Greetings,

My name is Joe, 25-year old writer living in the United States and looking to relocate with my fiance to Switzerland. I have a strong background in news and feature writing and am wondering if there is a website to look out for job openings.

We hope to move over the next year and are trying to get as much of a head start as we can. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe

Anything like 'news' will require a local launguage & be pretty badly paid. CH has a tiny population with 3 main launguages

How were you planning to relocate, got an EU passport?

Thank you for the quick reply.

The "news" I currently do is for web magazines. Not so much hard news that you'd find in the local paper. That aside, I prefer feature, travel, culture, political writing to anything else.

I know I need an employer to apply for a work visa, but will also be contacting my nearest Swiss Consulate for steps I can take in the meantime. I do not have an EU passport.

Just curious... why Switzerland?

Joe, it has become very difficult for Americans - even those who are highly qualified with unique skills - to immigrate to Switzerland.

The Swiss are fed up with the flood of new immigrants to this tiny country and are actively trying to stem the tide. There is nothing that can be done to limit EU immigration (due to the bilateral treaties) so the focus has been on tightly restricting immigration from the rest of the world.

In order for an employer to be able to sponsor a non-EU immigrant he must be able to prove that no one in Switzerland or the entire EU zone is qualified and available to do the job. That's a pool of ca. 500 million people.

So what skills to do you possess that those 500 million don't? You need to focus on this.

Of course in the media business you need fluency in at least one of the national languages - and be aware that most of your competition will have fluency in all three. And more. It might come as a surprise to Americans, as our culture places far too little value on foreign languages - but here multilinguicity is considered a basic skill.

In addition, as an American you are burdened with the FATCA baggage* that makes you even less attractive to an employer than other non-EU candidates. Due to Uncle Sam's overreach, Americans now represent additional expense and potential liability that many companies simply don't want to deal with.

You've got the double whammy of non-EU and American, so you need to show that you have unique skills in critical demand in order to convince an employer to put up with the hassle that the blue passport represents.

Puhutes makes a good point: Why Switzerland? There are other countries that are easier for an American to immigrate to these days.
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*Be aware of the problems FATCA brings in the personal sphere for an American abroad as well. Americans are now toxic customers due to FATCA liabilities; you will likely have difficulties accessing financial services necessary to live a normal life here.

Might I suggest that you put your media skills to good use at home and get the word out about the insanity that is FATCA? Few Americans understand the damage this is doing to normal Americans abroad and by extension to the US economy - and any American who is working abroad, or who wishes to someday, should be actively campaigning against it. Heck, all Americans should be campaigning against it, as it ultimately damages America's ability to compete on the world stage.

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I do hope you find a way of making your dream come true; I understand the desire to immigrate. But be aware that the barriers are higher than ever before. You need to set realistic expectations.

Wishing you all the best.

Thank you for the replies and information, all.

Why Switzerland? I've always been deeply intrigued by the country as it's the country my family immigrated to the United States from in the early 20th century. Although we're open to other countries, there's something about Switzerland I find particularly alluring.

We're in touch with our nearest consulate and the American embassy in Bern and seeing what comes out of it.