The other side of the Swiss postcard

Hi there,

Having lived for almost 10 years in Switzerland and now I am considering going back to Luxembourg, I was asked to share my experience living abroad.
First of all, the decision to live in Switzerland was most entirely driven by my professional motivations: the international economic landscape in Switzerland offers a great potential for professionals. Some of the biggest brands have their european HQ based in Switzerland and the potential to grow is huge.

When I decided to go jobhunting in Switzerland my greatest strength were my language skills. Speaking more than 1 other national language next to english gives you a huge advantage over other candidates. But the competition is huge, as foreigners from around the world are trying to get a position in this beautiful country.

Lets point out some of the positive features of living and working in Switzerland:
-beautiful landscape, great skiing spots and lots of leisure activities (sailing, hiking, museums and exhibitions)
-international environment: you meet so many people coming from different cultural backgrounds, which is trully enriching
-secure and safe: Switzerland ranks amongs the safest countries in the world
-great benefit packages and lot of potential to climb the coroporate ladder

I could go on like this, but most readers do actually know the great beenfits of living here, but,

Well yes there is a big but and a few (in my opininon) negative features of living here:
-Swiss people tend to be very closed on  meeting strangers, they do socialize in their own circle of friends and family, but are not very open

-the poltical landscape has become difficult for foreigners: latest votations have shown that Swiss people would like to have the numers of foreigners coming to their country limited by quotas, out of fear to preserve their country and workforce. The economic outcome has yet to be evaluated, but as a foreigner it gives you a strange feeling.

-childcare is a mess! being a working mother I did have a struggel to find a solution once I would start working again. I am not saying that this is uncommon in other countries, but having signed up for a nursery when i was only 7 weeks pregnant and only finding a solution 2 weeks before starting to work again is not something speaking in favor of having a healthy work life balance. But the truth is that not enough money or priority is given to this on a poltitical side.

-tax systems and offices are kind of a mess, for over 2 years we are being taxed on the wrong income (too high) and even after multiple calls they still didn't correct their errors. hence for 2 years we have been paying too much.

-Life is expensive: my husband and I have both good salaries which in any other country would have allowed us to own property by now. But property prices are insane, for a normal 150 sm house with a small garden (not even a recent cosntruction) you will easily pay up to 800k €. Also the prices for grocery shopping, restaurants and leisure activities are above european standards.

-Healthcare system is private, not transparent and expensive: you would have to pay more than 250€ per month in order to be insured on a basic level with a franchise of 2'500. This means that all expenses which fall below this amount have to be covered by yourself, once you have reached this amount in one year, the insurance takes over. So basically all healthcare costs are to be paid by yourself, which can amount to a hefty bill considering that a general doctor would charge you up to 100€ per visit (no further exams or treatments). this systems leads sick people to go to a pharmacie first to receive over the counter meds before even considering seing a doctor. And I wont even discuss dental care...

So when coming to Switzerland, most foreigners only see high salaries, beautiful landscape etc. but when actually living here most of them will quickly see the downside. But it is a beautiful country with great potential :-)

So to sum up, do your research before coming to Switzerland and evaluate all aspects.

Hi Julien!

You are absolutely right. It is different to be full of joy during the whole vacations, due all new things. Living abroad mean to experience the time after down-to-earth.

On the one side: all the reasons , which attracted us to move in the new countr are still there. Addditionally yo are enriched for the new experiences and the perspectives are wider, one becomes more flexible, and our mind opener.

All positive and first positive impresions are still strong enough to start to face the culture shock: many of what is usually "nice" in the own country, it could be "disturbing" in other one. The people and the job demand of you to improve your language skills, and even if you have a high level, you discover that there are fine important nuances. Specially in Europe I see that the people close themselves to foreigners, they wish to know you before they open their home and friends circles to the foreigners...

But if you arrive to cope with the shock, and change enough to adapt in the new country, then you discover that in your own country you are becoming a stranger...

I came from Mexico to Germany, I was there 7 years. After I went to Switzerland, the experience in Germany helped me, but not enough to make it easier in Switzerland.

Anyway, as I say frequently: Mexico gave me the strengthness to smile include in the worse situations, Germany showed me that there are valid life styles far away of my own cultute and I have the freedom and responsability of the choice. And Switzerland showed me that the same how much mistakes I could do, there are always new chances to restart.

It was sometimes hard, but if I would go back, at the moment of the decision, now knowing what I would experience... I would say YES again.

It seems to me that most people are already aware of the other side in Switzerland.  Just as people already know about the country's exceptional beauty and food, most are aware that living in Switzerland can be an oppressively expensive proposition.

The bureaucracy in Switzerland cannot effectively compete with a place like China but can still be overwhelming to newcomers.

I came visiting a friend in the Basel region, liked it and stayed. I now find I have lived here continuously for some 34 years.
I obviously I like it here ... the country, the people and just about everything about it.
The only downside I now notice as I approach 70 this year is that the winters are a bit too long.
Politically, I am also concerned about having such a large, overpowering super state (i.e. the EU) breathing down Switzerland's neck.

Greetings!! I have been living in France, just across the border, while my daughter in studying in Geneva. I loved most of my being here, being in a country setting and with a international big town next door. The international face of Geneva is indeed a unique advantage for people coming from all corners of the world. On the other side of the postcard, I do believe that Switzerland should integrate European standards so that it could be sustainable in the long term.  I did not like the recent moves towards protectionism and restrictions of movements of people. If Switzerland was an island I could understand but being completely surrounded by European states with much lower costs of living I doubt that this anomaly could last in the long term. If Switzerland made it almost untouched through Europeans wars, there is actually a danger in terms of not complying with banking transparency and money recycling. Wars are today fought on the financial ground and I am not sure that Switzerland could be neutral from that. For the time being is fine but better not to feed potential European controversies on movement of people and finances.

I agree 100% with what ''Going Back'' has written. And I have been living here for almost 9 years.

There is always 2 sides of the coin in everything and Switzerland is definitely not an exemption. You cannot look on one side and ignore the other. I think coming from a third world contry's point of view, it can never be worse. These things about Switzerland I have already been well informed of, but to actually experience it myself would still be very interesting and eye-opening as well. I'm on a process of marrying a Swiss and thank you for this input. This, however shall not change my decision. Considering the benefit of the doubt isn't clouding what the heart ponders. It makes you be in the proper perspectives. Love knows no boundaries they say.