Switzerland Travel Guide
Greetings, comrades!
In this article I will try to describe my experience of moving to the wonderful Alpine country of Switzerland, and specifically to the city of Zurich, and to talk about the most important aspects of life here.
The post will be very voluminous, because I wanted to make a kind of mini-guide for life in Switzerland, according to which a potential tractor driver can appreciate the country. And for those who are already here or going in the near future, the article can help to deal with local peculiarities - it is not always easy to find answers to questions, especially not knowing the language.
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I decided not to divide it into separate pieces - so it will be easier to search for information. I hope that I will not greatly break the theme of the resource, let the UFO judge us.
Flumserberg. Hereinafter - usually my photos, which seemed to me more or less decent :)
Switzerland is a small country in central Europe, which is largely located in the Alps.
Switzerland is not part of the European Union , but is part of the Schengen zone and all trade organizations like EFTA . Because of this, there are some inconveniences when interacting with the rest of Europe, for example:
Zurich, Witikon
I was not actively looking for work abroad. Before moving here, I quietly lived with my wife and daughter in Moscow, paid the mortgage for a dvushku in a residential area and worked as a system engineer, then a developer, then an architect, then all together.
At some point, I was knocked to LinkedIn with a proposal to have an interview for the position of a backend developer in Zurich. Before that, there were a number of other proposals, but they were either in the US - and I somehow did not want to go there, because it is difficult to go to my parents and them to me (I remember flights to Canada and to Cuba - this is hell), or they did not arrange for other reasons. Approximately at the same time, Google recruiter came to me, but they offered to work in Dublin where they didn’t draw too much.
I was already a little familiar with Switzerland - as a child I lived for about a year in Geneva when my father worked at CERN - laid the foundations of the Large Hadron Collider :) Plus, a couple of years ago we spent a few days in this country traveling by car in Europe. In addition, Switzerland is pretty well advertised: cheese, chocolate, mountains, banks - that's all.
So I decided to phone them on Skype and find out the details. Communicated with CTO and one of the developers. The conversation lasted about an hour and was, in fact, more a conversation than an interview: they discussed technologies, operating systems, databases, programming languages ​​and the application of all this in various projects. It was proposed to work in a small (30-40 people) company, which is part of the largest Swiss media holding. The company is developing a local site for private announcements (Avito's local equivalent).
After talking, I got rid of a simple test task, which I sketched in half an hour and sent to them. One of my interlocutors acknowledged receipt and hid. Three weeks later, when I had already forgotten about them, I received a letter inviting me to an in-person interview with them at the office (with payment for the flight and accommodation). After consulting with his wife decided - and why not? At the same time and a little rest - because the summer is outside. They took a week off, handed over the child to the grandmothers - and go.
The interview began at 9 am and lasted about 6 hours including lunch. In the process, I managed to talk with almost all the staff from secretary to director. There were almost no practical tasks - we examined my test task and talked about various technical topics. The CEO (in the past, a lecturer at the University of Zurich) gave me all sorts of logical tasks and some other tricky questions more from the level of psychology and personnel management.
They spoke English (which I have a good technical, but could be better spoken) - there were no problems in understanding, most likely because for the overwhelming majority there he was also not native - in fact there was only one purebred British. The rest are Swiss, Italians,Spaniards, Catalans, Germans, Romanians, Poles, Serbs, Turks, Brazilians, Portuguese, Argentines, Australians, and even Russians (like nobody has forgotten). In general, she is still a hodgepodge, but it’s even good :)
The overall impression of the results was quite positive - smart people, a good office, a beautiful city and country. At the end, they said that they would be interviewing other candidates and, according to the results, they would tell me, on that they parted. We rode around the sights for several days and then flew home.
About two weeks later I received a letter from them with an offer to join the team. We discussed this with the family and decided that it was a chance to try living in another, not the worst, country. Of the minuses, I saw only a demotion (at home I worked as a system architect at that time) and a potential decrease in income — despite living in salaries several times higher in Switzerland, it was not cheap at all. But we decided and I replied that I agreed to their proposal.
Switzerland’s immigration legislation is rather strict, especially with respect to residents of the so-called “third countries”, that is, non-EU / EFTA members.
For citizens of EU / EFTA, a work permit is not necessary, but for stays of more than 3 months, you need to obtain a residence permit - there is a law on the free movement between EU / EFTA and Switzerland. You can read more here . There are no quotas, but apparently, in case of strong immigration, they can be introduced.
To hire people of the third grade, like the Russians, the company must prove to the state that it could not find an employee with the appropriate qualifications either in her own country or in EU / EFTA. Plus, you need to get into the quota - in 2018, for residents of third countries only 3500 type B residence permit is available (about them below). The quota is divided into 4 parts and each part becomes available at the beginning of the next quarter. This protects the quota from harvesting immediately at the beginning of the year.
How is the need to hire an employee from outside the EU / EFTA proved? There are no clear criteria, as far as I know. But, at a minimum, it is necessary to show that the relevant vacancy has been hanging for some time on local analog sites of hh.ru and, in my opinion, provide a list of rejected candidates with an indication of the reasons for which they did not fit.
Thus, most of the worries of employment falls on the employer. That is - he should want to hire you and spend some amount of effort and money on this process. It is possible that the design of H-1B in the US is even more dreary for the company, not in the know.
In this case, all I needed was a scan of a foreign passport and a brief free-form information about the family (wife, daughter, parents — dates of birth, etc.). Well, the contract signed by both parties, of course. Later, when I had already moved, the migration department further requested a certificate of non-conviction.
The employer, who was accustomed to the Swiss Post and, apparently, had never heard of the Post of Russia, sent me a contract in regular mail, and not some DHL. As a result, after more than three weeks, when we were already discussing alternative delivery methods, the letter still reached. I signed the contract and sent it back via DHL - it cost about 3-4 thousand, but the package was delivered the next day by the evening.
About the contract itself, as it was with me: these are 2 A4 pages, on which it is written:
And that's all. There are no Talmuds of employment contracts, job descriptions and other scholarship that no one in their right mind reads. For the sake of justice - in the same neighboring Germany it is becoming more and more bureaucratic.
As rightly pointed out in the comments - the contract may be longer. But, in any case, it will be shorter than what we have in the Russian Federation.
In general, I was struck by how much everything is based on the presumption of honesty of people: no one considers you a deceiver and / or an idiot by default, and this greatly simplifies many processes. But more about that later.
The employer submitted the documents to the migration service and the waiting began. A couple of months came the answer - denied. But, as it turned out, there is an appeal procedure: they filed additional substantiation documents (which I don’t know for sure) and after a couple of weeks received a positive response. Hooray!
We agreed on the date of departure for work and I began to wind down my affairs at home. The plan was this: I fly there first, find housing, then come back and go with the family by car. The distance is not close - 2600 km, but we had quite a few things that were easier to transport ourselves.
I had an open Schengen, but for entry (because from their point of view, the purpose of the trip should correspond to the type of visa), you need to get a national visa type D, which is issued for a relatively short period of time (something about 3 months), sufficient to obtain a residence permit (also known as an ID card). Having his Schengen visa is no longer necessary - you can freely enter any country of the Schengen zone with a foreign passport and a residence permit card.
The process of obtaining this visa is very simple: the employer sends you a scan of the document under the scary name Ermächtigung zur Visumserteilung (which translates simply as “Visa Permit”), you go with him to the embassy in the morning until 11 o'clock and hand over your passport, and after lunch you already take stamped with a visa. It costs about 4 thousand rubles. After that you can fly, which I did.
The company paid me 3 months of living in an apartment in the center of Zurich, 5 minutes walk from the office, so I had some time to search for permanent housing, and this is also an epic. I will tell about this and many other things below, in the second part of the story.
Here I will try to give more information about local life.
Disclaimer : My experience is specific to the canton of Zurich and the city with the same name. In other places, much can be otherwise. Many laws and customs vary greatly at the cantonal and even municipal level.
The official language of the canton of Zurich, like most of the country, is German. At school, classical German is taught here (the so-called Hochdeutsch ), and they speak Swiss German, which has quite a few differences. Plus, he also has his dialects.
But since the population of Zurich is 30% foreign, there are usually no problems with the English language. There may be difficulties in communicating with retirees, but even they are mostly well tolerated in English.
Previously, the second language in the school was taught only by another state (in the German cantons - French, for example). Not so long ago, we added English training - my Swiss colleagues are only happy about this, since the benefits of learning English are immeasurably greater.
A lot of them. But for foreigners coming to work, there are two of them: B and L.
The first (B) is a potentially unlimited residence permit, which must be renewed once a year (this is done by the employer). The second (L) is short-term, issued for a maximum of a year with the possibility of renewal for another year - after the expiry you must either exchange it for B, or send it back to your Honduras. L is issued if you have a contract for a limited period, or in cases where the quota for a residence permit of type B has expired.
In my case there was an unlimited contract and, accordingly, a residence permit of type B, therefore I do not have any particular experience with regard to part L. After 5 years of owning B, in theory, you have the right to apply for a residence permit of type C - this is practically citizenship. The only difference is that you do not have the right to vote and if you leave the country for a long time - it can be annulled. And serve in the army is not necessary. To obtain it, usually, you need to pass a test for knowledge of the language of the canton in which you live. There is a minimum level determined by federal law, plus the municipality may have its own requirements.
Citizenship, after the last changes in the law, can be obtained in 10 years (instead of 12), but now only if you already have a residence permit of type C.
B and L have two subspecies - for residents of the EU / EFTA and for all others - I will continue to talk about the “non-EU / EFTA B permit”. There are some differences between them, which, of course, are not in our favor. In fact, for residents of the EU, a residence permit is a residence permit because permission to work they have, and so by default. Europeans (and residents of other countries such as the USA / Canada) usually issue a residence permit of type C automatically after 5 years, and all the rest after 10. If you also want after 5, see the previous paragraph.
Also, a residence permit of type B can be with or without a permit for a free change of employer. In the second case, in theory, you can contact Migrationsamt and there they can meet and allow to change the company. The restriction on a change of employer is usually removed after 2 years. Understand exactly what you can read the paper, which was attached to the residence permit. I threw my own without having read :) so I had to write to Migrationsamt and ask them. It turned out that I was given a residence permit without reference to the employer - this is nice.
There are also other types of residence permit type B, such as graduate students who do not belong to the relocation of work and I have no experience with them.
Briefly about what to do after arrival.
First you need to register. This requires a document showing that you live somewhere: it may be a lease agreement (most likely it will not be in your hands yet), or an invoice for payment of accommodation in an apartment or hotel. We take this invoice, Ermächtigung zur Visumserteilung , passport and go to the local Kreisburo - this is something like a mixture of the village council and the MFC. The city is divided into Kreis s (districts) and each has its own village council. To which district does an address belong, you can find out on the GIS website of the city of Zurich: tyts
After registration, you will be recorded on the delivery of biometrics (photos and prints) for obtaining a residence permit. This is usually about two weeks. These analyzes are taken in the Migrationsamt building, the address will be given to you. After that, a residence permit card will be sent by mail to the registration address.
There is a registration + issue of a residence permit of about 140 francs. Children cheaper.
On such electromotorcycle riders go postmen
I think that for the majority of those arriving from the territory of the former USSR, mail is such an inevitable evil that is used to receive packages from foreign online stores. And many never and never sent paper letters. Therefore, it was a surprise to me that here the post is the circulatory system of the country.
In Switzerland, as in many other countries with low-rise buildings, there is no such thing as an apartment number. Also, each entrance is usually a separate house in terms of address. Therefore, in my village with a population of 10 thousand people on the main street, house numbers are being rolled over 500. There are names on the entrance to the mailboxes - this is enough to deliver correspondence.
To pay for the letter, you can, of course, use the old school method: stamps.
But the easiest way is to send an SMS to the number 414, the code will come back - it needs to be rewritten to the upper right corner of the envelope. This method works only for letters of priority A in the B5 format. From the account of the phone will write off the same 1 franc. Well, either just come to the post office and pay by card or cache.
The sender's address is written in the upper left corner in the following format: The recipient's address is written in the lower right corner, the format depends on whether it is a company, whether it is a direct address or a mailbox, etc. Better rewrite one-to-one.
To get a salary and pay bills you need a bank account - the cashier’s office does not give out here :)
In Switzerland, there is a PostFinance payment system (something like our wretched Post Office, although PostFinance is not very much loved here) with its cards that do not work abroad. That is, it is a separate independent payment system that has nothing to do with VISA / Mastercard / so forth (hello, MIR).
Also, of course, there are banks issuing ordinary cards. The largest ones are UBS (something like our Sberbank) and Credit Suisse. Since I am not particularly into the topic of differences between local banks, I chose UBS. While there are no special complaints, the first year of service is free, then something around 10-30 francs per month (depends on whether you have 10k + CHF in your account and will be cheaper if you refuse paper correspondence). Internet banking and mobile applications are quite convenient, transfers, payment of bills, withdrawals at ATMs of any banks within the country - all without a fee.
You can open an account without a residence permit, just with a passport and a piece of paper about registration, although in this case credit cards will not give you (credit cards, not debit cards, but in my opinion almost no one uses them). It takes half an hour, you just come to the branch and say that you want to open an account. After that, within a couple of weeks they will send you plastic cards by mail, an NFC card for accessing the Internet bank (you just put it on the phone from the back, enter a pin and go; the apple owners, however, pass by - this only works on a green robot for now) , PIN codes for everything and other requirements.
For some operations, however, you must order separately for 25 francs Access Card NFC Display :
An extremely interesting device - in addition to NFC and the chip, a full-fledged access code generator with a display and a pin-pad is built into it. In this case, by form factor and thickness, this is a regular credit card. Where they just hid the battery ...
What is nice is that almost all accounts in the country come in the form of orange payment slip , which is easily scanned by the camera through the bank’s mobile application and paid in two clicks. No driving in the hellish details - forget about BSC, OKATO, SNILS, KPP, BIK, OKTMO and other spells.
It looks something like this.
And in the Swiss banks they do not like Americans very much. Especially in UBS.
I have long clarified - whether I do not have US citizenship. Why - you can read more here .
This is a separate large and complex topic, but I will try to describe the main one.
Every resident is obliged to have medical insurance. Those who have come in have to issue it within 3 months after arrival, otherwise the state itself will assign you an insurance company and a type of insurance - and it will be standard (read - the most expensive).
Moreover, even if you insure two months after your arrival, you will still pay from the first day - it is considered that you are insured by default right away. I was a little offi from the first accounts of several thousand francs. Therefore, it is better to do it right away- what will happen if you get sick earlier than you insure, I honestly do not know - most likely they will cure you as if you have standard insurance. According to GraphiteThe bill for treatment can be sent to the insurance after insure.
There are 4 main insurance mechanisms in the country:
There is another mechanism with the use of pharmacies - you go to the pharmacy and from there you are already sent to the right place. But it is not very common, as far as I know.
At the same time, for children (under 18) and pregnant women, the mechanism is not important - they can always go to any doctor right away. Also to the optometrist, in my opinion, you can go immediately.
There is a deductible in the insurance (the sum, expenses up to which you pay yourself) - you can choose it at the conclusion of the insurance contract. Her options are limited by law: 300/500/1000/1500/2000/2500 CHF for adults and 0/100/200/300/400/500/600 for children - per year. And, accordingly, the more it is - the cheaper the insurance.
There are also additional insurance options - each insurance has its own set and you can usually combine them flexibly. For example - the chamber is more comfortable, global insurance coverage and so on, all sorts of massage-fitness can be. It is highly desirable to take at least some small set, it is usually not expensive.
How to choose insurance? And hell knows :) For me, the criterion was the presence of a normal site and call centers in English. Prices are not very significant.
I took out HMO insurance in Swica with a deductible of 1000 and some small set of additional options on top - about 950 CHF per month is issued for a family of 3 people (a child is about 100, the rest is my wife).
Pension payments consist of three components - the so-called Three Pillars.
The cumulative pension (Pillar 2 and 3), potentially, you can remove the whole entirely, for example, to build / buy real estate or to open a business. In this case, though you will pay the tax, but some very small. Exact rules should be learned from the state.
If you leave Switzerland, you can also withdraw your pension.
If you are a foreigner with a residence permit of type B / L and earn less than 120 thousand francs a year - the company pays taxes for you, as in Russia, and you do not need to file a declaration. This is called Withholding Tax. Otherwise - you need to file a declaration, although taxes will still be deducted by the company. If a residence permit of type C or citizenship - you pay already.
Taxes are divided into Federal, Cantonal and Municipal (Municipal).
NDFL and other deductions from the salary
Tax and its calculation depends on the canton.
In Zurich, NDFL is a derivative of several factors: income, marital status, whether the wife / husband and the number of children work. There are many different calculators on the Internet, but for example: income of 100 thousand francs per year, 30 years old, married, one child - personal income tax will be about 5.5%. In lonely and without children - about 10%.
Also, several more points are deducted from the salary:
Payments to the pension fund (Pillar 1 and 2, see above), insurance against loss of work, accidents at work and outside of it and some other ones, I do not remember exactly. Total goes somewhere else 9% of salary.
That is (in the case of a personal income tax of 5.5%) we give the state 9 + 5.5 = 14.5% of salary.
The employer will give us about 12% of salary (our part in the pension fund and accident insurance). As a result, in total, we will manage to the employer in ~ 26.5% of your gross salary.
Let me remind you - percentages depend on many factors and are given for example.
In Russia you cost the company 31-57% - this percentage depends on salary (deductions to the Pension Fund of 10% or 22%) and on the level of injury of the profession.
Child allowance
For each child once a month, the so-called Child Allowance is paid. In the canton of Zurich, it equals CHF 200 to 16 years and 250 after 25 years or until graduation. The employer pays, and then the state reimburses him. For registration, you need to fill out a questionnaire (the company must issue), attach any birth certificates (translated and certified copies) and give it to HR. Even if you blunt with the execution of this case for six months, then you will pay the debt during this time.
Also, some companies pay something over and above this (Family Allowance).
Vacation
Required, in my opinion, 4 weeks like ours.
My company gives 5 weeks. Plus, you can go on unpaid sabbatical for up to 6 months without losing your job. But it all depends on the employer.
Unemployment Benefit
Each employee pays a small percentage to his unemployment benefit fund (Unemployment Insurance). Therefore, in the event of dismissal, collapse of the company, inability to work (for example, due to bad weather at a construction site) or even a sharp decline in working hours at the initiative of the company, you have the right to receive benefits. It is approximately 70-80% (depending on marital status and other factors) of your average salary for the last 6-12 months, but not more than 10,500 CHF per month.
In Russia, by the way, they pay 4900 rubles ...
Decree
Maternity leave here can last up to 14 weeks. At this time, 80% of salary is paid, but not more than ~ 6000 CHF per month. Father can not get the decree. Plus, there are some one-time buns in the form of Birth Allowance.
VAT (VAT)
This year it was even lowered - from 8% to 7.7% (services and most goods). For some services (hotel business) and everyday consumer goods VAT is lower - 2.5% and 4%, respectively.
We do not pay it directly, but, as usual, it is pledged to almost any services and goods.
Other taxes
There is also a standard set: for transport, for real estate, for luxury,for air, and so on. I will consider transport further, and have not figured it out with the rest yet.
There is also a church tax, so it's best to tell everyone that you are an ardent atheist :)
"Yard" near our house
Having dealt with the most basic formalities, let's move on to the main problem that the newcomer faces: where to live.
Most Swiss people live in separate houses, in townhouses or in small houses into several apartments. Usually they are no more than 3-4 floors. There are, of course, apartment buildings, especially in new areas, but there are not so many of them and they rarely grow above 9-10 floors. There is no such town-planning hell here and close:
No, this is not Switzerland, this is Butovo.
A typical Swiss street in a large city.
The rent of housing in Zurich is a separate test because demand here greatly exceeds supply. And if a dog comes to you (like mine), then everything becomes even more interesting - the number of available options on the market can be safely divided by 10.
The process of renting an apartment is the bride of potential tenants: the owner chooses who is nicer to him. Per unit of real estate, in the worst case, there may be up to 50 applicants, especially if the price is lower than the market. Someone told me that he came to view an inexpensive apartment and found a queue from a bus stop ...
Partly, such scrupulousness can be explained by rather strict laws on tenant protection - it is almost impossible to evict it under the terms of the contract, as well as to raise the cost without good reason, for example, the mortgage rate has risen (hello to Russian landlords who raise prices ). Therefore, here in some places (in Geneva, for example) a situation has arisen that a new tenant may pay several times (!) More than those who rented similar housing 5-10 years ago. Another, inherently opposite, factor is that the process of delivery takes a lot of time and resources and the landlord wants to go through this process less often. Therefore, they choose among the most reliable candidates.
Most of the property is offered by the company, not individuals. In many ways, this is even better for us as tenants, since there are usually many problems with a private trader - he either doesn’t know the legislation very well , or he gets up with some other fun. Several of my friends had a negative rental experience with a private trader. Although there is also a cure for this, the Swiss, as the most insured nation in the world, have come up with legal insurance for this case. It is inexpensive, francs 50 per year - it is possible to take. You can also join Mieterverband , the union of tenants. It costs 90-100 francs a year, they also provide legal assistance in dealing with the landlord and some other buns, read on the website.
The cost of renting depends greatly on the location, area and other factors - everything is like ours. The average price is within Zurich, in residential areas for a 3.5 room apartment (3 rooms and a central room-corridor) with an area of ​​about 80 meters - 1,800-2,000 francs per month. This amount includes Nebenkosten , rent. It usually includes heating, water (average consumption), cleaning the territory and so on. At the end of the year is quite possible recalculation if you are too zealously poured water, for example. Electricity is charged separately, about it below.
Central heating and hot water supply here, as in many other European countries, no. There is cold water and sewage. The heating of the houses is either electric or gas. Moreover, gas is also not centralized - a car arrives and runs the house. Heating of water in the faucet takes place either in the boiler room in the basement, or an electric boiler stands in each apartment separately (usually in old houses).
The apartments, in most cases, are rented without furniture , but with a fully furnished kitchen: refrigerator, stove, sink, cabinets and sometimes a dishwasher. There is usually no washing machine - washing is done on shared machines in the basement, if there are many residents, a schedule is drawn up. Sometimes there is a machine for drying clothes - it is very convenient, it is not necessary to hang anything.
Since throwing out anything in Switzerland is quite expensive (this will be discussed below), you can furnish an apartment almost for free! At online flea markets give furniture in almost perfect condition for free or for a nominal fee. You can rent a van (possibly with loaders), drive along such comrades - and the apartment is ready.
If you want a new furniture - then IKEA(or similar stores like Conforama) to help. The cost of some goods in it at times (!) Is lower than in Russia (for example, I bought a bed for a child for less than 7t rubles here, and it cost 16 in Moscow), others may be a little higher. Delivery and rise to the apartment of purchases with a total weight of up to 3 tons will cost 60-150 francs, depending on the amount of the order.
Photos steal from the Internet.
Almost every house here has underground parking or garages. And also, usually, several marked parking places nearby. Rent a garage usually costs 150-180 francs per month, parking space - 60-80.
If they are not available, or do not want to pay so much, then you can park in the so-called Blaue Zonen , located in residential areas. To do this, you need to buy a parking card, which is valid only in your area (determined by zip code) and parked in the places marked with a blue line (see photo above). This pleasure is worth about 350 francs a year, while no one guarantees you free space - who was the first to stand up for that and sneakers.
There are also so-called Privatstrasse- dead-end street, combining several houses. If you live in one of them, then you can park on it for free on the principle of "who ate it and ate it." If you park on someone else's Privatstrasse , then the local chatlanes will complain about the etsilopa and he interprets you to a modest 2,000 francs :) I was lucky to rent an apartment in the house on just such a street, which allows us to save a little.
You can usually park a scooter or motorbike for free in some slot, the main thing is that it does not bother anyone. Many put just on the sidewalk.
Almost every Swiss home has a bunker bomb shelter. It is usually converted into a warehouse and each apartment has its own compartment for storing junk.
Also sometimes there is an attic, also divided equally between residents, and a common room, for example, for storing bicycles. All this is very convenient for storage of skis / snowboards, trunk boxes from the car and other things seasonal and not so good. Our neighbors, for example, staged a wine cellar there :)
In contrast to the Soviet homeland, it is often even more pleasant to have an apartment on the first floor: sometimes there is a fenced clearing that replaces the balcony.
That's how neighbors live below
Let us turn to the most delicious - to the algorithm for renting an apartment:
Further, the quantity will be of great importance, which will then turn into quality. That is, the more profiles you send, the greater the chance that you will get an apartment. Therefore, we find the maximum number of suitable apartments and send out questionnaires to them.
Here, however, it should be noted that in almost all the questionnaires indicated that if you choose, and you refuse - then you will have to pay a penalty of 100 francs for the "preparation of documents." Usually, this is protection against fools: if you are chosen, the landlord will call you and ask - is the apartment still interesting for you? If so, he will prepare the contract. If not - goodbye, we have a queue of those who wish. But some not very conscientious companies and individuals can use this item for earnings - one friend went to three apartments, received consent from all three and he had to pay 100 francs to two of them.
The comments noted that it is illegal, but still this item must be kept in mind. If you begin to demand money, you can try to contact lawyers or in Mieterverband.
This is still Zurich.
So, you're lucky: I called vermieter and said that you were chosen as a tenant. You agree, agree on the date of arrival and in a couple of days by mail receive a pack of documents.
And here it becomes interesting: if housing is rented by a family, then your partner (husband / wife / cat?) Is also a full participant in the transaction and must sign a contract . In my case, my wife was still in Russia and there were two options - according to the old Russian tradition to forge a signature, or quickly send a contract by DHL. After consulting with local decided to use the second option - a fake can get more expensive, and you should not, probably, right from the threshold to break the rules.
Pledge
By law, the landlord may request a deposit of up to 3 monthly rental fees inclusive. Usually 3 and request. It is placed on a special account, access to which is carried out with the consent of both parties. On this account, even some interest is charged as a contribution, but they are ridiculous - something like 0.1%, or even less. Deposits here have no profit at all - money does not cost anything.
If you have damaged the housing stock, the landlord has the right to compensate for this from the deposit. Or it is possible to cover the losses with your Personal Liability Insurance. If you do not agree with the claims, it is better to contact the union or an insurance lawyer (see above) and clarify with them what to do.
If you do not have the necessary amount to make a deposit, then there is such a thing as SwissCaution- This is another insurance. The cost can be calculated by reference. But some landlords do not accept it, you need to clarify in each case.
Payment
Next you need to decide how you will pay for the apartment and fill out the appropriate papers.
Possible options:
I chose Direct debit as the easiest.
They may be asked to send some more documents, such as a certified and translated marriage certificate. I brought a ready-made copy with me from my homeland, but it can be translated on the spot.
When the documents are ready and signed, we send them by registered letter to the landlord and in a few days we get the contract signed by them.
Getting an apartment
After meeting with the landlord on the appointed day, carefully inspect the apartment for damage. All that you find is recorded in the protocol. Usually, when renting from a company, they have this protocol in the tablet, and signs there. This is done in order to avoid claims during the eviction and the landlord does not hold the deposit. If the damage bothers you, you can ask the landlord to fix it. If not, just log it.
If you find any damage after receipt - no problem. We make a list, sign and send it by registered letter to the landlord. By law, in my opinion, there are 2 weeks for it. If the damage is hidden and was discovered later, then it does not matter either - the law takes this into account.
All rejoice new housing!
Switzerland receives about 40% of electricity from five nuclear reactors located in the country. Here is the world's oldest operating nuclear power plant. Another 50% - hydroelectric power plants in the Alps, the rest falls on solar panels and the burning of coal / gas. In the future, the share of renewable energy is planned to be increased - new nuclear power plants are not being built, but, like Germany, they are still not planning to curtail nuclear energy.
Accordingly, in order to fully exist, we need to conclude an agreement with the electricity supplier. In the canton of Zurich, it is mainly EWZ- You can register directly on the site, specify your data and average consumption in the form of "a family of 4". You can even choose what kind of electricity you want to receive - “green” (hydro, solar) or not (uranium, gas). Green is naturally more expensive. In fact, of course, no one will pull the wires from the hydropower station to you, it’s rather an investment in ecology from responsible citizens. Alternative electricity supply companies may also be dependent on the municipality.
Periodically, bills will be received based on the selected average consumption, the easiest way is to enable the E-Bill receipt mode directly to the Internet bank. So every month no one needs to take the meter readings here, but at the end of the year they will recalculate up or down depending on actual consumption.
No need to go anywhere - everything is done online.
Not very green kilowatt-hour in 2018 there is something around 0.26 francs by day and 0.16 by night.
It is fast in Switzerland, not subject to censorship and surveillance (no SORMs and RosKomPozorov) and quite expensive.
For the first time, the easiest way to buy a SIM card with LTE-unlimited (it will cost 40-50 francs per month) since the connection of optics will take some time. Depending on the place of residence, this method may also be the fastest and / or profitable.
In apartments within Zurich, there is usually an optical outlet (for initiates - a LC / APC connector, single-mode fiber) with a number (the so-called OTO-ID):
The optical network is built by the state-owned company EWZ (with which we pay for electricity) and leases it to telecom operators. So there are no twisted pair snot and wired risers - optics go from the outlet directly to the communication center, which is located within 5-10 km from the house. You need an appropriate optical transceiver to break through this distance, or you can buy / rent a router or a media converter from an operator.
In relation to the price \ quality \ speed, knowledgeable people advised me to Init7- for a full gigabit, I pay 777 francs per year, that is, about 65 per month. The connection cost 150 francs. Recently, I received a letter that now IPTV is free then, but I do not use it. The tariff is only one - 1Gbit, it’s not necessary to break your head. And the operator is easier and cheaper - no need to buy and install equipment for shaping traffic.
Also, for those interested: they give out static IPv6 - a standard / 64 subnet to everyone, even the reverse DNS delegate where you ask. IPv4 - via DHCP, dynamic real address. IPv4 static is worth some horse money - 240 per year for one address or 720 for a subnet / 29, so I did not take it.
The connection process is very simple: we go to their site, we drive in our data (name, address, socket ID, etc.) and wait. After some time (a week or two), an e-mail will be sent indicating that the service is activated and can be used. You do not need to enter into any contracts and pay the money right away too. Then, after another month, the bill will simply come to 777 + 150 francs for the year ahead and for the connection. You can, in principle, pay in blocks, but it will be more expensive.
There are also many different comprehensive offers from cellular operators for connecting a cell phone + internet home at discounted prices. But there is usually 100 Mbit and the price is not much lower. Here everyone needs to choose according to their needs.
PS
Salt here even offers 10 Gbit for a modest amount.
There are three main operators in the country - Swisscom, Sunrise and Salt.
The first two are about equal in quality and cost, the last is slightly cheaper and has worse coverage. I use Sunrise because There is a corporate discount.
At prices - full unlimited (calls, sms, internet) in the country usually costs about 60 francs per month (while the unlimited is real and not fake as we do). But you can get on all sorts of shares and get a contract cheaper. Or take with limited traffic, in this case, after the expiration of the limit, the speed will be shaped to 128Kbit / s or so.
For children and young people (it's up to 30 years old here) there are all sorts of cheaper rates. For a baby sim card, I pay about 10 CHF.
The connection is almost everywhere perfect - something rarely worse than 4G in populated areas. 3G can be further from civilization.
Oh, from this topic I still have an eye twitching - you can write a dissertation about garbage :)
There are no landfills in Switzerland - all garbage is recycled or burned, while providing 1-2% of the country's electricity and heat demand.
Here are the categories of garbage that are recycled; they should be thrown away separately and in different ways:
Maybe I forgot something else.
Paper and cardboard need to be tied up in bales (separately, with a special rope) and folded on a certain day (different days for cardboard and paper) around the house - the car will arrive and pick up:
After Ikea, a lot of cardboard remains ...
Compost is put in a special degradable package and throw in green tanks around the house. Although the locals do not really soar and just dump everything out of the compost bucket there :)
They will send you a garbage collection calendar by mail, like this:
Either you can download a calendar (.ics) from the site on a mobile phone - enter your index and generate a file for you.
For textiles send by mail bags, with the date printed directly on them. They need to lay down unnecessary clothes and shoes and put on that day on the porch - they will come and take them away.
Once a year, 4 coupons of 100 kg each are sent to bulky waste - it can be brought directly to the factory and handed over. Anything above is paid. Or sometimes (see the calendar) come the so-called E-Tram and Cargo-Tram, to collect electronics and bulky garbage. And you should bring it yourself, and not bring it by car - such a rule, apparently, so as not to be abused.
Everything else is thrown into the so-called ZuriSack - white bags with a volume from 18 to 110 liters, sold in supermarkets at the box office. Garbage will be removed only in these packages - others will not take it. Moreover - they can gut out the garbage, find some kind of a ticket with the name and write out a fine. The cost of packages for 60 liters is about 20 francs for 5 pieces. This is a fee for sorting garbage and burning it.
Quality and expensive. In the canton of Zurich, the transport network is called ZVV (Zurich Transport Association), which includes both the SBB (local Russian Railways) and other carriers.
The canton is divided into tariff zones (for example, 110 - the city of Zurich) and for movement it is necessary that the ticket includes all zones through which you will go. Zone map can be downloaded here .
Tickets are unified - you can go on any transport (train, bus, tram, trolleybus, ship, even cable cars in my opinion, too, in some places), if you have a ticket to the relevant zones.
Almost at every stop in the city there is such a device with a touch screen in which you can buy a ticket both for coins and by card. Paper money does not accept. The device near my house is occasionally buggy and does not accept some cards (it may refuse to eat UBS Mastercard and Sberbank VISA, and Sberbank Mastercard eats mystic). Therefore, I usually buy in the ZVV Tickets mobile application - it generates a QR code that the controller can read with its device. In fact, checking in urban transport is extremely rare, only a couple of times I had it. A fine of 100 francs for the first time, then more. In the trains they check quite actively.
Buses, trolleybuses and trams
Moscow has already forgotten about the "accordion", and here they already have triple
Trams can have 5 cars
Urban transport goes almost perfectly, lateness of more than 2-4 minutes is extremely rare - usually if somewhere a serious accident. There is an application ZVV Fahrplan, which builds a route for you taking into account the real-time situation - it turns out better than Google Maps often. The latter, sometimes, does not even know about some routes.
At most of the stops, there are screens with a list of arriving vehicles (such as those that were hung all over Moscow several years ago and which show the weather on Mars there, or are completely turned off):
Inside, too, there are screens with the list of the nearest stops, estimated time of arrival and flight schedule which can be taken at the next stop:
Usually the schedule is arranged so that when you arrive at the transfer station you will not wait for more than 5-7 minutes to transfer to another line.
Trains
The operator of all Switzerland’s railways is SBB ( Schweizerische Bundesbahnen , something like “Swiss Federal Railways”). All railways are electrified, diesel diesel locomotives are not here, as far as I know - only trains. The trains in the Zurich area are mainly double-decker Stadler and Siemens, which collect right there in the country. They walk quickly and almost silently. There are also single storeys, but they are also quite comfortable and in good condition.
The cars are divided into classes - 1 and 2. A ticket in class 1 is more expensive, but there is usually quieter (no screaming children) and more comfortable seats. There are cars for skis and bicycles, toilets. Some even have play areas for children. Also, almost all trains have sockets for each seat.
In Zurich, the country's largest railway station is on 28 platforms (although the numbering is from 1 to 44), which are divided into three levels (above ground and two underground). At the same time, he is also a large shopping center, working even on Sundays (which is heresy here).
Recently, for competition with intercity buses, SBB introduced the so-called. Supersaver tickets for a specific time - before that you bought a ticket and could go at any time during the day. They can be 2-3 times cheaper than usual (and can be only 3 francs cheaper). You need to buy them at least one day before the intended trip.
Ships
Practically on every more or less large lake the movement of ships on various routes is organized. On the Zurich Lake in the center also car ferries go - you can swim, if you do not want to go around :)
Cost
I think I’m not mistaken if I say that all adults in Switzerland have a Halbtax Card. It costs about 160 francs per year and allows you to buy almost any transport ticket in the country for 50% of the cost. There are some exceptions, but very few of them.
Given the price of transport - Halbtax pays for itself in a maximum of a month or two. The only exception is the case when you do not get out of the city and buy only a monthly / annual travel card - Halbtax does not apply to them. Well, or on your own transport.
Halbtax is now issued as a SwissPass card .with a photo and name, which can also be recorded, for example, a ski-pass on the ski slopes or used to rent bicycles is very convenient. You can order it, for example, at the central station - you only need to bring a document (passport) and a 3.5x4.5 photo - it will be scanned and printed on a card. A temporary paper version will be issued immediately on site, and after about a week SwissPass itself will be sent by mail.
SwissPass
In general, there is talk in order to cancel Halbtax altogether and lower prices, since decent funds are spent on supporting the infrastructure of its work. But so far.
For example, here are the main types of tickets and prices (including Halbtax) within the 110 zone (Zurich city):
A regular train ticket from Bern to Zurich (~ 120km) and back will cost (including Halbtax) about 50 francs. Supersaver, if available, is about half the price.
You can also buy a global ticket to the whole country for any type of transport - this happiness costs 3860 CHF (for 2 classes) per year.
For children under 16, you can buy a Junior ticket for a symbolic 30 francs a year - a child can use it for free with his parents throughout the country. If there is a need to travel independently to school, the education department will issue a free pass.
For dogs, if they are not in the bag and more than 30 cm at the withers, you need to pay as an adult with Halbtax.
There are still many different types of tickets - this is a whole science, I will leave them for homework.
Owning a car is quite expensive. The cost consists of insurance, vehicle tax, parking. Plus MOT \ repair.
Insurance
The minimum (mandatory) insurance, an analogue of our CTP, for a car will cost 800-900 CHF per year with a coverage of 100 million francs (hello to our CTP with its 400 thousand rubles) - you can probably boldly ram the Boeing 787 with its chariot and pay for everything . Hull will be around 2000-2200 CHF. But we must bear in mind that all these prices strongly depend on the car, the age and nationality of the owner and other factors.
For a motorcycle minimal salary, I got about 200 CHF. If you do not ride in the winter - insurance can be suspended, thereby saving.
Tax
Transport tax in different cantons is considered differently. In Zurich, it consists of two components - engine size and weight. For my car, for example, with an engine of 3 liters and a weight of 1,700 kg, I will pay 358 for a volume (from 2500 to 3000 cm ^ 3) and 130 for a weight (from 1500 to 1800 kg). Total 488 CHF per year. Plus, CO2 emissions are also important, for the excess of which you will also pay extra.
Motorcycle tax is calculated based on engine size and environmental class.
The Kawasaki ER-6n with an engine of 650 cubes and Euro-3 class comes out 70 CHF.
Import machine
When you move, you have the right to import 1 car per family duty free if it was owned for more than six months (but you cannot sell it within a year - otherwise, they will tear it off completely for customs clearance). To do this, you should look at the customs on the way, give them the completed form 18.44 (this is the list of things that you import when moving into the country, including the machine) and get the form 13.20B there.
According to the information from Strassenverkerksamt (something like traffic management), in case of import of a car according to the form 18.44, it is not necessary to provide documents on the level of CO2 and noise during registration - there is enough Russian registration certificate.
During the year, you can ride with our numbers, after you already need to get local. Number format can be selected ("square" \ rectangular).
Registration procedure
Let's say you buy a used car or motorcycle. The former owner simply gives you a local analogue of the TCP (gray piece of paper). The contract of sale can also be concluded, but it is not necessary - it is not needed for registration.
Next you need to insure the vehicle. It is easiest to do it online - you go to the insurer's website, drive in all the data on yourself and the vehicle - you get the cost. Harvest - I agree. All that information about the fact that your vehicle is insured is gone to the authorities, and in a week or two you will receive insurance and an invoice for its payment.
After that, you can go and get a number. This process takes 5 minutes: you come to Strassenverkehrsamtwith "PTS". The fact that the vehicle is insured they already see in the database. You are given a pack of numbers to choose from - you are looking for a beautiful one :) Then they print a new copy of the TCP with your name. Everything. Pay again, nothing is needed - then the bill will be sent by mail.
All the same can be done immediately by mail - send them TCP and get back a new TCP and number. In this case, and you will receive a discount of 10 francs :)
Rights
During the year, you can ride on foreign rights (or any other). After this period, residents of civilized countries (Europe, USA, Canada and other Taiwan and Korea) can simply fill out a questionnaire, send it along with their rights to the Strassenverkehrsamt and get back the new Swiss ones.
But since Russia, in their opinion, in terms of driving is somewhere at the level of Nigeria (which is not so far from the truth), then to replace the rights, you need to pass a test run. During this, the inspector will check your adequacy and knowledge of local traffic rules. To pass it, it is highly desirable to take a couple of lessons from local instructors who will explain the subtleties of traffic rules and teach you how to behave.
If this exam fails (and only one attempt), then you start from scratch - you spend a lot of time and money on training.
On cars, the standard category is B. There is also B1 for all kinds of tuk-tukas, BE for transporting an auto-racing car and many others.
On motorcycles there are three categories of rights:
Fines are
wild.
For exceeding 65-79 km / h on the highway, you will pay 120 daily earnings (yes, the penalty depends on your income). With an average income in Zurich of ~ 6000, this is 36,000 CHF - ~ 2.3 million rubles at the current exchange rate. With a smaller excess - you pay less. And this is only with an average salary ...
And for exceeding 80 km / h or more - you sit a year in prison.
When driving in the city of the same outstanding results can be achieved much easier - for example, you can go to the bunks at a speed of 70 km / h in “Zone 30”.
Roads
Good. Small pits, if any, in some dead-end yards.
The movement is quite relaxed, if there is a need and opportunity - everyone gives way to each other. Everything is more or less like the rest of the main EU countries.
If you want to drive not only in the city, but also on the tracks - you need to buy a vignette (sticker on the glass), it costs 40 CHF per year. Rip off her glass and then tortured, so many glue on the tape, although it is forbidden.
Bicycles Cycle
parking at our office
This is the king of the roads, at least in the city. Worse pedestrian. There are a lot of them, often driving recklessly, to a red light, breaking all possible rules in general. At the same time it will be a fragile girl in a skirt and high heels on a highway bike. This is normal here.
There are a lot of cycle belts on the road, but they are far from everywhere, so often you just have to drive along the road. It is not accepted to drive on the sidewalk.
Since the city is built on three mountains (Adlisberg, Wheatliberg and Zurichberg), there are a large number of electric bicycles (~ 15% of the total). Between my office and the house, for example, a height difference of about 180 meters, and in some places slopes under 30 degrees - without an electric motor to climb there is sad and long.
I don’t have much experience here, I’ll describe what I know.
They are called Kinderkrippe and take children there from six months. They are paid, but the city pays a subsidy that covers part of the cost. The subsidy depends on your income.
Kindergarten is considered something of an elementary school, and therefore must be attended from 4-5 years. Free. Moreover, parents are practically forced to let their children go to the garden themselves. And they go almost immediately - it looks crazy by our standards, but here it is quite safe. Sometimes parents take turns driving the whole surrounding herd of children to the garden, and then the children get used to walking by themselves.
The garden here is harsh - no special sitting indoors in the rain \ snow like ours. Children stomp into the woods, build huts there, make fires and generally play Bear Grylls, whatever the weather.
By law, all children here must go to school.
Schools are public (free) and private. But the quality of education in ordinary schools is very high. As well as the cost of training in private :) 24 thousand CHF per year and more. So I didn’t even consider private ones - I don’t have that much extra money.
After registration of the child will receive a letter in which you will be asked to indicate whether your child is already attending any private gymnasium. If not, there are two options.
If the child knows German at a sufficient level, then you can immediately stomp into a regular public school, which is usually within walking distance.
If you do not know, then welcome to the integration class (if it is available in your town / village).
Education in it takes place under a simplified program (usually only literature, mathematics and sports). Since children can be very different ages, each has a slightly individual program. In addition, they sing songs together there, go to the pool and library, to all sorts of other events. The teacher tries to communicate with everyone in German, so that the children get used and learn the language. Communication of children in their native languages ​​is prohibited - only German or English. Some, however, English - native.
The integration class is usually located in a school in the city center and, if you live on the outskirts, then the child will have to go there (well, or you must carry). There is usually no problem with this - my daughter likes this process very much. A couple of times, however, I drove by public transport into some wilderness from which I could not get out.
Primary school usually goes to 12-13, then everything becomes more difficult - children are divided into several areas, depending on their abilities and plans to get a higher education.
You can read more in pedivikii .
Not many Swiss have it - about 35% of the adult population.
In Zurich, two large universities - UZH (University of Zurich) and ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). ETH, in my opinion, is considered the best in Europe. He also studied and taught Einstein (in Bern, by the way, where he also noted, there is his museum and several monuments).
Tuition is quite low - something around 1200 CHF per year (i.e. for two semesters). Plus some other exam expenses.
Immediately, as I understand it, you can not take a family with you . The comments corrected that this is possible, but you need to immediately submit to all. But this is not very convenient. you have a limit of 3 months to enter - you need to consider the possibility that during this time you can not find an apartment.
For registration of the family, if you did not make them a visa immediately, you must first get a residence permit card. And after that you can apply to the embassy for a Family Reunification Visa. Their list can be viewed on the website of the embassy . The most hemorrhoid - a certificate of no criminal record. Its our state can issue a month, and even longer. And then it will take a long time to put an apostille on it - you cannot immediately order it with it, it is not necessary. It is necessary to come, take a piece of paper in the window and give it back by attaching 2500 rubles to it.
After submitting the documents, they are sent to the cantonal migration office - relax and wait. Usually the process takes about a month. After that, they will send you (to your home address in Switzerland) the very Ermächtigung zur Visumserteilung . Further algorithm is the same as for yourself.
The family will be given the same residence permit as you. In the canton of Zurich, the spouse of the owner of a residence permit of type B is usually entitled to work, and in any canton. That is, in fact, the spouse has more rights than you :)
In order to bring a dog, it must be properly vaccinated against rabies, have a passport, chip, and so on. If a dog from a country in which rabies is poorly controlled (Russia is not one of them at the time of this writing), then a blood test will be needed.
Tax is paid for a dog - 180 CHF per year, 2.5 times more expensive than a motorcycle! :) He goes to provide bags for cleaning pet waste products, some courses can be taken there, etc.
With this, everything is fine.
Lake lucerne
Zug
Thanks to those who mastered this monumental work to the end. I hope that he will be useful to anyone.
I, for sure, forgot about something important (or not) - so write what aspect still needs to be covered and I will try to add it to the article. Similarly, if you see spelling or factual errors.
TschĂĽss!
In this article I will try to describe my experience of moving to the wonderful Alpine country of Switzerland, and specifically to the city of Zurich, and to talk about the most important aspects of life here.
The post will be very voluminous, because I wanted to make a kind of mini-guide for life in Switzerland, according to which a potential tractor driver can appreciate the country. And for those who are already here or going in the near future, the article can help to deal with local peculiarities - it is not always easy to find answers to questions, especially not knowing the language.
')
I decided not to divide it into separate pieces - so it will be easier to search for information. I hope that I will not greatly break the theme of the resource, let the UFO judge us.
Flumserberg. Hereinafter - usually my photos, which seemed to me more or less decent :)
Briefly about the country
Switzerland is a small country in central Europe, which is largely located in the Alps.
- Population - about 8.5 million
- The state system is a federal republic consisting of 26 subjects called cantons.
- There are no de jure capitals, but the de facto government sits in Bern
- There are four official languages: German (64%), French (20%), Italian (6.5%) and Romansh
- The largest city is Zurich (400 thousand people)
- Currency - Swiss Franc (CHF), at the time of this writing is equal to 1.01 US dollar
Switzerland is not part of the European Union , but is part of the Schengen zone and all trade organizations like EFTA . Because of this, there are some inconveniences when interacting with the rest of Europe, for example:
- Cell roaming (while EU countries have canceled it)
- Delivery of goods from some sites like amazon.de is not always possible, although in most cases there are no problems
- When traveling to the EU, you need to take euros at an ATM :) In the rare case where the card is not accepted somewhere
Zurich, Witikon
Part One: Preparation
Work searches
I was not actively looking for work abroad. Before moving here, I quietly lived with my wife and daughter in Moscow, paid the mortgage for a dvushku in a residential area and worked as a system engineer, then a developer, then an architect, then all together.
At some point, I was knocked to LinkedIn with a proposal to have an interview for the position of a backend developer in Zurich. Before that, there were a number of other proposals, but they were either in the US - and I somehow did not want to go there, because it is difficult to go to my parents and them to me (I remember flights to Canada and to Cuba - this is hell), or they did not arrange for other reasons. Approximately at the same time, Google recruiter came to me, but they offered to work in Dublin where they didn’t draw too much.
I was already a little familiar with Switzerland - as a child I lived for about a year in Geneva when my father worked at CERN - laid the foundations of the Large Hadron Collider :) Plus, a couple of years ago we spent a few days in this country traveling by car in Europe. In addition, Switzerland is pretty well advertised: cheese, chocolate, mountains, banks - that's all.
So I decided to phone them on Skype and find out the details. Communicated with CTO and one of the developers. The conversation lasted about an hour and was, in fact, more a conversation than an interview: they discussed technologies, operating systems, databases, programming languages ​​and the application of all this in various projects. It was proposed to work in a small (30-40 people) company, which is part of the largest Swiss media holding. The company is developing a local site for private announcements (Avito's local equivalent).
After talking, I got rid of a simple test task, which I sketched in half an hour and sent to them. One of my interlocutors acknowledged receipt and hid. Three weeks later, when I had already forgotten about them, I received a letter inviting me to an in-person interview with them at the office (with payment for the flight and accommodation). After consulting with his wife decided - and why not? At the same time and a little rest - because the summer is outside. They took a week off, handed over the child to the grandmothers - and go.
The interview began at 9 am and lasted about 6 hours including lunch. In the process, I managed to talk with almost all the staff from secretary to director. There were almost no practical tasks - we examined my test task and talked about various technical topics. The CEO (in the past, a lecturer at the University of Zurich) gave me all sorts of logical tasks and some other tricky questions more from the level of psychology and personnel management.
They spoke English (which I have a good technical, but could be better spoken) - there were no problems in understanding, most likely because for the overwhelming majority there he was also not native - in fact there was only one purebred British. The rest are Swiss, Italians,
The overall impression of the results was quite positive - smart people, a good office, a beautiful city and country. At the end, they said that they would be interviewing other candidates and, according to the results, they would tell me, on that they parted. We rode around the sights for several days and then flew home.
About two weeks later I received a letter from them with an offer to join the team. We discussed this with the family and decided that it was a chance to try living in another, not the worst, country. Of the minuses, I saw only a demotion (at home I worked as a system architect at that time) and a potential decrease in income — despite living in salaries several times higher in Switzerland, it was not cheap at all. But we decided and I replied that I agreed to their proposal.
Registration
Switzerland’s immigration legislation is rather strict, especially with respect to residents of the so-called “third countries”, that is, non-EU / EFTA members.
For citizens of EU / EFTA, a work permit is not necessary, but for stays of more than 3 months, you need to obtain a residence permit - there is a law on the free movement between EU / EFTA and Switzerland. You can read more here . There are no quotas, but apparently, in case of strong immigration, they can be introduced.
To hire people of the third grade, like the Russians, the company must prove to the state that it could not find an employee with the appropriate qualifications either in her own country or in EU / EFTA. Plus, you need to get into the quota - in 2018, for residents of third countries only 3500 type B residence permit is available (about them below). The quota is divided into 4 parts and each part becomes available at the beginning of the next quarter. This protects the quota from harvesting immediately at the beginning of the year.
How is the need to hire an employee from outside the EU / EFTA proved? There are no clear criteria, as far as I know. But, at a minimum, it is necessary to show that the relevant vacancy has been hanging for some time on local analog sites of hh.ru and, in my opinion, provide a list of rejected candidates with an indication of the reasons for which they did not fit.
Thus, most of the worries of employment falls on the employer. That is - he should want to hire you and spend some amount of effort and money on this process. It is possible that the design of H-1B in the US is even more dreary for the company, not in the know.
In this case, all I needed was a scan of a foreign passport and a brief free-form information about the family (wife, daughter, parents — dates of birth, etc.). Well, the contract signed by both parties, of course. Later, when I had already moved, the migration department further requested a certificate of non-conviction.
The employer, who was accustomed to the Swiss Post and, apparently, had never heard of the Post of Russia, sent me a contract in regular mail, and not some DHL. As a result, after more than three weeks, when we were already discussing alternative delivery methods, the letter still reached. I signed the contract and sent it back via DHL - it cost about 3-4 thousand, but the package was delivered the next day by the evening.
About the contract itself, as it was with me: these are 2 A4 pages, on which it is written:
- Name, nationality, date of birth
- Company Name, Position
- Estimated Starting Date
- Salary
- Conditions for compensation of sick leave: something like the fact that you will receive a 100% salary for the first month of the illness, then 80% for 2 years (if something serious happens). And if you don’t cure in 2 years, then any disability benefits will come into force.
Compare this with our FSS, which now pays, I think, something around 2 thousand rubles a day. - Signatures of the parties
And that's all. There are no Talmuds of employment contracts, job descriptions and other scholarship that no one in their right mind reads. For the sake of justice - in the same neighboring Germany it is becoming more and more bureaucratic.
As rightly pointed out in the comments - the contract may be longer. But, in any case, it will be shorter than what we have in the Russian Federation.
In general, I was struck by how much everything is based on the presumption of honesty of people: no one considers you a deceiver and / or an idiot by default, and this greatly simplifies many processes. But more about that later.
The employer submitted the documents to the migration service and the waiting began. A couple of months came the answer - denied. But, as it turned out, there is an appeal procedure: they filed additional substantiation documents (which I don’t know for sure) and after a couple of weeks received a positive response. Hooray!
We agreed on the date of departure for work and I began to wind down my affairs at home. The plan was this: I fly there first, find housing, then come back and go with the family by car. The distance is not close - 2600 km, but we had quite a few things that were easier to transport ourselves.
I had an open Schengen, but for entry (because from their point of view, the purpose of the trip should correspond to the type of visa), you need to get a national visa type D, which is issued for a relatively short period of time (something about 3 months), sufficient to obtain a residence permit (also known as an ID card). Having his Schengen visa is no longer necessary - you can freely enter any country of the Schengen zone with a foreign passport and a residence permit card.
The process of obtaining this visa is very simple: the employer sends you a scan of the document under the scary name Ermächtigung zur Visumserteilung (which translates simply as “Visa Permit”), you go with him to the embassy in the morning until 11 o'clock and hand over your passport, and after lunch you already take stamped with a visa. It costs about 4 thousand rubles. After that you can fly, which I did.
The company paid me 3 months of living in an apartment in the center of Zurich, 5 minutes walk from the office, so I had some time to search for permanent housing, and this is also an epic. I will tell about this and many other things below, in the second part of the story.
Part Two: In Place
Here I will try to give more information about local life.
Disclaimer : My experience is specific to the canton of Zurich and the city with the same name. In other places, much can be otherwise. Many laws and customs vary greatly at the cantonal and even municipal level.
Tongue
The official language of the canton of Zurich, like most of the country, is German. At school, classical German is taught here (the so-called Hochdeutsch ), and they speak Swiss German, which has quite a few differences. Plus, he also has his dialects.
But since the population of Zurich is 30% foreign, there are usually no problems with the English language. There may be difficulties in communicating with retirees, but even they are mostly well tolerated in English.
Previously, the second language in the school was taught only by another state (in the German cantons - French, for example). Not so long ago, we added English training - my Swiss colleagues are only happy about this, since the benefits of learning English are immeasurably greater.
Types of residence permits
A lot of them. But for foreigners coming to work, there are two of them: B and L.
The first (B) is a potentially unlimited residence permit, which must be renewed once a year (this is done by the employer). The second (L) is short-term, issued for a maximum of a year with the possibility of renewal for another year - after the expiry you must either exchange it for B, or send it back to your Honduras. L is issued if you have a contract for a limited period, or in cases where the quota for a residence permit of type B has expired.
In my case there was an unlimited contract and, accordingly, a residence permit of type B, therefore I do not have any particular experience with regard to part L. After 5 years of owning B, in theory, you have the right to apply for a residence permit of type C - this is practically citizenship. The only difference is that you do not have the right to vote and if you leave the country for a long time - it can be annulled. And serve in the army is not necessary. To obtain it, usually, you need to pass a test for knowledge of the language of the canton in which you live. There is a minimum level determined by federal law, plus the municipality may have its own requirements.
Citizenship, after the last changes in the law, can be obtained in 10 years (instead of 12), but now only if you already have a residence permit of type C.
B and L have two subspecies - for residents of the EU / EFTA and for all others - I will continue to talk about the “non-EU / EFTA B permit”. There are some differences between them, which, of course, are not in our favor. In fact, for residents of the EU, a residence permit is a residence permit because permission to work they have, and so by default. Europeans (and residents of other countries such as the USA / Canada) usually issue a residence permit of type C automatically after 5 years, and all the rest after 10. If you also want after 5, see the previous paragraph.
Also, a residence permit of type B can be with or without a permit for a free change of employer. In the second case, in theory, you can contact Migrationsamt and there they can meet and allow to change the company. The restriction on a change of employer is usually removed after 2 years. Understand exactly what you can read the paper, which was attached to the residence permit. I threw my own without having read :) so I had to write to Migrationsamt and ask them. It turned out that I was given a residence permit without reference to the employer - this is nice.
There are also other types of residence permit type B, such as graduate students who do not belong to the relocation of work and I have no experience with them.
Registration
Briefly about what to do after arrival.
First you need to register. This requires a document showing that you live somewhere: it may be a lease agreement (most likely it will not be in your hands yet), or an invoice for payment of accommodation in an apartment or hotel. We take this invoice, Ermächtigung zur Visumserteilung , passport and go to the local Kreisburo - this is something like a mixture of the village council and the MFC. The city is divided into Kreis s (districts) and each has its own village council. To which district does an address belong, you can find out on the GIS website of the city of Zurich: tyts
After registration, you will be recorded on the delivery of biometrics (photos and prints) for obtaining a residence permit. This is usually about two weeks. These analyzes are taken in the Migrationsamt building, the address will be given to you. After that, a residence permit card will be sent by mail to the registration address.
There is a registration + issue of a residence permit of about 140 francs. Children cheaper.
post office
On such electromotorcycle riders go postmen
I think that for the majority of those arriving from the territory of the former USSR, mail is such an inevitable evil that is used to receive packages from foreign online stores. And many never and never sent paper letters. Therefore, it was a surprise to me that here the post is the circulatory system of the country.
- It works like a Swiss watch (usually) :)
Delivery of any letter of category A (worth 1 franc per B5 envelope) is guaranteed the next day after sending to any point in the country. Category B (0.85 francs) comes within 3 days. - There is an abundance of online services on the post.ch site, such as:
- Mail forwarding is very useful when moving. For a symbolic sum of about 30 francs a year, they will forward all letters sent to your name at the old address to the new address. For parcels, however, will have to pay 8 francs per share.
- For more substantial money, they can even open all letters, scan the contents and you can read them directly in your account on the site. This, apparently, for those who rarely happens at home.
- With some companies, it is possible to switch to a fully electronic turnover in order not to waste paper and improve the environment. All letters from those companies that participate in this system and which you choose will be sent immediately to e-mail
- E-mail alert about sending you packages
- Absolutely everything is delivered by mail - credit cards and PIN codes to them, it’s good that at least separately. The pin code usually follows a registered letter and you need to go to the post office if you were not at home when the postman arrived.
- It is used for the delivery of most local online stores and it is very cheap - francs 8-10 for the delivery of goods from anywhere in the country. Often for the recipient it is completely free. And brought directly home, usually do not have to go to the post office. If you were not at home, then, depending on the type of parcel, you can either just throw it near the door, or stick it in the mailbox (there is a special compartment for parcels), or leave a notice - then you will have to stomp into the compartment
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In Switzerland, as in many other countries with low-rise buildings, there is no such thing as an apartment number. Also, each entrance is usually a separate house in terms of address. Therefore, in my village with a population of 10 thousand people on the main street, house numbers are being rolled over 500. There are names on the entrance to the mailboxes - this is enough to deliver correspondence.
To pay for the letter, you can, of course, use the old school method: stamps.
But the easiest way is to send an SMS to the number 414, the code will come back - it needs to be rewritten to the upper right corner of the envelope. This method works only for letters of priority A in the B5 format. From the account of the phone will write off the same 1 franc. Well, either just come to the post office and pay by card or cache.
The sender's address is written in the upper left corner in the following format: The recipient's address is written in the lower right corner, the format depends on whether it is a company, whether it is a direct address or a mailbox, etc. Better rewrite one-to-one.
Herr Ivan Ivanoff ()
Bahnhofstrasse 1 ( )
8001 Zurich ( )
Bank
To get a salary and pay bills you need a bank account - the cashier’s office does not give out here :)
Joke nicely on topic
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In Switzerland, there is a PostFinance payment system (something like our wretched Post Office, although PostFinance is not very much loved here) with its cards that do not work abroad. That is, it is a separate independent payment system that has nothing to do with VISA / Mastercard / so forth (hello, MIR).
Also, of course, there are banks issuing ordinary cards. The largest ones are UBS (something like our Sberbank) and Credit Suisse. Since I am not particularly into the topic of differences between local banks, I chose UBS. While there are no special complaints, the first year of service is free, then something around 10-30 francs per month (depends on whether you have 10k + CHF in your account and will be cheaper if you refuse paper correspondence). Internet banking and mobile applications are quite convenient, transfers, payment of bills, withdrawals at ATMs of any banks within the country - all without a fee.
You can open an account without a residence permit, just with a passport and a piece of paper about registration, although in this case credit cards will not give you (credit cards, not debit cards, but in my opinion almost no one uses them). It takes half an hour, you just come to the branch and say that you want to open an account. After that, within a couple of weeks they will send you plastic cards by mail, an NFC card for accessing the Internet bank (you just put it on the phone from the back, enter a pin and go; the apple owners, however, pass by - this only works on a green robot for now) , PIN codes for everything and other requirements.
For some operations, however, you must order separately for 25 francs Access Card NFC Display :
An extremely interesting device - in addition to NFC and the chip, a full-fledged access code generator with a display and a pin-pad is built into it. In this case, by form factor and thickness, this is a regular credit card. Where they just hid the battery ...
What is nice is that almost all accounts in the country come in the form of orange payment slip , which is easily scanned by the camera through the bank’s mobile application and paid in two clicks. No driving in the hellish details - forget about BSC, OKATO, SNILS, KPP, BIK, OKTMO and other spells.
It looks something like this.
And in the Swiss banks they do not like Americans very much. Especially in UBS.
I have long clarified - whether I do not have US citizenship. Why - you can read more here .
The medicine
This is a separate large and complex topic, but I will try to describe the main one.
Every resident is obliged to have medical insurance. Those who have come in have to issue it within 3 months after arrival, otherwise the state itself will assign you an insurance company and a type of insurance - and it will be standard (read - the most expensive).
Moreover, even if you insure two months after your arrival, you will still pay from the first day - it is considered that you are insured by default right away. I was a little offi from the first accounts of several thousand francs. Therefore, it is better to do it right away
There are 4 main insurance mechanisms in the country:
- Standard
She is the most expensive. You can go to any clinic and to any doctor in the country. According to statistics is the most popular. - HMO (Health Maintenance Organization)
If poplohelo - first we turn to one of the polyclinics-partners of the insurance company - Family Doctor
You are prescribed a general practitioner and first always contact him, and after examination he will refer you to specialists. - TelMed
First you need to call the phone, where you will be advised and already sent on
There is another mechanism with the use of pharmacies - you go to the pharmacy and from there you are already sent to the right place. But it is not very common, as far as I know.
At the same time, for children (under 18) and pregnant women, the mechanism is not important - they can always go to any doctor right away. Also to the optometrist, in my opinion, you can go immediately.
There is a deductible in the insurance (the sum, expenses up to which you pay yourself) - you can choose it at the conclusion of the insurance contract. Her options are limited by law: 300/500/1000/1500/2000/2500 CHF for adults and 0/100/200/300/400/500/600 for children - per year. And, accordingly, the more it is - the cheaper the insurance.
Consider an example
500 , , 400 .
12*400=4800 CHF , . , 500 ( 10% , 700 , ). 12*400 + 500 + 700 = 6000 CHF. , 25 CHF ( 25 )
12*400=4800 CHF , . , 500 ( 10% , 700 , ). 12*400 + 500 + 700 = 6000 CHF. , 25 CHF ( 25 )
There are also additional insurance options - each insurance has its own set and you can usually combine them flexibly. For example - the chamber is more comfortable, global insurance coverage and so on, all sorts of massage-fitness can be. It is highly desirable to take at least some small set, it is usually not expensive.
How to choose insurance? And hell knows :) For me, the criterion was the presence of a normal site and call centers in English. Prices are not very significant.
I took out HMO insurance in Swica with a deductible of 1000 and some small set of additional options on top - about 950 CHF per month is issued for a family of 3 people (a child is about 100, the rest is my wife).
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- Insurance company can be changed once a year. Insurance mechanism and additional insurance conditions - usually once a month
Pension
Pension payments consist of three components - the so-called Three Pillars.
- Pillar 1 - this is the minimum pension that you pay the state, something like insurance with us. Contributions to it leave the salary (pay both you and the employer)
- Pillar 2 is a funded pension, payments depend on age and range from 7% to 18%. But these percentages are not taken from the entire RFP, but from the difference between 84,600 (or your RFP, if it is less) and 24,675 CHF.
You can break your head:) The employer is legally obliged to pay at least 50% of the contribution, but can voluntarily pay at least 100% - Pillar 3 is a voluntary, non-taxable contribution to a pension fund. They have a limit - about 6 thousand francs per year for those working for an uncle and something about 24 thousand for self-employed
The cumulative pension (Pillar 2 and 3), potentially, you can remove the whole entirely, for example, to build / buy real estate or to open a business. In this case, though you will pay the tax, but some very small. Exact rules should be learned from the state.
If you leave Switzerland, you can also withdraw your pension.
Taxes and benefits
If you are a foreigner with a residence permit of type B / L and earn less than 120 thousand francs a year - the company pays taxes for you, as in Russia, and you do not need to file a declaration. This is called Withholding Tax. Otherwise - you need to file a declaration, although taxes will still be deducted by the company. If a residence permit of type C or citizenship - you pay already.
Taxes are divided into Federal, Cantonal and Municipal (Municipal).
NDFL and other deductions from the salary
Tax and its calculation depends on the canton.
In Zurich, NDFL is a derivative of several factors: income, marital status, whether the wife / husband and the number of children work. There are many different calculators on the Internet, but for example: income of 100 thousand francs per year, 30 years old, married, one child - personal income tax will be about 5.5%. In lonely and without children - about 10%.
Also, several more points are deducted from the salary:
Payments to the pension fund (Pillar 1 and 2, see above), insurance against loss of work, accidents at work and outside of it and some other ones, I do not remember exactly. Total goes somewhere else 9% of salary.
That is (in the case of a personal income tax of 5.5%) we give the state 9 + 5.5 = 14.5% of salary.
The employer will give us about 12% of salary (our part in the pension fund and accident insurance). As a result, in total, we will manage to the employer in ~ 26.5% of your gross salary.
Let me remind you - percentages depend on many factors and are given for example.
In Russia you cost the company 31-57% - this percentage depends on salary (deductions to the Pension Fund of 10% or 22%) and on the level of injury of the profession.
Child allowance
For each child once a month, the so-called Child Allowance is paid. In the canton of Zurich, it equals CHF 200 to 16 years and 250 after 25 years or until graduation. The employer pays, and then the state reimburses him. For registration, you need to fill out a questionnaire (the company must issue), attach any birth certificates (translated and certified copies) and give it to HR. Even if you blunt with the execution of this case for six months, then you will pay the debt during this time.
Also, some companies pay something over and above this (Family Allowance).
Vacation
Required, in my opinion, 4 weeks like ours.
My company gives 5 weeks. Plus, you can go on unpaid sabbatical for up to 6 months without losing your job. But it all depends on the employer.
Unemployment Benefit
Each employee pays a small percentage to his unemployment benefit fund (Unemployment Insurance). Therefore, in the event of dismissal, collapse of the company, inability to work (for example, due to bad weather at a construction site) or even a sharp decline in working hours at the initiative of the company, you have the right to receive benefits. It is approximately 70-80% (depending on marital status and other factors) of your average salary for the last 6-12 months, but not more than 10,500 CHF per month.
In Russia, by the way, they pay 4900 rubles ...
Decree
Maternity leave here can last up to 14 weeks. At this time, 80% of salary is paid, but not more than ~ 6000 CHF per month. Father can not get the decree. Plus, there are some one-time buns in the form of Birth Allowance.
VAT (VAT)
This year it was even lowered - from 8% to 7.7% (services and most goods). For some services (hotel business) and everyday consumer goods VAT is lower - 2.5% and 4%, respectively.
We do not pay it directly, but, as usual, it is pledged to almost any services and goods.
Other taxes
There is also a standard set: for transport, for real estate, for luxury,
There is also a church tax, so it's best to tell everyone that you are an ardent atheist :)
Housing
"Yard" near our house
Having dealt with the most basic formalities, let's move on to the main problem that the newcomer faces: where to live.
Most Swiss people live in separate houses, in townhouses or in small houses into several apartments. Usually they are no more than 3-4 floors. There are, of course, apartment buildings, especially in new areas, but there are not so many of them and they rarely grow above 9-10 floors. There is no such town-planning hell here and close:
No, this is not Switzerland, this is Butovo.
A typical Swiss street in a large city.
The rent of housing in Zurich is a separate test because demand here greatly exceeds supply. And if a dog comes to you (like mine), then everything becomes even more interesting - the number of available options on the market can be safely divided by 10.
The process of renting an apartment is the bride of potential tenants: the owner chooses who is nicer to him. Per unit of real estate, in the worst case, there may be up to 50 applicants, especially if the price is lower than the market. Someone told me that he came to view an inexpensive apartment and found a queue from a bus stop ...
Partly, such scrupulousness can be explained by rather strict laws on tenant protection - it is almost impossible to evict it under the terms of the contract, as well as to raise the cost without good reason, for example, the mortgage rate has risen (hello to Russian landlords who raise prices ). Therefore, here in some places (in Geneva, for example) a situation has arisen that a new tenant may pay several times (!) More than those who rented similar housing 5-10 years ago. Another, inherently opposite, factor is that the process of delivery takes a lot of time and resources and the landlord wants to go through this process less often. Therefore, they choose among the most reliable candidates.
Most of the property is offered by the company, not individuals. In many ways, this is even better for us as tenants, since there are usually many problems with a private trader - he either doesn’t know the legislation very well , or he gets up with some other fun. Several of my friends had a negative rental experience with a private trader. Although there is also a cure for this, the Swiss, as the most insured nation in the world, have come up with legal insurance for this case. It is inexpensive, francs 50 per year - it is possible to take. You can also join Mieterverband , the union of tenants. It costs 90-100 francs a year, they also provide legal assistance in dealing with the landlord and some other buns, read on the website.
Cost of
The cost of renting depends greatly on the location, area and other factors - everything is like ours. The average price is within Zurich, in residential areas for a 3.5 room apartment (3 rooms and a central room-corridor) with an area of ​​about 80 meters - 1,800-2,000 francs per month. This amount includes Nebenkosten , rent. It usually includes heating, water (average consumption), cleaning the territory and so on. At the end of the year is quite possible recalculation if you are too zealously poured water, for example. Electricity is charged separately, about it below.
Communications
Central heating and hot water supply here, as in many other European countries, no. There is cold water and sewage. The heating of the houses is either electric or gas. Moreover, gas is also not centralized - a car arrives and runs the house. Heating of water in the faucet takes place either in the boiler room in the basement, or an electric boiler stands in each apartment separately (usually in old houses).
Furniture
The apartments, in most cases, are rented without furniture , but with a fully furnished kitchen: refrigerator, stove, sink, cabinets and sometimes a dishwasher. There is usually no washing machine - washing is done on shared machines in the basement, if there are many residents, a schedule is drawn up. Sometimes there is a machine for drying clothes - it is very convenient, it is not necessary to hang anything.
Since throwing out anything in Switzerland is quite expensive (this will be discussed below), you can furnish an apartment almost for free! At online flea markets give furniture in almost perfect condition for free or for a nominal fee. You can rent a van (possibly with loaders), drive along such comrades - and the apartment is ready.
If you want a new furniture - then IKEA(or similar stores like Conforama) to help. The cost of some goods in it at times (!) Is lower than in Russia (for example, I bought a bed for a child for less than 7t rubles here, and it cost 16 in Moscow), others may be a little higher. Delivery and rise to the apartment of purchases with a total weight of up to 3 tons will cost 60-150 francs, depending on the amount of the order.
Parking
Photos steal from the Internet.
Almost every house here has underground parking or garages. And also, usually, several marked parking places nearby. Rent a garage usually costs 150-180 francs per month, parking space - 60-80.
If they are not available, or do not want to pay so much, then you can park in the so-called Blaue Zonen , located in residential areas. To do this, you need to buy a parking card, which is valid only in your area (determined by zip code) and parked in the places marked with a blue line (see photo above). This pleasure is worth about 350 francs a year, while no one guarantees you free space - who was the first to stand up for that and sneakers.
There are also so-called Privatstrasse- dead-end street, combining several houses. If you live in one of them, then you can park on it for free on the principle of "who ate it and ate it." If you park on someone else's Privatstrasse , then the local chatlanes will complain about the etsilopa and he interprets you to a modest 2,000 francs :) I was lucky to rent an apartment in the house on just such a street, which allows us to save a little.
You can usually park a scooter or motorbike for free in some slot, the main thing is that it does not bother anyone. Many put just on the sidewalk.
Other buns
Almost every Swiss home has a bunker bomb shelter. It is usually converted into a warehouse and each apartment has its own compartment for storing junk.
Also sometimes there is an attic, also divided equally between residents, and a common room, for example, for storing bicycles. All this is very convenient for storage of skis / snowboards, trunk boxes from the car and other things seasonal and not so good. Our neighbors, for example, staged a wine cellar there :)
Ground floors
In contrast to the Soviet homeland, it is often even more pleasant to have an apartment on the first floor: sometimes there is a fenced clearing that replaces the balcony.
That's how neighbors live below
Search
Let us turn to the most delicious - to the algorithm for renting an apartment:
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: homegate.ch, home.ch, immoscout24.ch - . , . -, . .
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Further, the quantity will be of great importance, which will then turn into quality. That is, the more profiles you send, the greater the chance that you will get an apartment. Therefore, we find the maximum number of suitable apartments and send out questionnaires to them.
Here, however, it should be noted that in almost all the questionnaires indicated that if you choose, and you refuse - then you will have to pay a penalty of 100 francs for the "preparation of documents." Usually, this is protection against fools: if you are chosen, the landlord will call you and ask - is the apartment still interesting for you? If so, he will prepare the contract. If not - goodbye, we have a queue of those who wish. But some not very conscientious companies and individuals can use this item for earnings - one friend went to three apartments, received consent from all three and he had to pay 100 francs to two of them.
The comments noted that it is illegal, but still this item must be kept in mind. If you begin to demand money, you can try to contact lawyers or in Mieterverband.
Conclusion of a lease agreement
This is still Zurich.
So, you're lucky: I called vermieter and said that you were chosen as a tenant. You agree, agree on the date of arrival and in a couple of days by mail receive a pack of documents.
And here it becomes interesting: if housing is rented by a family, then your partner (husband / wife / cat?) Is also a full participant in the transaction and must sign a contract . In my case, my wife was still in Russia and there were two options - according to the old Russian tradition to forge a signature, or quickly send a contract by DHL. After consulting with local decided to use the second option - a fake can get more expensive, and you should not, probably, right from the threshold to break the rules.
Pledge
By law, the landlord may request a deposit of up to 3 monthly rental fees inclusive. Usually 3 and request. It is placed on a special account, access to which is carried out with the consent of both parties. On this account, even some interest is charged as a contribution, but they are ridiculous - something like 0.1%, or even less. Deposits here have no profit at all - money does not cost anything.
If you have damaged the housing stock, the landlord has the right to compensate for this from the deposit. Or it is possible to cover the losses with your Personal Liability Insurance. If you do not agree with the claims, it is better to contact the union or an insurance lawyer (see above) and clarify with them what to do.
If you do not have the necessary amount to make a deposit, then there is such a thing as SwissCaution- This is another insurance. The cost can be calculated by reference. But some landlords do not accept it, you need to clarify in each case.
Payment
Next you need to decide how you will pay for the apartment and fill out the appropriate papers.
Possible options:
- Paper invoice The
landlord will post it monthly and send it to the post office.
This method, as I recall, will have some overhead. requires additional gestures on his part. - E-bill
Similar to the previous method, but the account is transferred to you in the Internet Bank as a PDF - Direct debit
Sign a piece of paper by which you allow the landlord to withdraw a certain amount from your account on a monthly basis.
I chose Direct debit as the easiest.
They may be asked to send some more documents, such as a certified and translated marriage certificate. I brought a ready-made copy with me from my homeland, but it can be translated on the spot.
When the documents are ready and signed, we send them by registered letter to the landlord and in a few days we get the contract signed by them.
Getting an apartment
After meeting with the landlord on the appointed day, carefully inspect the apartment for damage. All that you find is recorded in the protocol. Usually, when renting from a company, they have this protocol in the tablet, and signs there. This is done in order to avoid claims during the eviction and the landlord does not hold the deposit. If the damage bothers you, you can ask the landlord to fix it. If not, just log it.
If you find any damage after receipt - no problem. We make a list, sign and send it by registered letter to the landlord. By law, in my opinion, there are 2 weeks for it. If the damage is hidden and was discovered later, then it does not matter either - the law takes this into account.
All rejoice new housing!
Part Three: Everything Else
Electricity
Switzerland receives about 40% of electricity from five nuclear reactors located in the country. Here is the world's oldest operating nuclear power plant. Another 50% - hydroelectric power plants in the Alps, the rest falls on solar panels and the burning of coal / gas. In the future, the share of renewable energy is planned to be increased - new nuclear power plants are not being built, but, like Germany, they are still not planning to curtail nuclear energy.
Accordingly, in order to fully exist, we need to conclude an agreement with the electricity supplier. In the canton of Zurich, it is mainly EWZ- You can register directly on the site, specify your data and average consumption in the form of "a family of 4". You can even choose what kind of electricity you want to receive - “green” (hydro, solar) or not (uranium, gas). Green is naturally more expensive. In fact, of course, no one will pull the wires from the hydropower station to you, it’s rather an investment in ecology from responsible citizens. Alternative electricity supply companies may also be dependent on the municipality.
Periodically, bills will be received based on the selected average consumption, the easiest way is to enable the E-Bill receipt mode directly to the Internet bank. So every month no one needs to take the meter readings here, but at the end of the year they will recalculate up or down depending on actual consumption.
No need to go anywhere - everything is done online.
Not very green kilowatt-hour in 2018 there is something around 0.26 francs by day and 0.16 by night.
the Internet
It is fast in Switzerland, not subject to censorship and surveillance (no SORMs and RosKomPozorov) and quite expensive.
For the first time, the easiest way to buy a SIM card with LTE-unlimited (it will cost 40-50 francs per month) since the connection of optics will take some time. Depending on the place of residence, this method may also be the fastest and / or profitable.
In apartments within Zurich, there is usually an optical outlet (for initiates - a LC / APC connector, single-mode fiber) with a number (the so-called OTO-ID):
The optical network is built by the state-owned company EWZ (with which we pay for electricity) and leases it to telecom operators. So there are no twisted pair snot and wired risers - optics go from the outlet directly to the communication center, which is located within 5-10 km from the house. You need an appropriate optical transceiver to break through this distance, or you can buy / rent a router or a media converter from an operator.
In relation to the price \ quality \ speed, knowledgeable people advised me to Init7- for a full gigabit, I pay 777 francs per year, that is, about 65 per month. The connection cost 150 francs. Recently, I received a letter that now IPTV is free then, but I do not use it. The tariff is only one - 1Gbit, it’s not necessary to break your head. And the operator is easier and cheaper - no need to buy and install equipment for shaping traffic.
Also, for those interested: they give out static IPv6 - a standard / 64 subnet to everyone, even the reverse DNS delegate where you ask. IPv4 - via DHCP, dynamic real address. IPv4 static is worth some horse money - 240 per year for one address or 720 for a subnet / 29, so I did not take it.
The connection process is very simple: we go to their site, we drive in our data (name, address, socket ID, etc.) and wait. After some time (a week or two), an e-mail will be sent indicating that the service is activated and can be used. You do not need to enter into any contracts and pay the money right away too. Then, after another month, the bill will simply come to 777 + 150 francs for the year ahead and for the connection. You can, in principle, pay in blocks, but it will be more expensive.
There are also many different comprehensive offers from cellular operators for connecting a cell phone + internet home at discounted prices. But there is usually 100 Mbit and the price is not much lower. Here everyone needs to choose according to their needs.
PS
Salt here even offers 10 Gbit for a modest amount.
cellular
There are three main operators in the country - Swisscom, Sunrise and Salt.
The first two are about equal in quality and cost, the last is slightly cheaper and has worse coverage. I use Sunrise because There is a corporate discount.
At prices - full unlimited (calls, sms, internet) in the country usually costs about 60 francs per month (while the unlimited is real and not fake as we do). But you can get on all sorts of shares and get a contract cheaper. Or take with limited traffic, in this case, after the expiration of the limit, the speed will be shaped to 128Kbit / s or so.
For children and young people (it's up to 30 years old here) there are all sorts of cheaper rates. For a baby sim card, I pay about 10 CHF.
The connection is almost everywhere perfect - something rarely worse than 4G in populated areas. 3G can be further from civilization.
Garbage
Oh, from this topic I still have an eye twitching - you can write a dissertation about garbage :)
There are no landfills in Switzerland - all garbage is recycled or burned, while providing 1-2% of the country's electricity and heat demand.
Here are the categories of garbage that are recycled; they should be thrown away separately and in different ways:
- Cardboard
- Paper
- Metal (beer cans and the like)
- Glass (different colors - in different tanks)
- Compost (food waste)
- Butter
- Batteries
- Fluorescent lights
- Polyethylene bottles
- CDs
- Textile
Maybe I forgot something else.
Paper and cardboard need to be tied up in bales (separately, with a special rope) and folded on a certain day (different days for cardboard and paper) around the house - the car will arrive and pick up:
After Ikea, a lot of cardboard remains ...
Compost is put in a special degradable package and throw in green tanks around the house. Although the locals do not really soar and just dump everything out of the compost bucket there :)
They will send you a garbage collection calendar by mail, like this:
Either you can download a calendar (.ics) from the site on a mobile phone - enter your index and generate a file for you.
For textiles send by mail bags, with the date printed directly on them. They need to lay down unnecessary clothes and shoes and put on that day on the porch - they will come and take them away.
Once a year, 4 coupons of 100 kg each are sent to bulky waste - it can be brought directly to the factory and handed over. Anything above is paid. Or sometimes (see the calendar) come the so-called E-Tram and Cargo-Tram, to collect electronics and bulky garbage. And you should bring it yourself, and not bring it by car - such a rule, apparently, so as not to be abused.
Everything else is thrown into the so-called ZuriSack - white bags with a volume from 18 to 110 liters, sold in supermarkets at the box office. Garbage will be removed only in these packages - others will not take it. Moreover - they can gut out the garbage, find some kind of a ticket with the name and write out a fine. The cost of packages for 60 liters is about 20 francs for 5 pieces. This is a fee for sorting garbage and burning it.
Public transport
Quality and expensive. In the canton of Zurich, the transport network is called ZVV (Zurich Transport Association), which includes both the SBB (local Russian Railways) and other carriers.
The canton is divided into tariff zones (for example, 110 - the city of Zurich) and for movement it is necessary that the ticket includes all zones through which you will go. Zone map can be downloaded here .
Tickets are unified - you can go on any transport (train, bus, tram, trolleybus, ship, even cable cars in my opinion, too, in some places), if you have a ticket to the relevant zones.
Almost at every stop in the city there is such a device with a touch screen in which you can buy a ticket both for coins and by card. Paper money does not accept. The device near my house is occasionally buggy and does not accept some cards (it may refuse to eat UBS Mastercard and Sberbank VISA, and Sberbank Mastercard eats mystic). Therefore, I usually buy in the ZVV Tickets mobile application - it generates a QR code that the controller can read with its device. In fact, checking in urban transport is extremely rare, only a couple of times I had it. A fine of 100 francs for the first time, then more. In the trains they check quite actively.
Buses, trolleybuses and trams
Moscow has already forgotten about the "accordion", and here they already have triple
Trams can have 5 cars
Urban transport goes almost perfectly, lateness of more than 2-4 minutes is extremely rare - usually if somewhere a serious accident. There is an application ZVV Fahrplan, which builds a route for you taking into account the real-time situation - it turns out better than Google Maps often. The latter, sometimes, does not even know about some routes.
At most of the stops, there are screens with a list of arriving vehicles (such as those that were hung all over Moscow several years ago and which show the weather on Mars there, or are completely turned off):
Inside, too, there are screens with the list of the nearest stops, estimated time of arrival and flight schedule which can be taken at the next stop:
Usually the schedule is arranged so that when you arrive at the transfer station you will not wait for more than 5-7 minutes to transfer to another line.
Trains
The operator of all Switzerland’s railways is SBB ( Schweizerische Bundesbahnen , something like “Swiss Federal Railways”). All railways are electrified, diesel diesel locomotives are not here, as far as I know - only trains. The trains in the Zurich area are mainly double-decker Stadler and Siemens, which collect right there in the country. They walk quickly and almost silently. There are also single storeys, but they are also quite comfortable and in good condition.
The cars are divided into classes - 1 and 2. A ticket in class 1 is more expensive, but there is usually quieter (no screaming children) and more comfortable seats. There are cars for skis and bicycles, toilets. Some even have play areas for children. Also, almost all trains have sockets for each seat.
In Zurich, the country's largest railway station is on 28 platforms (although the numbering is from 1 to 44), which are divided into three levels (above ground and two underground). At the same time, he is also a large shopping center, working even on Sundays (which is heresy here).
Recently, for competition with intercity buses, SBB introduced the so-called. Supersaver tickets for a specific time - before that you bought a ticket and could go at any time during the day. They can be 2-3 times cheaper than usual (and can be only 3 francs cheaper). You need to buy them at least one day before the intended trip.
Ships
Practically on every more or less large lake the movement of ships on various routes is organized. On the Zurich Lake in the center also car ferries go - you can swim, if you do not want to go around :)
Cost
I think I’m not mistaken if I say that all adults in Switzerland have a Halbtax Card. It costs about 160 francs per year and allows you to buy almost any transport ticket in the country for 50% of the cost. There are some exceptions, but very few of them.
Given the price of transport - Halbtax pays for itself in a maximum of a month or two. The only exception is the case when you do not get out of the city and buy only a monthly / annual travel card - Halbtax does not apply to them. Well, or on your own transport.
Halbtax is now issued as a SwissPass card .with a photo and name, which can also be recorded, for example, a ski-pass on the ski slopes or used to rent bicycles is very convenient. You can order it, for example, at the central station - you only need to bring a document (passport) and a 3.5x4.5 photo - it will be scanned and printed on a card. A temporary paper version will be issued immediately on site, and after about a week SwissPass itself will be sent by mail.
SwissPass
In general, there is talk in order to cancel Halbtax altogether and lower prices, since decent funds are spent on supporting the infrastructure of its work. But so far.
For example, here are the main types of tickets and prices (including Halbtax) within the 110 zone (Zurich city):
- — 2.30 CHF
, - — 3.10 CHF
1 - — 6.20 CHF
24 - — ( SwissPass) — 85 CHF, ( ) — 95 CHF
A regular train ticket from Bern to Zurich (~ 120km) and back will cost (including Halbtax) about 50 francs. Supersaver, if available, is about half the price.
You can also buy a global ticket to the whole country for any type of transport - this happiness costs 3860 CHF (for 2 classes) per year.
For children under 16, you can buy a Junior ticket for a symbolic 30 francs a year - a child can use it for free with his parents throughout the country. If there is a need to travel independently to school, the education department will issue a free pass.
For dogs, if they are not in the bag and more than 30 cm at the withers, you need to pay as an adult with Halbtax.
There are still many different types of tickets - this is a whole science, I will leave them for homework.
Private transport
Owning a car is quite expensive. The cost consists of insurance, vehicle tax, parking. Plus MOT \ repair.
Insurance
The minimum (mandatory) insurance, an analogue of our CTP, for a car will cost 800-900 CHF per year with a coverage of 100 million francs (hello to our CTP with its 400 thousand rubles) - you can probably boldly ram the Boeing 787 with its chariot and pay for everything . Hull will be around 2000-2200 CHF. But we must bear in mind that all these prices strongly depend on the car, the age and nationality of the owner and other factors.
For a motorcycle minimal salary, I got about 200 CHF. If you do not ride in the winter - insurance can be suspended, thereby saving.
Tax
Transport tax in different cantons is considered differently. In Zurich, it consists of two components - engine size and weight. For my car, for example, with an engine of 3 liters and a weight of 1,700 kg, I will pay 358 for a volume (from 2500 to 3000 cm ^ 3) and 130 for a weight (from 1500 to 1800 kg). Total 488 CHF per year. Plus, CO2 emissions are also important, for the excess of which you will also pay extra.
Motorcycle tax is calculated based on engine size and environmental class.
The Kawasaki ER-6n with an engine of 650 cubes and Euro-3 class comes out 70 CHF.
Import machine
When you move, you have the right to import 1 car per family duty free if it was owned for more than six months (but you cannot sell it within a year - otherwise, they will tear it off completely for customs clearance). To do this, you should look at the customs on the way, give them the completed form 18.44 (this is the list of things that you import when moving into the country, including the machine) and get the form 13.20B there.
According to the information from Strassenverkerksamt (something like traffic management), in case of import of a car according to the form 18.44, it is not necessary to provide documents on the level of CO2 and noise during registration - there is enough Russian registration certificate.
During the year, you can ride with our numbers, after you already need to get local. Number format can be selected ("square" \ rectangular).
Registration procedure
Let's say you buy a used car or motorcycle. The former owner simply gives you a local analogue of the TCP (gray piece of paper). The contract of sale can also be concluded, but it is not necessary - it is not needed for registration.
Next you need to insure the vehicle. It is easiest to do it online - you go to the insurer's website, drive in all the data on yourself and the vehicle - you get the cost. Harvest - I agree. All that information about the fact that your vehicle is insured is gone to the authorities, and in a week or two you will receive insurance and an invoice for its payment.
After that, you can go and get a number. This process takes 5 minutes: you come to Strassenverkehrsamtwith "PTS". The fact that the vehicle is insured they already see in the database. You are given a pack of numbers to choose from - you are looking for a beautiful one :) Then they print a new copy of the TCP with your name. Everything. Pay again, nothing is needed - then the bill will be sent by mail.
All the same can be done immediately by mail - send them TCP and get back a new TCP and number. In this case, and you will receive a discount of 10 francs :)
Rights
During the year, you can ride on foreign rights (or any other). After this period, residents of civilized countries (Europe, USA, Canada and other Taiwan and Korea) can simply fill out a questionnaire, send it along with their rights to the Strassenverkehrsamt and get back the new Swiss ones.
But since Russia, in their opinion, in terms of driving is somewhere at the level of Nigeria (which is not so far from the truth), then to replace the rights, you need to pass a test run. During this, the inspector will check your adequacy and knowledge of local traffic rules. To pass it, it is highly desirable to take a couple of lessons from local instructors who will explain the subtleties of traffic rules and teach you how to behave.
If this exam fails (and only one attempt), then you start from scratch - you spend a lot of time and money on training.
On cars, the standard category is B. There is also B1 for all kinds of tuk-tukas, BE for transporting an auto-racing car and many others.
On motorcycles there are three categories of rights:
- A1 are scooters up to 125 cubes and up to 11kW. This category can be obtained simply by passing a practical course, without an exam.
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Fines are
wild.
For exceeding 65-79 km / h on the highway, you will pay 120 daily earnings (yes, the penalty depends on your income). With an average income in Zurich of ~ 6000, this is 36,000 CHF - ~ 2.3 million rubles at the current exchange rate. With a smaller excess - you pay less. And this is only with an average salary ...
And for exceeding 80 km / h or more - you sit a year in prison.
When driving in the city of the same outstanding results can be achieved much easier - for example, you can go to the bunks at a speed of 70 km / h in “Zone 30”.
Roads
Good. Small pits, if any, in some dead-end yards.
The movement is quite relaxed, if there is a need and opportunity - everyone gives way to each other. Everything is more or less like the rest of the main EU countries.
If you want to drive not only in the city, but also on the tracks - you need to buy a vignette (sticker on the glass), it costs 40 CHF per year. Rip off her glass and then tortured, so many glue on the tape, although it is forbidden.
Bicycles Cycle
parking at our office
This is the king of the roads, at least in the city. Worse pedestrian. There are a lot of them, often driving recklessly, to a red light, breaking all possible rules in general. At the same time it will be a fragile girl in a skirt and high heels on a highway bike. This is normal here.
There are a lot of cycle belts on the road, but they are far from everywhere, so often you just have to drive along the road. It is not accepted to drive on the sidewalk.
Since the city is built on three mountains (Adlisberg, Wheatliberg and Zurichberg), there are a large number of electric bicycles (~ 15% of the total). Between my office and the house, for example, a height difference of about 180 meters, and in some places slopes under 30 degrees - without an electric motor to climb there is sad and long.
Education
I don’t have much experience here, I’ll describe what I know.
Manger
They are called Kinderkrippe and take children there from six months. They are paid, but the city pays a subsidy that covers part of the cost. The subsidy depends on your income.
Kindergarten
Kindergarten is considered something of an elementary school, and therefore must be attended from 4-5 years. Free. Moreover, parents are practically forced to let their children go to the garden themselves. And they go almost immediately - it looks crazy by our standards, but here it is quite safe. Sometimes parents take turns driving the whole surrounding herd of children to the garden, and then the children get used to walking by themselves.
The garden here is harsh - no special sitting indoors in the rain \ snow like ours. Children stomp into the woods, build huts there, make fires and generally play Bear Grylls, whatever the weather.
School
By law, all children here must go to school.
Schools are public (free) and private. But the quality of education in ordinary schools is very high. As well as the cost of training in private :) 24 thousand CHF per year and more. So I didn’t even consider private ones - I don’t have that much extra money.
After registration of the child will receive a letter in which you will be asked to indicate whether your child is already attending any private gymnasium. If not, there are two options.
If the child knows German at a sufficient level, then you can immediately stomp into a regular public school, which is usually within walking distance.
If you do not know, then welcome to the integration class (if it is available in your town / village).
Education in it takes place under a simplified program (usually only literature, mathematics and sports). Since children can be very different ages, each has a slightly individual program. In addition, they sing songs together there, go to the pool and library, to all sorts of other events. The teacher tries to communicate with everyone in German, so that the children get used and learn the language. Communication of children in their native languages ​​is prohibited - only German or English. Some, however, English - native.
The integration class is usually located in a school in the city center and, if you live on the outskirts, then the child will have to go there (well, or you must carry). There is usually no problem with this - my daughter likes this process very much. A couple of times, however, I drove by public transport into some wilderness from which I could not get out.
Primary school usually goes to 12-13, then everything becomes more difficult - children are divided into several areas, depending on their abilities and plans to get a higher education.
You can read more in pedivikii .
Higher education
Not many Swiss have it - about 35% of the adult population.
In Zurich, two large universities - UZH (University of Zurich) and ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). ETH, in my opinion, is considered the best in Europe. He also studied and taught Einstein (in Bern, by the way, where he also noted, there is his museum and several monuments).
Tuition is quite low - something around 1200 CHF per year (i.e. for two semesters). Plus some other exam expenses.
Family
For registration of the family, if you did not make them a visa immediately, you must first get a residence permit card. And after that you can apply to the embassy for a Family Reunification Visa. Their list can be viewed on the website of the embassy . The most hemorrhoid - a certificate of no criminal record. Its our state can issue a month, and even longer. And then it will take a long time to put an apostille on it - you cannot immediately order it with it, it is not necessary. It is necessary to come, take a piece of paper in the window and give it back by attaching 2500 rubles to it.
After submitting the documents, they are sent to the cantonal migration office - relax and wait. Usually the process takes about a month. After that, they will send you (to your home address in Switzerland) the very Ermächtigung zur Visumserteilung . Further algorithm is the same as for yourself.
The family will be given the same residence permit as you. In the canton of Zurich, the spouse of the owner of a residence permit of type B is usually entitled to work, and in any canton. That is, in fact, the spouse has more rights than you :)
Animals
In order to bring a dog, it must be properly vaccinated against rabies, have a passport, chip, and so on. If a dog from a country in which rabies is poorly controlled (Russia is not one of them at the time of this writing), then a blood test will be needed.
Tax is paid for a dog - 180 CHF per year, 2.5 times more expensive than a motorcycle! :) He goes to provide bags for cleaning pet waste products, some courses can be taken there, etc.
Sports and recreation
With this, everything is fine.
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Thanks to those who mastered this monumental work to the end. I hope that he will be useful to anyone.
I, for sure, forgot about something important (or not) - so write what aspect still needs to be covered and I will try to add it to the article. Similarly, if you see spelling or factual errors.
TschĂĽss!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/358940/
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