Hey Richard!

I really appreciate the time you have taken to answer my questions.

West coast.. yeehaaa! Well, I just moved here for grad school actually, but its really awesome here. I spent a few years of undergrad on the east coast. geez.. i hate the weather down there.. actually, lets switch topics before you complain about a 7ft, 1000lb green hulky monster

So, since yesterday I have data mined the web to get more info on Zurich taxations/permits, etc. I did find quite a lot of useful info and your information rightly supports it.

What I have found is the L permit has no quota limitations if you are working only for 4 months or less. I plan to work for 4 months, pretty much exactly perhaps, so this enables me to fall into the "non-quota" L permit category. I'm not sure if there is discrimination or preferential treatment (pick one based on politicial/wing affiliation ) for this type of permits too.

My company is fairly huge, we are one of the bigger tech companies around, so I am hoping the HR out there know what they are doing.

As for the job, I'm kinda young (21), but I'm a senior engineer, so i'm hoping there is no big deal with the permit itself. I heard generally going to good schools and such helps out with these permits. I'm a Stanford grad student now, so hopefully wont have too much of a problem with qualifications.

Regarding taxes, you have pretty much hit the nail on the issue. My company will be deducting the taxes directly for each paycheck, and I get to file deductions (house rent, meals, travel expenses) at the end of the year. I do make over 120K USD/yr, but you have to understand, for 4 months, the gross pay in Swiss is lower than the full yearly salary.

Pheww... why am I being sooo cheap??
In US, I pay like 40% as taxes, I should be thanking even if swiss kept 20% of my pay

Are you serious about buying a car or a bike!!! thats so funny.. I used to think, all you need to buy a car/bike is money. Damn, looks like the rap culture in the US has blinded me from reality!

Hopefully, I can buy some bread without security clearances and paperwork