Moving to Switzerland: A First-Steps Guide for Expats

Switzerland’s reputation is two numbers: very high salaries and very high prices. Both are true, and the interesting question is what is left over, which for most professionals is a meaningfully larger figure than in neighbouring countries - but not by the multiple the salary comparison implies.

The other thing to understand before anything else is that Switzerland is a federation of cantons that genuinely differ. Tax rates, permit processing, school systems, the language of daily life and the price of a flat all change when you cross a cantonal border. “Moving to Switzerland” is not really a decision; moving to Zurich, Geneva, Zug or Ticino are four different decisions.

The right to stay

EU and EFTA citizens benefit from the free movement agreement. You may come to work, or to live without working if you have sufficient means and health insurance. You register at your commune shortly after arriving and receive a permit reflecting your situation - typically the B permit for longer stays and the L permit for shorter ones, with the C settlement permit after a qualifying period of residence.

Non-EU nationals face one of the more restrictive regimes in western Europe. Permits are subject to annual quotas, employers generally have to demonstrate that the role could not be filled from within Switzerland or the EU, and the categories are aimed at highly qualified specialists, managers and people with skills in demand. In practice, most third-country nationals arrive through an employer who has decided to sponsor them rather than by moving speculatively. The cross-border commuter G permit is a further category worth knowing about if you would live in France, Germany, Italy or Austria and work in Switzerland - a very common arrangement around Geneva and Basel.

Current routes and quota realities are in the Switzerland visa section, and the general structure of employer sponsorship is in how employer visa sponsorship works.

Registration and the first weeks

Register at your commune within the deadline after arrival - typically two weeks, and it is enforced. That registration produces the document trail everything else needs, and it is also where your permit is issued or collected.

Then the bank, which in Switzerland is straightforward with a permit and an address, and health insurance, which is not optional and which you must arrange yourself.

Health insurance is a bill, not a deduction

This is the single most misunderstood thing about Swiss life.

Basic health insurance - Grundversicherung / assurance de base - is compulsory for every resident and purchased individually from a private insurer. It is not deducted from your salary and it does not scale with income. Every adult pays a premium, and every child, so a family of four pays four premiums.

The basic package is defined by law, so all insurers must cover the same treatments; they compete on price, service and the deductible model you choose. You select an annual franchise - a deductible - and a higher deductible lowers your premium, which is a genuine calculation rather than a formality.

Newcomers generally have a few months from arrival to take out a policy, and it is backdated to your arrival date, so delaying does not save money. Some cantons subsidise premiums for lower incomes.

Care quality is excellent. The point is simply that this is a substantial, visible monthly cost that has to be in your budget from day one - the arithmetic in budgeting your first six months abroad matters more here than almost anywhere. Detail in the Switzerland healthcare section.

Money and tax

Swiss taxation is layered - federal, cantonal and communal - and the cantonal and communal elements vary enormously. Zug and Schwyz are famously light; Geneva and Vaud considerably heavier. The difference is large enough that where you live within commuting distance of the same job is a genuine financial decision.

Many foreign workers on a B permit are taxed at source through Quellensteuer, with an annual assessment above certain thresholds or on request. Whether filing a full return benefits you depends on your deductions, and it is worth asking rather than defaulting.

Switzerland is not in the EU, which has practical consequences for customs on goods you bring or order, and for some professional recognition questions. The tax structure is in the Switzerland tax section, and the general residence principle in tax residency explained.

Housing and cost

Vacancy rates in Zurich, Geneva and Zug are extremely low, and applications for a good flat are competitive in a way that resembles a job application - a dossier with employment confirmation, permit, an extract from the debt collection register, and often a personal letter. Deposits are typically three months, held in a blocked account in your name.

Everyday costs are high: eating out, groceries, services, anything involving labour. Cross-border shopping into Germany and France is a normal Swiss habit for exactly that reason. Public transport is expensive and superb, and the half-fare and travel cards genuinely pay for themselves.

The four-language question

Switzerland has four national languages, and which one you need depends entirely on where you land: German - in practice Swiss German dialect for daily speech and standard German in writing - across the centre and east, French in the west, Italian in Ticino, and Romansh in a small part of Graubünden.

International employers in Zurich, Geneva and Basel often run in English, and it is entirely possible to work in English. Integration is another matter: Swiss German in particular is a spoken dialect that standard German learners find genuinely difficult, and it is the language of the pub, the neighbours and the local club.

Swiss social life is famously slow to open to outsiders, and joining a Verein - a club, of which there is one for everything - is the standard and genuinely effective route in. Not a cliché; it is how it works. The general strategy is beating culture shock and building a social life.

Schools, and the apprenticeship question

Swiss public education is excellent, free, and organised cantonally - so the structure, the starting age and even the language of instruction change when you move canton. That is worth knowing before you choose where to live, because a mid-schooling move across a cantonal border is a bigger disruption than moving neighbourhood.

The feature that most surprises foreign parents is the apprenticeship system. A majority of Swiss young people go into vocational training rather than academic upper secondary, combining paid work at a company with schooling, and it leads to genuinely well-paid careers with routes into higher education afterwards. It is not a lesser path, and treating it as one is a common expatriate misreading.

Children are also assessed and streamed relatively early, which can feel abrupt to parents from systems that defer such decisions.

International schools exist in Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Zug and are among the most expensive anywhere - if you are negotiating a package, education allowance is usually the single most valuable line to secure. The trade-offs are set out in international versus local schools.

What catches people out

Budgeting on salary without subtracting health premiums for the whole family. Assuming standard German prepares you for Swiss German. Underestimating how much cantonal choice affects your tax bill. And the rental application competition, which surprises people who assumed high income would be sufficient.

For comparisons, moving to Germany and moving to Austria offer lower pay and much lower costs with easier entry, and moving to Liechtenstein next door is an even smaller and more restrictive variation on the same theme.

Cantonal detail, permit categories and cost breakdowns are in the Switzerland country guide and the cost of living section. For canton-specific experiences and current permit realities, the visa and immigration forum is where people compare notes.