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I am an Indian graduate student in US and was doing internship in Switzerland last summer. I entered Switzerland via Zurich on June 1 2019 and left Zurich on August 31 2019. I had a 90 days visa as my authorization from Zurich canton was for 3 months. Long story short, I did not know that this period will not be considered as 3 months but instead counted as 92days. I was blocked at Zurich airport passport control where the officer informed me about 2 days overstay. They made me sign some papers fill up some details and then let me go with a normal exit stamp on my passport. They did NOT give me any copy of any document and just said I could be fined and they will send a judgement in my US home address.

However it has been almost 6 months now, but I haven’t received any judgement from their court or immigration office regarding a fine or a ban in my US home address or email. I am quite positive I have provided them the correct address or email address.

There is a conference in Greece in April 2020, for which I intend to apply for a Schengen visa, but I am afraid to take a step until I know what is going on with this situation. Has anyone faced this before?

How do I know what has happened? Does anybody know how to approach this? How do I know if I am fined or banned?

The New York Swiss embassy said they don’t have any information on this. I sent an email to District court of Bülach at ([email protected]) but they haven’t replied back!neither does their phone number work.

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  • Perhaps try contacting the cantonal police of Zurich ?
    – xngtng
    Commented Feb 17, 2020 at 16:26
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    IANAL but it seems to me highly unlikely that you would have been banned for a 2 day overstay, especially if you were not given any paperwork confirming the ban at the time. Ditto a fine - the administration cost of pursuing you to the US plus the lack of paperwork makes a fine seem unlikely. If I were you, I’d just apply for your Greek visa as normal, making sure to disclose the overstay and to explain that you don’t know for sure what action, if any, was taken.
    – Traveller
    Commented Feb 17, 2020 at 18:14
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    Thanks for your replies. I contacted the District Court of Buelach (those who are in charge of the fine). Apparently they sent the fine at wrong address. They resent the fine now to my actual address. It is 350 CHF!
    – Anirban Das
    Commented Feb 22, 2020 at 22:38
  • So the matter is then resolved and you now know that a 90 day visa is not a 92 day visa, so it shouldn't happen again during your next visit.
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Mar 6, 2020 at 21:01
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    @Johnnyjanko , I haven't had a chance to apply for another Schengen Visa again since everything got cancelled due to Covid :( . Will see with happens in future. However, I did have to pay a fine and Bülach did send me an email saying the case is closed.
    – Anirban Das
    Commented Dec 19, 2022 at 4:33

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