But not part of the EU

Does this have special significance for americans?

Anyway, Norway isn't a part of the EU either.

I must say that the only thing you have to concentrate in swiss job hunt(being non eu) is on work permit

- if you have a B transferable work permit, then there are plenty of jobs for IT guys here(java, .net,pl1,testing etc)

- coming here on tourist visa will not help as getting a job is dependent on your work permission.....which no swiss company is willing to sponsor in present time..... exceptionally if u have some special skills(son of gadafi..hehehe..laughing filler in b/w serious talk :-)

best of luck

Of course - not only for Americans but for everyone who wants to live in any country. You want to know about the country. You said it was just another west European country. I was merely pointing out that it is not a member of the EU, not criticizing what you said.

A country's politics, laws, tax rates etc....are always important when thinking about relocating there especially with a family. There are differences in every country - I'm not sure you can just lump all the west European countries together. Thinking specifically of the Euro/CHF rate.