Is there a huge demand for tech. writers in Switzerland? I have my Technical Communication degree along with a linguistics degree.

I can't say I've seen that there's a huge demand for them here. You'd definitely need to be fluent in German or French to get a foot in the door.

That being said, coming from the US is going to make this extremely difficult.

I read on another thread about your wife's family being in Switzerland. I believe (I could be wrong, does someone know?) that the new laws on immigrants in Switzerland just made it extremely difficult for families to be reunited. That would probably be the only way you could settle here, honestly, is if you could do it through this method.

I hate to sound all doom and gloom, but it is really difficult for anyone but EU citizens and those with extraordinary qualifications/trades to move here.

Well I do speak French at an upper intermedaite level. My wife is a citizen of Macedonia (FYROM) which is now a canidate country of the EU. They are expected to join around 2012. Hopefully they do for my sake... And I want to start learning German. My best friend and all of my wifes family live there. They would help us out, but it is all about the work permit. I will have to wait for a EU passport!

The French/German thing isn't always an issue.

If the work is contract, which it often is, then often English will suffice.

If you can PM me then I'll wing you my email address at work (recruitment industry), no promises except that when something does arise I'll let you know.

Basel and Pharma are the keywords in any searches on Jobserve.....

Evilshell: Well I called the Swiss embassy and they said she might be eligible for a B permit since she has so much family there. I told them that she has sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles who are swiss citizens.. I hope she knows what she is talking about. She was very nice and helpful. She is going to send me the info.

Ok here are the rules for family members: Does this look aplicable to our situation?

4. Visa for spouses and family members of Swiss citizen and residents

1. 3 application forms duly completed, dated and signed (3 original signatures): enclosed or available at
the following website:
http://www.swissemb.org/visa/visa_form.PDF

2. 3 recent passport pictures

3. 3 letters of invitation from your spouse, mentioning that you are married/family and will be living
together in Switzerland (signed and dated) – original + 2 copies

4. 3 copies of your valid national passport

5. 3 copies of your spouse’s Swiss passport or Swiss visa

6. copy of your marriage certificate if applicable/available

7. If you are not an American citizen, 3 copies of your resident permit (alien registration card) or valid visa*
for the USA

8. Visa fee: $49 per person (cash or money order only), except for family members of Swiss citizens. Family members of Swiss citizens only pay a postage fee of $5 (cash or money order only).

Can't comment on the above, not my speciality.

I can however state that if you get a contract position then most agencies will be able to secure you a permit, regardless of your wife's family situation.

Larger companies won't necessarily go for it on your behalf.

Again, this requires you to be very good at what you do (the applying company may be asked to prove that no-one in the EU possesses the necessary skills), no doubts there though!

It helps to highlight industry specific experience in detail, such as pharma or banking when applying......

Good luck!

BoyD definitely has more knowledge in this area, so I completely defer to his info!

I don't know how much experience you have, but many industries have standards devoted to their technical publications (eg. Rail/Aero/Auto/Pharma.) It would be important to indicate that you are familiar with these as well as the tools used to generate these publications (especially illustration!). In fact many of the adverts reference them specifically.

Its an ideal job at which to be self employed and perhaps even to work from home, although this will depend on the client. Two things to watch for are security and commercial limitations on removing documents from their premises which would preclude home working.

Its a job IMO that few people want to do, and if you can offer a solution to "problems" there should be work here to be found, much of it I suspect in English.

dave

Ooooof, that'll end in tears!

My personal opinion, Mistael, is that you are going to find something here, no problem!

You have qualifications AND MOTIVATION! You've proven that by already doing some research.

The world is your oyster when you are not afraid of knocking on doors!

It's the motivation that counts. Now you just need to know the right folks who can help you get to where you want to be!

I don't know what kind of demand there is for technical writers but I personally found my job as a tech writer through a web search. The job was posted on the ETH website. There you can find jobs that probably won't require so much experience since it's mostly student jobs.
My advice is that you should just keep searching and speaking to people and you never know what will turn up.

Not sure what you mean by "technical" writer - it is rather broad!

But there are two medical writing jobs in Switzerland currently advertised on the EMWA website:
http://www.emwa.org/Workavail.html

kfc.