My partner is possibly going to be working at Novartis in Basel and I'm after any advice anyone can give me with regards to me going with her.

Here's an overview - She's French, although I believe her great grandfather was Swiss. I don't think she holds any official kind of Swiss nationality though? She speaks French (obviously), English and German fluently. I'm English and speak English and intermediate level French. I did a bit of German at school and know I could pick it up quite quickly, but essentially I don't speak German. My profession is graphic design, print based and web. My background has been in smaller 'boutique' style London design agencies. I have a good portfolio and I'm very confident in my abilities, but tranferring those skills to another country/culture is not neccessarily going to be easy.

Please pardon my ignorance, but is it possible for an English person to just turn up in Switzerland and start looking for work? Do I have to apply for some kind of residency/work permit? Can I claim any kind of benefit whilst looking for work? What obstacles am I going to face in trying to look for and obtain employment (language being an obvious one)? Are there any useful websites/agencies I could contact for more information about moving to Switzerland? Any other useful information you think I might need?

I know very little about what might be involved in all of this, but if my partner takes the job then we may be moving out within a couple of months, gulp!...

Hi Mat

I'm a freelance graphic designer over here, I have found some work with Swiss clients and i have a mixture of English and Swiss - I do a bit of Swiss work in German language (i.e the text is German) but mainly my clients are English language based - I hav briefly (very briefly) looked for full tiome work here but due to me not speaking German i felt it was pointless as i couldn't expect co workers to communicate with me in English if they communicate in German primarily in the studio

Regarding permits - i can't help you there but I don't think you can just turn up and look for work, you need a work permit, i automatically got a B work permit because my husband got his B work permit, I know its a lot harder if you are not married

Good luck

As an EU citizen, yes - you can come over and look for work. You will need to register with the local Kreisbuero (admin office in district where you live) within 8 days of arriving, but so will your partner. You will apply for an L permit which allows you 3 months to find work, and this is usually extendable for another 3 months. You won't get any kind of benefits while looking, as far as I know.

You can also register as a dependent of your partner, but she must guarantee to pay any debts you have up to (IIRC) 30000 CHF in case you abscond.

You haven't said what skills you have, which of course affect your job hunting prospects.

Many thanks for the quick replies.

I will try and find out a bit more about the various different types of permits and what they entail. We aren't married, but maybe we'll have to consider it if it's going to make a big difference. It's a shame as we're no less committed than any married couple, but that's another argument and another thread!... Registering as a dependent of my partner shouldn't be a problem though.

In terms of skills, I have 10 years experience in design for print and web (15 if you include college and university). I'm fully fluent in all the main software packages (Adobe Creative Suite, QuarkXPress, Cinema 4D, Microsoft Office etc.) and can design and develop web projects (HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL, Flash animation and Actionscript). I'm used to working on projects from start to finish, taking briefs, dealing with clients and so on. I have a BA (Hons) First Class in Graphic Design.

You don't need to get married - take it from me

Under normal circumstances (no credit crunch) I'd say you'd have no problem finding work. However, the situation being what it is, you may need to spend a bit of time job hunting. Given your IT experience, I'd imagine you'd find something, even if not ideal, in the first three months.