Abramovich’s immigration woes reach Swiss top court

Bloomberg

Britain isn’t the only place where Roman Abramovich is having residency issues.
While the Russian billionaire grapples with delays to his UK visa, a Swiss newspaper’s appeal to report on why Abramovich’s bid for residency in the ski resort of Verbier was scuppered last year has reached the country’s Supreme Court.
A spokesman for the Lausanne-based court wouldn’t say on Tuesday when the case will be heard, but said a public judgment will be issued as soon as a final decision has been reached. Cases like this are typically discussed by judges in private, unless there is a dissenting opinion that prompts a public hearing.
John Mann, a spokesman for Abramovich, and a lawyer for Tamedia in Zurich, both declined to comment on the case.
A loss at Switzerland’s top court on the reporting issue might add to current immigration headaches Abramovich faces as he bids to return to London from Russia. Renewal of his UK residency visa is taking longer than usual, according to people familiar with the situation, which meant he missed seeing Chelsea, the soccer team he bought in 2003, win the FA Cup Final in London last week.
Abramovich sought to secure Swiss residency in the weeks after Britain voted in June 2016 to quit the EU, SonntagsZeitung reported in February. The application was initially well received by the migration authorities in the Swiss canton of Valais, where Verbier is located, because of the contribution he would bring to local tax revenues, the paper reported.