Good evening,

My Polish girlfriend moved to Switzerand (from Ireland where she lived for the past 5 years with me) to be with me and has 90 days (tourist visa/permit) to find a job otherwise she will have to leave...

Anyway, I want her to have proper insurance but my Health Insurance (Swica) can't cover her as she doesn't have a Swiss Permit. So my question is, can I get some sort of insurance for the 90 days? We need Accident Insurance at the very least as we want to go snowboarding at week-ends.

Getting trace insurance in Ireland might prove difficult as we no longer have an address there so what are our options?

Can't She make an international Insurance from Poland, her home country ?

She needs to register at your address, then she can get "normal" Swiss insurance.

If you allow me to comment on that here, no offence.

I am afraid this might not work.

The reason will be that where can she register ? and if she could do it, still she is not a Swiss Resident, which means the Medical Insurance Companies are not obliged to accept her - so it will be up to the insurance companies to say yes or no - so in this case, you need to call all possible medical insurance companies and see who may by luck accept you.

I also found useful info in this thread

Why would she not be a resident? She has an EU passport, is not Romanian or Bulgarian, doesn't live anywhere else, and is looking for work. That's enough to register.

My limited experience, is she needs to find work to get the permit - or she has to be his wife.

I understood that being just an EU citizen doesn't easily give a residency in Switzerland, however it is not impossible - some examples can be seen in this link.

http://live-in-switzerland.com/e/res...-programs.html

That website is from a company that offers paid services for employers. They are having a hard time, because EU citizens can effectively say "Here I am!" and they're in, while non-EU quotas have been cut.

Again, if you're EU-25, you can come as a jobseeker. No worries at all.

Yes, they are obligated to accept her. See this thread: Turned away by Gemeinde...Confused!
She needs to contact a health insurance company and go with the offer to the Gemeinde and they will give her a proof of residency paper (Wohnsitzbestätigung), which she then sends in with the offer and she will get coverage. Accident insurance will be included if it is not covered by the employer, which in this case it isn't. This info was kindly provided to me by my insurance guy and I can refer you to him if you want (pm me).

Thanks for all the responses guys! My girlfriend is exactly in the same situation as darkhorsedrea in this thread.

We went to the "Service des Etrangers" and requested a B Permit (had to try!) and I told the lady that I would support my girlfriend 100% and that I myself had a B Permit. She took all our documents and went away for 5 minutes so I was starting to think this might just work! But when she came bac she gave us all our papers back and said "you have 90 days to find work and after that you need to leave the country for at least 30 days" which I know is incorrect as after the 90-day period we can simply apply for a L Permit...

This really depressed us and I was a little surprised as I know of at least one person in the same situation as myself who was successful in obtaining a B Permit for their partner without a Work Contract...

Anyway, we're actively looking for a job for my girlfriend so fingers crossed we'll find something soon!

But this doesn't solve our insurance issue! This sentence (from www.ch.ch) gives me hope though:

"The health insurance companies must provide basic health insurance to any person, irrespective of their age, residency status or state of health and without imposing any conditions or waiting period."

I may go back to Swica with this!

I assume "Gemeinde" is what I call the "Service des Etrangers" right? I'll try this procedure and let you know how I get on!

no, Gemeinde is the local authority (Commune) - where everyone including the Swiss goes to register

....Service des Etrangers is "office for confusing the foreigners"

Yes, this I agree with!

We'll go to the "Commune" to ask for advice then!

Thank you all again for your help guys! We really appreciate it!

if she's here as a tourist (which technically for a 90 day entry as your girlfriend and not your spouse, that's what she is) why not use travel insurance?

Here is the link to the Biel website and the information on getting a "Wohnsitzbescheinigung/Attestation de domicile": http://www.biel-bienne.ch/ww/de/pub/...cfm?setlang=de

As I said, first get an offer from an health insurance company, then get the Wohnsitzbescheinigung and send it together with the insurance offer and she will get health insurance.

Because you must reside in the country in which you contract the travel insurance.

We looked (and are still looking) into getting an Irish Travel Insurance but the T&Cs all state you must reside in Ireland and take out the insurance prior to leaving the country (we fail both requirements)...

Thanks Ziger! Will be contacting Swica later on today to get a quote!

Well, well, well!

I just rang the "Population" (found the number on the right-hand side on the page in your link Ziger) and the lady on the phone told me that in order to obtain a "Wohnsitzbescheinigung/Attestation de domicile", the person requesting needs to have "announced" themselves.

She then went on to say that "announcing" yourself means requesting a permit and thus having a Work Contract.

I then went on to ask her if I should then request a L Permit for my girlfriend to which she replied L Permits were for seasonal workers only and not for EU-25 people looking for work in Switzerland. When I told her about the information on this page she said I was misinterpreting it...

I can't describe how confused and frustrated I feel righ now...

I hope it works out. As this is not the first time this problem has come up, it would be great if you post a follow-up - what worked, what didn't, how much it cost, etc. What I posted is how it is supposed to work (according to Swiss law, my insurance guy and my local Gemeinde) but I have never actually had to do any of it. It would be useful to hear a direct report from the trenches, so to speak.

That was fast reporting. How frustrating. I'll see what my Gemeinde contact says.

The information she gave you is NOT correct. Here is the information on an L permit (Kurzaufenthaltsbewilligung/autorisation de courte durée) from the Swiss government website:

L EU/EFTA permit (Short-term residents)

Short-term residents are foreign nationals who reside in Switzerland for a limited period of time, usually less than a year, for a certain purpose with or without gainful employment.

EU-25/EFTA nationals are entitled to this permit provided they are in possession of an employment contract valid from three up to twelve months. Employment contracts of less than 3 months’ duration within a calendar year are not subject to a permit but are regulated via a registration procedure. For nationals of EU-2 member states (Bulgaria and Romania), all employment is still subject to a permit. In addition, the temporary regulations will apply until approximately 2016. The period of validity of the permit is identical to the term of the employment contract. It can be extended for a total period of less than twelve months. Provided the new quota has not been exhausted, the permit can be renewed after an overall stay of one year without foreign nationals having to interrupt their residence in Switzerland. L EU/EFTA permits without gainful employment are granted to job seekers from all EU/EFTA states. However, this practice does not create an entitlement to social insurance.http://www.bfm.admin.ch/bfm/de/home/...l_eu_efta.html

According to a friend who deals with such things in another Gemeinde, your girlfriend can request a short-term residency permit and doesn’t have to wait for the 90-day “free” period to be over. She is also entitled to a confirmation of residency without a permit. As she is not, I assume, on a rental contract, you, as her boyfriend, have to write a letter confirming that she is living with you at whatever address. This along with an offer from an health insurance company is enough to get the residency confirmation.
I would go by the office, rather than call. If you are still getting negative answers, ask to speak to the supervisors. Obviously, it is essential that you are polite the whole time. As in “I really don’t understand why ….. because according to this information here ….” and “I really appreciate your help, it is all so complicated but this is important for us” blah blah. It will be easier if you can make it clear than she intends to stay and not leave again in a month or two. Also, it will help if she has good chances of finding a job here in Switzerland (useful skills/job experience etc.).

I don't quite understand why she isn't still covered in Ireland. Then it would simply be a matter of registering here: http://www.kvg.org/file/infoblatt/voruebergehend_e.pdf.

Because she doesn't live there. Insurance companies are quite good at finding out that sort of thing once you ask them to pay substantial medical bills.