Living in Switzerland – Make It a Reality

Living in Switzerland appeals to many foreigners, although the reasons are different for each individual. Some are…

• Searching for employment as qualified professionals

• Others want to study at a boarding school or a university

• Entrepreneurs and investors who wish to set up a business

• Wealthy individuals who want to come for retirement

• Sport stars and celebrities taking advantage of the favourable lump tax system.

It really seems like the perfect location to live. Yet, most people believe that it is impossible to get a residence permit. This is certainly not true, because there are many ways to immigrate to our country. As is the case when you are retired or are an entrepreneur and would like to do business in Switzerland.

Switzerland is not just for Celebrities and the Wealthy

It is a myth to believe that living in Switzerland is only for celebrities or wealthy Russian oligarchs. Sure, we have many famous people enjoying a quiet life like Shania Twain, Phil Collins or Michael Schumacher. Sure, being moderately wealthy makes it easier to qualify for immigration.

It is not as expensive as you may think

Switzerland is an expensive place to live and it compares to London or other European cities. This too is not entirely true. One of the reasons many foreign nationals like living in Switzerland are the low levels of taxation compared to most countries.

Therefore, the higher cost of living is largely compensated by much lower taxes. However, it is not just the income and wealth tax deals that non Swiss are able to negotiate with the local authorities.

It is also about indirect taxes that make a big difference. For example, our VAT (value added tax) is only 7,6% and 2,6% on groceries, newspapers, medicine and books. The government wants to lower the VAT to 6,1% very soon.

Also the gas taxes for one litre are over 25% cheaper than in the UK. In Switzerland, we pay only SFr 40 ($37) per year to use our highways. Real estate prices are reasonable and lower than for example in London or Paris. Therefore, when you are living in Switzerland with a permit B, you are free to buy anywhere.

Living in Switzerland varies from one region to another. Every German speaking Canton has its own dialect. Even the Germans, our neighbour immigrants take up language courses to understand the Swiss German dialect.

This is not as much the case with French and Italian… besides it is anyway easier to communicate in those two languages.

Therefore, the mentality and traditions are also different from region to region.

Apart from the languages, there are differences in our educational system, culture, economy, architecture and climate. This makes it quite unique for a small country like ours.

Switzerland has also a mild climate in the south and is not as cold as some may believe. The summers can get to over 30° Celsius. The winter season can have a lot of snow but is usually not very long.

In compare to some other very pretty locations, we enjoy our political and economic stability. We Swiss count as friendly, but reserved. We also count as careful and not very spontaneous.

Switzerland is not a country to find instant bonding like for example in South America.

It takes a bit of time for a new immigrant to enjoy life, even in paradise. However, once you have connected, you will find many open and trustworthy friends. After visiting a few times, more than just a few people begin with the idea about moving to Switzerland. Click here to find out more.

The Swiss respect the privacy and discretion

Generally, I think that our negatives have certain advantages because…

…we get a lot of credit for respecting the privacy and maintain discretion to the wealthy individuals and celebrities living in Switzerland.

In some people privacy and discretion are more important than the favourable Swiss tax and immigration laws. If it wouldn’t be like that they would probably all live in Monaco.

The best Infrastructure for doing business

Besides the tax advantages and discretion, there are many more reasons why it makes sense to think about living in Switzerland. Our public service system really is top. We have excellent public and private boarding schools, good health care, well maintained roads and one of the most efficient train networks in the world.

Travelers and foreigners living in Switzerland appreciate the renowned infrastructure as well as our reliability and dependability. There is considerably less "red tape" in the Swiss regulation system than in most European or other countries. All this proves that excellent conditions exist for doing business.

The Swiss cities are small in compare by international standard. Bern - the capital of Switzerland has barely more than 130,000 inhabitants. But it has everything you need, a beautiful old town, lots of green spaces, a great culture, good restaurants and excellent shopping possibilities.

The city of Geneva is regarded as the smallest metropolis in the world. But despite its small size, there are a lot of things to do in Geneva.

Zurich, the city of money has a population of little more than 500,000 and with all its suburbs included about one million inhabitants.

In fact, in the annual world-wide city survey, rank Geneva and Zurich alternatively in first and second place in the quality of living during the past years. And as in Geneva, there are also many exciting things to do in Zurich. Even for party people, the Zurich nightlife is as exciting as in any large city. Bern also ranks constantly under the first top ten places.

This attracts many small international businesses and multinational corporations to different areas. A preferred area is around Lausanne on Lake Geneva. Many big corporations like Nissan, Cisco, Yahoo, Chiquita, Honeywell, Monsanto, Sunstar, Bata, Dompé, Intrawest, Vale, Ferring, ADM and many more have their European headquarters in Switzerland.

These businesses benefit from the proximity of Europe’s cities and the favourable tax packages. Most European destinations are only one hour from the International airports of Geneva, Zurich and Basel.

Click here for more information on the benefits of forming an offshore corporation in Switzerland.

A growing number of people from the United Kingdom of England move their residence to Switzerland and fly to London for work… thanks to over three hundred weekly flights from the UK to Geneva.

The English-speaking schools and the astonishingly favourable real estate prices give reasons enough to move here – and Living a Swiss Lifestyle. That is why moving to Switzerland makes sense for some people.

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