Moving to Switzerland: your checklist for immigrants

That depends on a variety of factors. If you are an EU or EFTA citizen, you can stay in Switzerland for three months to find a job. Once you find employment, you are entitled to stay. However, if you come from what is termed a «third» country, you will need to have an employment contract and the related work permit, or a study place, before you arrive. It is also worth noting that a foreign national’s family members may also come to live in Switzerland, subject to certain conditions. Relatives include: spouses, children under the age of 21 and relatives for whom the immigrating person has a right of custody or care. You can find additional information on residence permits in Switzerland here.

• A residence permit (B permit) is issued to EU/EFTA citizens if they have an employment contract that is permanent or for at least 12 months. This permit is valid for 5 years and can be extended, and can also be used as a basis for levying withholding tax .

• The permanent C residence permit (settlement permit) is then granted after 5 years to foreign workers from EU/EFTA states. With the exception of the right to vote and be elected, they have the same rights and obligations as Swiss citizens.

You can find detailed information in this Comparis article.

As a rule, you may import your personal removal goods – furniture, household effects, clothing – into Switzerland without paying customs duty if you have used them abroad for at least six months and continue to use them yourself. To do this, you declare your removal goods using form 18.44 from the Swiss Federal Customs Administration. Different rules may apply to newly acquired items, vehicles or special valuables. You can find all forms, deadlines and exceptions in our guide on customs regulations.

For customs purposes, your vehicle is usually considered part of your removal goods and can be imported duty-free under the same conditions, but must be declared separately and then registered with the Swiss road traffic authority. You can continue to drive with your foreign driving licence for the first 12 months in Switzerland; after that, you need to contact your cantonal road traffic office to have it exchanged. The required documents and deadlines for vehicle import and driving licence exchange are summarised in our two guides.

That depends on the distance, the amount of removal goods and whether you hire a removal company or organise it yourself. For a long-distance move from Germany or Austria with a professional provider, you should expect to pay several thousand francs, depending on the size of your flat.

Yes. Health insurance is compulsory in Switzerland: you must register for basic insurance with a health insurer of your choice within three months of your arrival. Cover then applies retroactively from the date you move in. Compare premiums and benefits of different health insurers directly on Comparis.

In Switzerland, the amount of withholding tax you pay differs from canton to canton and depends on a variety of factors such as income, marital status and religious denomination. Use the Comparis withholding tax calculator, to quickly calculate the tax you can expect to pay and compare cantons directly.

Basically, you don’t need to understand Swiss German, because people in German-speaking Switzerland also speak standard German (High German), and everything is written in German. Alternatively, people in German-speaking Switzerland are pleased if you know a few words of Swiss German. We have put together a little dictionary for you. If you would like to learn the language, you can take a reasonably priced course, for example at the Migros Klubschule.

Important: German is spoken only in the largest region. There are also regions where French, Italian and Romansh are spoken.