The Population Service (SPOP) of Canton Vaud quietly updated its website on 18 June to warn that the Division Etrangers public counters in Lausanne would shut at 17:00 instead of the usual 16:30 on both 18 and 25 June. The one-hour afternoon slot is peak time for walk-in submissions of return-visa applications, business-visitor extensions and financial-guarantee documents required for family-reunification cases. While the 30-minute reduction may seem minor, local immigration attorneys note that Vaud already faces a three-week appointment backlog following the introduction of the federal ePermit platform. Missing a same-day stamp can derail last-minute Schengen travel or delay residence-permit conversions from category B to C for key employees. Companies headquartered in the Lausanne–Vevey life-science corridor should advise assignees to arrive no later than 16:00 and ensure forms are fully completed—officials refuse partial dossiers at the counter. Alternatively, filings can be sent by post, but that adds five to seven working days. SPOP attributes the early closure to staff training on new biometric-capture equipment being installed ahead of Switzerland’s autumn rollout of the EU Entry/Exit System (EES). Further ad-hoc schedule changes are possible over the summer; HR teams are encouraged to monitor the canton’s RSS feed or subscribe to email alerts. The episode is a reminder that even marginal administrative tweaks at cantonal level can ripple across global-mobility timelines in Switzerland’s highly decentralised immigration system.
