Has anyone ever relocated to Switzerland?

[Peckhaminn]

I've recently come back from a work trip in Switzerland and I loved every single second of it. It's a beautiful country with such low crime rate. I'm really considering going again and wondered how easy it is to relocate and move there? Never felt so at home in a place I've never been to before.

Also, what is it like living there?

On your own or with family? Children?

No with my partner (yet to discuss with him!)

It always strikes me as rather dull and this is what friends who relocated confirmed. They are back in the U.K.

I love it here but it honestly depends where in Switzerland. It varies massively depending on if you were to live in one of the german speaking cantons or considering the french or italian cantons. I live in Switzerland in one of the german speaking cantons. And love it. Originally from the north of England, but moved here as a child with my family. And we are all still here years later. Would you have a job to move you over here... and in terms of languages it will make a huge difference if you already have a basic level of german/french/italian depending on where you visited and were considering moving to. It would undoubtedly make the move and then intergrating a lot easier. Depends also on what type of lifestyle you live now. I know a fair few friends some single and some partenered up without children and they find it ridiculously quiet/boring. They tend to do a lot of weekend trips/sight-seeing in Switzerland and neighbouring countries, which can be costly but very worth it. For family life you can live in smaller villages and kids are really independent from young ages. Feel free to ask any other questions if you like, i will see if i can answer them 😁

helps if you have £££ I think and the bad news is we are not EU citizens which affects residency

https://visaguide.world/moving-to/switzerland/

You can only relocate under strict criteria or as a Swiss citizen. A very bureaucratic country, lots of regulations on things such as noise and rubbish , public holidays , which vary by canton. Public Referenda on changes however minor but non Swiss have no right to vote. National service. Difficult for non Swiss to purchase property. Extremely expensive to live the lifestyle you might aspire to.

It’s expensive. I only know one family that live there, and they are multimillionaires.

Sprry , a bit negative (!) so more positives -reliable public transport, local outdoor spaces available to all, readily available private healthcare, cleanliness, good working hours and culture, high food standards. Mountains, lakes and woods.

My friend moved out there with her DH for work and according to her, pros are:

Lovely countryside and access to nature
Clean
Low crime rate
Healthcare way better than UK
Excellent public transport

Negatives:
Expensive
Benefits like statutory maternity leave not as good as UK
Not as culturally diverse

You'd also need to speak French/German/Italian depending on which region you were in. English is spoken well by a lot of people in Switzerland but knowing the local language would help with integration and work prospects.

Yes, me 👋 We relocated before Brexit though.
Its now harder as a third country national as your employed has to prove they cannot find any Swiss of Eu National who could do the advertiser jobs.
I love living here. It’s a quieter life - takes some time getting used too. German is a tough language to learn and Swiss German is only spoken - new arrivals tend not to learn it but the children so.
Great quality of life but it is expensive. Housing, food, restaurants all very expensive. Eg in the Zurich area 3,500chf a month for a 2/3 bedroom flat around 120-140 square meters.
However the quality of life is really good, lots of outdoors things to do. Swimming, biking? Skiing, hiking etc etc. And it is very beautiful and green.

I moved from South West London to Geneva 7 years ago. I can only recommend it, it’s amazing. However you need a work permit so would have to secure a job before coming over ideally

I relocated to the French speaking part a few years ago and after years of renting 3 bed apartments for around 3,500 CHF per month we have bought a house (it was easy to buy contrary to what a PP said) giving us a lot more space and large garden for a lower monthly cost.

We found the cost of compulsory health insurance very surprising (around 1,100 CHF per month for basic coverage for a family of 4) but it is offset by lower taxes and the immediate access to any specialist needed is excellent.

Statutory maternity pay is also excellent at 80% of salary for 14 weeks.

It really is a beautiful, clean country with low crime and great employment opportunities - it’s biggest selling points are definitely the lakes, mountains and scenery - so for any person who loves the outdoors it is amazing. Also to be in driving distance to much of Central Europe- it’s easy to take a weekend trip to Italy, Germany, France, Austria etc.

That said, it’s very quiet and borderline boring at times - largely as much is shut on Sundays - so it really does depend what type of lifestyle you prefer.

It certainly is much, much harder to relocate here after Brexit so that may make your decision for you unfortunately.

I've been lots of times with business and can't stand it. Everything is always bloody shut- I've even been to try and go to shops and cafes shut at lunch time!! It's extremely expensive for what seems very middling standards too . Zurich was attractive and had more going for it - but even then I felt it was all crackingly dull- but then I'm not into skiing or winter sports. I have had a couple of nice winter holidays there but it's not to me the same as liveable - guess though what didn't suit me might suit others- we are all different you would need to be on a whopping income though

Op… unless you and partner get a work visa and your partner actually wants to uproot everything… then I’m afraid not a chance

Zürich you have to be either massively into outdoor sport or massively into techno music and drugs, otherwise it's so dull. The culture is still very sexist and there's a lot of resentment of foreigners. I didn't last long.

I’ve been here 15 years and absolutely love it. I came as a teeny something single and lived right in down town zurich, made loads of mostly expat friends and partied like mad for 5 years before meeting my husband and settling down.

we now live in a village just outside zurich and have an amazing time. We’re quite outdoorsy so spend a lot of time either skiing or hiking on the weekends, swimming in lakes or paddling down the river in summer.

whilst its expensive taxes are incredibly low, particularly if you choose the right place to live. And if you can buy a property (which we have) it’s much much cheaper to live than if you’re renting.

shops etc. are indeed closed on sundays but that gives you an amazing free day to spend doing fun stuff with family. I suppose it depends on your outlook. I would never move back to the UK after living here.

I have colleagues there. Most are expats rather than Swiss. It is an expensive country but wages tend to be higher because of this. Most of them do their weekly shopping across the border in France as it's a lot cheaper. There's no Amazon. The weather is very similar to the UK for much of the year. Oct-Mar you need winter tyres on your car by law.

Eating out is expensive. Public transport seems to be pretty good.

The weather is very similar to the UK for much of the year.

the winters are considerably colder

Agree, late October-November and April are often foggy and damp, the months in between bitterly cold with snow on the ground even at lower levels. Marker poles are set along road verges in mid October. Weather can change very quickly, Main roads get cleared of snow but side roads less so - snow tyres or chains.

Zürich isn't much colder than a northern UK winter. There are a few days with snow on the ground below zero, but mostly it's damp and grey. If it gets cold, it gets really cold though. The summer are hot and humid though because the air gets trapped by the mountains, with thunderstorms every night.

I had a friend who went off to Switzerland.....she couldn't stop talking about it. She'd got a residential job, was living in the mountains, beautiful scenery, fresh air, high salary and low taxes, high standard of living. We were all envious, she sent us photos of everything.

She came back in less than a year. Never said why it didn't work out, kept her head down, took her old job back and kept quiet. It clearly wasn't up to all the dreams/expectations in reality, we gave up asking after a while. And I stopped being envious! I wonder if all these lovely places aren't quite the same when we try to live in them?

Ok to set some records straight…
of course we get a mix of weather just like anywhere. This winter we have had 1-2 days of snow on the ground in the cities. The last week it’s been blue sky and sunshine and between 15-18 degrees.

in the summer it’s hotter than most of the uk for longer. We don’t have thunder storms every night, maybe 5-7 over the whole summer.

everyone changes to winter tyres in autumn and back in spring. It’s no big deal it’s just part of owning a car, like getting it serviced. No snow chains needed if you have 4 wheel drive and winter tires.

honestly some expats find it difficult, usually if they don’t anticipate the cultural differences and try to bring the British or whatever culture to Switzerland. You have to be prepared to adjust and fit in. 🤷‍♀️

My half sister and dad live there but my dad is an asylum seeker. I think that has made a difference. He found learning the language hard.
I find it strange how little integration there is. My sister was born there but as she has two non Swiss parents she will never be Swiss, which I find odd. Paying your taxes all that time to a country which won't even let you be a citizen.
Her son was also born to two non Swiss parents, although they both have lived in Switzerland forever. He is mixed race and says that he has no Swiss friends. All his friends are African, North African, Turkish, Lebanese. My sister too, she only has friends who aren't Swiss.
I went to stay with some Swiss German friends of my mums who lived in a gorgeous house in a very rich part of town. I didn't see any ethnic diversity there. I suppose it's like a ramped up version of Britain but as a mixed person, I felt very much like I didn't really belong in the posh bit. I don't feel like that in the more affluent parts of the UK, but maybe that's because I know it.
Everyone is super punctual.
Everything is super expensive.
I miss the irreverent style of Brits. Lots of people just shop in H&M and wears jeans and tops.
People are health conscious.
It's a breathtakingly beautiful country.

@Dumdumbetterrunrun My foreign parents had 4 children in the U.K. and none of us qualified for citizenship until the age of around 10. So this is not as unusual as it sounds and actually goes for most European countries.

@Dumdumbetterrunrun Yep- I much prefer Germany , they also are punctual and a bit 'rules' but more casual about other things.