history. Since currently the only trace of your overstay are the entry and exit stamps in your passport, this might actually be one of the few cases where "losing" your old passport and applying for a new one will solve your problem.

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