Hi all,

just a small question. My work contract finishes in August. I am looking for a job close to Zurich but even though I can speak 4 languages and I am currently finishing a second degree, I am finding it hard to find a job. I am aware that not being able to use german on the workplace might be a stumbling block, and the situation at the moment does not help either.

Of course, being without a job is not ideal, but does anyone of you know what the facts are with regards to unemplyment benefits in Switz if the worst happens and I am without a job for a few months? I have B permit and would have worked here for a year.

The benefits of unemployment?

Being able to spend all day on the English Forum must surely be one!

Hehe... thanks for the suggestion.... it's nice to find someone who can take such a situation with a pinch of salt

this is well covered in the unemployment threads. start with the posts at the very bottom of this page.

in brief: you need to have worked 12 months out of the last 24 to get full benefits. you will receive 70% (80% if you have kids) of the average of those 12 months worked for up to approx 2 calender years (depends on your canton but its around 400 WORKING days). you need to prove you are looking for work each month; you need to meet you adviser every 4-6 weeks to see how you doing and advise you. some re-training/courses should be provided to you like the local language, CV writing, etc etc etc

I am an EU citizen who been in Switzerland and working since January this year and the spectre of short time and redundancies seems to get more and more likely at the company I work for with each passing day. Therefore, I am getting myself prepared in case the worse comes to the worse. I have been trawling through the various posts on what happens if you are made unemployed in Switzerland and I have a few questions that I do not think anyone has yet asked or answered.
If anyone can help me with any of the following, I would appreciate it:
1.Am I correct in thinking that if I were made redundant I would have to register at my local geminde first, and then attend the RAV or can you do the whole registration and interview at the RAV?

2.Being an EU citizen I who has worked continually in the EU before arriving in Switzerland it would be in my interest to submit a form E301 should I be made redundant. Do I need to wait until I am made redundant to apply for one of these or can I apply at anytime, so that I have the form available if I ever need it?


Thank you

1.) unless you have permit 'issues' then your geminde don't get involved at all. you just go to your local RAV office the day after your last day at work. They will then explain the following steps to you.

2.) don't know. the RAV office will advise. i suspect with the bi-lateral agreements that if you can prove (E301?) that if you were made unemployed in any other EU country and you were entitled to full benefits in that country, then you would be entitled here too. For example I know a ES guy who was on the RAV in ES, moved to CH and was on the RAV in CH.

as soon as you are notified of your redundency make sure you can prove you are looking for work, otherwise the RAV will penalise you a few days 'pay' because you were not trying hard enough, quickly enough.

What kind of evidence do they usually require ?

In my experience evidence consitutes copies or print outs of job applications you have made. They prefer you to apply for advertised vacancies but will accept a few speculative letters, too.

depends on the industry. if you have to go around the bars looking for waiting jobs then they need a stamp from the establishment.

but mostly lists of letters, emails, phone calls you have made; copies of letters, emails sent and received; business cards of individuals you have spoken with, etc etc.

Do they check this by calling a person of the company you have applied to ?

Possibly but this never happened to me. Once you are registered as unemployed they give you a sheet to fill out with the details of every job you apply for, whether you were called for interview and the result. You are asked to apply for a pre-determined number of jobs per month. When I was unemployed I had a target of 10.

If you fall short you have to have a bloody good excuse why you haven't hit the target or you could be in for a reduction in your unemployment money.

You should know that they can also look for jobs for you and don't consider it unreasonable for you to have to travel up to 2 hours to get there. You are obliged to go to any resulting interviews and take up any offers.

They did tell me, however, that they try their best to find you something that best suits your qualifications so if, for example, you are a PA they won't find you a job stacking shelves in Migros two hours away.

If the offered job is less than 70% of your previous salary (i.e. less than the benefit payment), is there an obligation to take the job?

Yes, it doesn't matter how much you earned before, you must take the job unless it is unreasonable for your experience etc. The RAV will make up 70% of the difference between what you have been offered and the amount you were claiming in benefits (gross) if it is less than your benefits, and add it to your salary to make it better.

i.e if your previous salary was 5000 then your 70% benefit would be 3500. If you were offered a job paying 3200 then the RAV would pay 70% of the difference between 3200 and 5000, that is 70% of 1800. This means while you don't get as much as when you worked before you would get more than just the benefits. This lasts for 1 year.

If you do not take a job they will penalise you heavily (60-90 days benefit I think.)

What are your experiences with RAV - are they helpful in finding a new task, do they consider your career expectations ?

RAV is really just a government department that trys to limit the unemployment payments system as far as I can see. IMHO they do not help you find work or consider your career expectations they just make sure you are applying for as many jobs as you can and penalising you for the smallest reason. They stand behind you pushing you to apply/take whatever job(s) you can.

You have a responsibility to be in work, you are not expected to have career expectations. End of. Full stop. No excuses. This is drummed into you by the RAV. I guess because they pay such a lot out in benefits compaired to any other country I can think of this is reasonable. I don't know any other country that will pay 90k CHF per year after tax if you are not working.

And yes, they do phone up/email some of the people you apply to, but I guess now they have less time spread across more people so you might get lucky.

very positive. if you need your language skills topped up they will pay for it!

I just want to let you know my experience as I am currently receiving help from RAV right now.

I was working for 3.5 months at a metal firm in Bettweisen TG. They told me that they cannot hire me any longer past this period of time because of the financial situation. This was my first job since I arrived in Switzerland beginning of August 2008 and I was really worried about it all as this had never happened to me before, it was always ME that moved on to another job but anyway, I knew with the current situation, it was going to be difficult looking for work as I had only 1 month of Deutsch intensive learning with the Migrosschule in St.Gallen, and so, I went to RAV.


RAV want me to apply for a minimum of 2 or 2 jobs a week, they also needed to receive a form 301 from England which had my last 2 years of working info (or something to the equivalent). RAV make you work for the help you need from them but if your organized enough, it's really quite simple.

(please people, this is not a guide to getting welfare in Switzerland, most peoples cases are different)

Now, the ONLY reason I went to RAV for some help in the first place, was so that they may help me get some funding towards more Deutsch courses and maybe swing a few job interviews my way. What I didn't expect though, was that they were going to pay me 70% of my LAST pay I received in Switzerland.

To cut a long story short, my income I made in England was half of what I get now from RAV. I'm not complaining, I just think it's silly and needed to voice my 2 cents worth.

My experiences with the RAV have been positive. They are there to make sure you are actively looking for a job- do so and you will have no problems. Always submitted the sheet with copies of the jobs I have applied for, never had an issue. No idea if they really check it most of the time, no problem if they do cause I am looking for work!!

Cannot help but reflect on the fact that this is going to get more difficult for them in the future. About 25% of the jobs I apply for ask me to complete an anonymous web interface, that usually ends up me having to re-input my CV and then click submit. In fairness I get an automated reply which I guess is evidence- although no name or number to call to followup. And if I cannot follow up, neither can they...

there is no legal basis in place in which they can force companies to divulge information on who has applied for jobs. in most cases i believe it to a courtesy at best and a down right rejection in most cases.

imagine the ceo of one company being fired/resigning, going on the RAV, telling them he has applied to be the ceo of another company, rival or otherwise to the first. at which point would it be in the interests of the 2nd company to confirm the application and potentially affect its share price/standing etc etc

My contract finishes at the end of July (as does my B permit) but I may be offered a conultancy deal where I am anticipating that I would be paid for so many hours a week. Of course, I will not get any company benefits (car, pension scheme, vacation etc) but as I would like to stay in Zurich, would I be able to get any unemployment benefit for the difference in gross salary.
In addition, I will be turning 65 in June so don't know how this would affect things