Your First 30 Days in Switzerland: A Practical Arrival Plan

Confirm your residence and work position with the responsible authority or adviser, arrange accommodation evidence and collect the documents requested for local registration. If children are moving, establish a school contact. For a shipment, confirm the Swiss customs process with the mover before it leaves.

Swiss customs publishes the procedure for importing removal goods, including the declaration and supporting evidence. Use those instructions for the actual shipment; do not wait until the vehicle reaches the border to establish who is handling clearance.

Check the instructions for the municipality where you are living. Vaud’s welcome portal and Lugano’s arrival guidance each state an eight-day registration requirement. These local examples are why the household should not assume that every task can wait until the second week.

At home, confirm keys, name on the mailbox, building access, utilities and internet. Keep the handover record and know how to report a problem. Record registration or permit reference numbers and appointments in one place, with a reminder for any missing document.

Confirm the child’s start arrangements, school contact, route and lunch or childcare plan. Set up the payments needed for rent and ordinary expenses. Ask the chosen bank for its actual onboarding list and expected next steps; keep a fallback payment method while the application is being processed.

Check household-service start dates rather than assuming they followed the lease automatically. Establish who will receive official mail and who can respond when a document request arrives. If adults or children arrive on different dates, keep their records separate.

The Federal Office of Public Health explains the usual three-month enrolment period for people subject to compulsory resident insurance, individual cover for each family member and retrospective premiums when enrolment is timely. Exemptions and international arrangements require checking for the person concerned.

Do not use the enrolment period as a reason to leave the position unclear. Ask the insurer or responsible authority to confirm the start date, keep evidence of the application and set aside money for premiums due from the relevant date. Review how existing medical needs will be handled with an appropriate professional.

Check that appointments happened, requested documents were received and no unanswered letter is waiting. Review payroll and social-insurance questions with the employer or adviser. Keep departure-country filings and address changes visible alongside Swiss tasks.

For driving and vehicles, contact the relevant cantonal road-traffic office and review customs guidance for an imported vehicle. Put the deadlines that apply to your case into a calendar; licence and vehicle steps are separate from opening a bank account or registering a home.

At the end of the month, list what still needs an answer, who owns it and the next date to act. A delayed document does not mean the entire move has failed, but it should not disappear from view. The interactive relocation checklist is useful for tracking the wider move; this guide explains the work behind the first-month items.