You can't travel with a B licence

You can't travel with a B licence

"I was planning to go to Portugal this weekend, but I can't find my French identity documents.

Can I only travel with my B permit? Can I get a temporary passport from the French consulate in Geneva?

By virtue of the principle of sovereignty, each State has the exclusive right to carry out legislative, executive and judicial acts on its territory and therefore to recognise its own nationals in accordance with its own national legislation. In Switzerland, the federal law on identity documents for Swiss nationals stipulates that every Swiss national is entitled to one identity document of each type, i.e. an identity card and a passport. If you lose your identity document, you should contact the embassy or consulate of the country concerned.

It follows from the same principle of sovereignty that each State is entitled to decide on the conditions under which foreign nationals may remain on its territory, taking care to respect international conventions. To this end, the federal law on foreign nationals provides for various authorisations, such as the settlement permit, more commonly known as the C permit, the border permit (F permit) or the residence permit, i.e. the B permit. The latter is granted for a stay of more than one year, for a specific purpose and subject to certain conditions. It is valid for a limited period, but may be extended if there are no grounds for revocation, such as misrepresentation, a long-term custodial sentence or internment. The permit may also be revoked if the foreign national seriously undermines or endangers public security and order, or represents a threat to the security of Switzerland, or if he or she or a person in his or her care is dependent on social assistance. However, the B permit does not constitute a legitimation document and does not allow travel without presenting a national identity document.

Common sense dictates that you should report the loss or theft to the police as soon as possible and then go to the French Consulate with this report and your B permit in order to obtain a new French passport. On enquiry, the French Consulate does not normally issue temporary passports.