Permesso B

Well, finally I'm in the process of obtaining permesso B, which only has to be renewed every five years and gives me a lot more rights than I had with permesso L. Once you find a job here, it is supposedly no problem obtaining the permesso, especially after Switzerland now joined the Schengen-contracts. That makes things between real Europeans :) and the Swiss a bit easier.

Remains only one problem. Germany now won't issue me an identity card because I don't live there any more. All I can get is the biometric passport, which I'm totally opposed to. I think it's a bit much saving all my data when I'm not a criminal and I don't even want to travel outside Europe. It also not only costs 50 Euro like I thought but 130 Euro. That's completely insane, sorry. I'm not even convinced that it's entirely true that you cannot get a German identity card once you live outside Germany as that's what the consulat in Lugano told me. I'm going to try and ask other embassies in Switzerland and if all else fails even in Italy.

As long as everybody here accepts my Swiss passport I won't have problems, however. But when I was flying to Germany they wouldn't accept it. So sooner or later I will have to find a solution,,,

Switzerland, the hole in Europe

Sometimes it it SUCH a pain in the butt that I am here in Switzerland and not in Italy because Switzerland is not in the EU. They really make you feel like a second class citizen. I am beginning to understand what some of the international students in Germany went through (those from non-EU countries). It all began with my bank. Because I only have "permesso L" I couldn't obtain an EC card.

If you're not from the EU, let me explain. In Muenster, they give you an EC card with every conto you have. It is standard. I went to the Netherlands, I paid with my EC card. I went to France, I paid with my EC card. It was all wonderfully easy and comfortable, it was what made me feel like we're one big country of people who speak different languages.

I went to Switzerland and my EC card turned into a worthless piece of plastic. And worse, they wouldn't even give me one of their bank, because I only have permesso L. So I switched banks, switched to one that is basically Italian. Problem solved but a bitter taste remained and I already began to feel a bit "inferior" (even if that's a strong word to use).

Then there's a card that gives you 10% of everything you buy at Manor which is the only greater "Kaufhaus" here. But you can only get that if you have at least a permesso B (which, I think, equals the right to stay as long as you want in Switzerland as opposed to mine which is valid for only one year (so far)). Would it be useful if I tattooed "permesso L" on my front so that everybody could identify me right from the start as a second class citizen?

Then I got a health insurance in Germany that is especially for au pairs, which means it is less than 50 Euros every month. Now, in the EU we have a treaty that says that all insurances from other EU countries are accepted. Great, I thought, since we also have a treaty with Switzerland. But now I have been getting letters from the office here at Bellinzona and they're asking me to get a Swiss health insurance because they don't recognize my German one. Fine, I thought, I will just copy the right section from the treaty and that's it. Turns out, however, that Switzerland has made about a gazillion of extra rules (which, not being in the EU they can) and one of them is that I have to insurance myself here. Which amounts to about 200 Franchi every months (about 150 Euro), which, being in a situation of still working as an au pair but paying the rent of my room and basically living of what I earn as a German teacher, I don't have.

Yeah, life is pretty unfair with the Swiss citizens having all the rights in the EU but us EU citizens not feeling at all like we do in the Netherlands or France. But then, I guess I have to see it that way-- that we in the EU are really open to other nations even if they're not in the EU, that we know how to create that feeling of "we're all part of one big union with many cultures and languages". Thank you, Netherlands and France for making me feel welcome. And, once again I find it is the small things that make all the difference.