Can a non-EU family member of an EU citizen travel within Schengen to Switzerland before obtaining a residence card?

Question

I understand that non-EU family members of EU citizens also enjoy freedom of movement when travelling with the EU citizen.

I also understand that Switzerland is part of Schengen, and thus there shouldn't be border controls.

On the other hand, while checking the actual rules for Switzerland, I noticed:

https://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/en/home/themen/einreise/kurzfristig/eu-efta-buerger.html

If required, they must also have a valid visa C (Schengen visa), unless they hold a residence permit issued by a Schengen country, or were issued a valid category D visa for a long-term stay by a Schengen country

and

If the third-country national is required to have a visa in order to enter Switzerland and has no residence permit, see Overview of ID and visa provisions according to nationality.

(direct link to the provisions in PDF)

Under 2.6.3 it says:

Passport for a foreign national issued by another state

In order to enter Switzerland, holders of such passports require a visa regardless of the nationality stated in the travel document.

The problem is that, by the time that we were thinking of visiting Switzerland, their entry visa would've expired. It's a C visa, and thus I expect it wouldn't be considered valid anymore.

I was thinking that by travelling together, and having our marriage certificate (or copy of it) with us, it would've been possible to travel and visit Switzerland, even if they haven't yet obtained their Italian residence card. Unfortunately, I cannot find anything that confirms that my impression was correct.

Can the trip go ahead, or is it better to postpone such plans?

Answer 1

Section 2.6.3 applies to "Passport for a foreign national issued by another state" (and all of 2.6 applies to "passports for foreign nationals," including those issued by Switzerland). This does not apply to your family member unless he or she is stateless or a refugee. In other words, "foreign" in "passport for a foreign national" means "foreign to the state issuing the passport," not "foreign to Switzerland."

If your family member's passport was issued by the country of citizenship, then the document is not applicable, because the need to have a visa applies only to certain nationalities, and this document is for provisions that apply regardless of nationality.

(See the first version of this answer in the edit history for a somewhat different version of the following that proved to be unsupported by subsequent research.)

This brings us back to the first link. To enter Switzerland by an external border, an EU citizen is supposed to be given the opportunity to "prove by other means" that free movement applies (see my answer to a recent similar question). But this provision isn't to be found in the bilateral agreement between Switzerland and the EU, only in a set of frequently asked questions, where family members are not mentioned.

Since the requirement to have a visa only applies when crossing the border, and there's very little risk that immigration documents will be checked on entering Switzerland through an internal border, you'll probably be fine. If you really want to play by the rules, you can approach the nearest Swiss consular office and apply for a visa. They'll probably tell you you don't need one, but if they don't, you'll end up with the visa you need.

You mention a marriage certificate, but for the benefit of other readers it is still worthwhile to point out that for this purpose "qualifying family relationship" basically encompasses spouses and partners, minor children, dependent adult children, and dependent parents, grandparents, etc.

I should also add that my recent experience crossing the Swiss land border has been entirely limited to crossing between France and Geneva or extreme western Vaud. Immigration document checks may be more common on the Italian/Swiss border. Similarly, my recent experience arriving on internal flights has been limited to Geneva airport. I can't say anything about the chance of being checked in another airport.