Crossing the border from Switzerland to France and back
I am a German national and in order to renew my national ID I will not have it for a few days. I have a Swiss work permit E and a French Attestation de Fonctions and no passport.
I am residing in Switzerland and sometimes go shopping in France, on this occasion I never saw border checks. Now I'm wondering what would happen should I cross the border without only the documents stated above and the police stops me either going from Switzerland to France or vice versa. I know that border controls are extremely sporadic so I most likely wouldn't get checked even if they put them in place (checks are to prevent smuggling and I go by bike or walk).
Best Answer
According to this, you can enter Switzerland with your German ID or Passport even if they are expired. If you don't have the expired ones... Well - that's bad.
Alle Reisedokumente außer dem vorläufigen Personalausweis dürfen auch seit einem Jahr abgelaufen sein. Es kann jedoch vorkommen, dass die Rechtslage in Bezug auf die Nutzung abgelaufener Reisedokumente nicht überall bekannt ist. Daher wird empfohlen, gültige Reisedokumente mit sich zu führen.
For non-german speaking: it says your ID's can be expired (with a maximum of 1 year), but it's not recommended to use those, as this change is recent and not known to everyone.
As for France - this says as well that your ID can be expired (max 1 year due).
Reisedokumente außer dem vorläufigen Personalausweis dürfen seit höchstens einem Jahr abgelaufen sein.
States basically the same thing, just without the warning.
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Crossing the French-Swiss border into Switzerland 🇨🇭
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Answer 2
Yes, in practice you can easily cross the border between Switzerland and France as both are in the Schengen zone and under normal circumstances, there are no border checks between them. You can literally just walk across the border in many areas and there is nobody to check. I've done it many times, with or without ID. If you don't pay attention you might even cross without noticing.
Col de Balme at the border between Switzerland and France. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Of course, different countries still have de jure requirements about carrying IDs, either at all times or when crossing a border, but it is up to you whether you choose to meet those requirements in practice.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Pixabay, Flora Westbrook, Ron Lach, Anthony Beck