I am an Australian who has recently moved to Lake Como in Italy on the Swiss border with my Italian girlfriend. Her sister commutes to Switzerland daily to work and my girlfriend may also commence work in Switzerland very soon because of better work conditions.
They suggested that I also look for work there as I speak very basic Italian and there are many more English-speaking jobs in Switzerland. I have a 1-year working holiday visa for Italy, which expires next December. I have recently discovered that Switzerland has a 18month maximum trainee visas available to Australians between 18-30 years of age. The information I also obtained is that the visa needs to be applied for in Australia.
What I want to know is if there is any possibility of having the visa processed from Italy or Switzerland as I only arrived 1 week ago and could not afford a trip back to Australia for some time? I spoke to the Swiss Consulate in Milano but they seemed to say it should be fine but were not too familar with the Australian Trainee Visa????
I would be extremely grateful if anyone would be able to offer me some advice about working in Switzerland. Attatched is the document I received from the Australian Embassy in Zurich and they suggested I contact the Swiss Embassy in Milano but maybe someone out there has been in my situation and can offer a simple solution without the cost of a flight back to Oz.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Patto

Hi Patto,

I have not been in your situation, but I do know a little something about the 18month trainee visa program. My Swiss boyfriend is currently here in the USA with me on the 18month trainee visa and I am looking into going to CH on one at the end of the year.

The trainee visa has to be applied for by an employer who will promise to hire you for a certain time period up to 18months (they have to include some sort of training schedule) - but you might already know this.

Once the paper work is done, I don't think it would be a problem to go to the Swiss Embassy in Italy for the "interview". I think the whole point is that you can't already be living in Switzerland. I could be totally wrong, but just my two cents.

Thanks alot for the info, thought as much. I am pretty sure i can apply from Milano, its just the Swiss Consulate there didnt have much of an idea and rather than wait a week or so while they sort the mess i thought i would try my luck here.

All the best in Switzerland!

Gday Patto,
I'm a fellow Aussie currently living in the UK on a Working Holiday Visa. I've got a Swiss missus and have been trying to find a way to live and work in Switzerland without having to tie the knot.
I hadn't heard about this 18 month Swiss Trainee Visa and the only info I can find on it is for Yanks.
Could you possibly send me a link or some more info, or even let me know how you went with your application?
Cheers mate.

Hello Patto,
I am also from Australia an living with my girl in Switzerland.
I am in the exact sme position as you.
I am having trouble finding out about this 18 month thing aswell.
If you find out how and where to apply for it and can you do it from switzerland it would be greatly appreciated if you could let me know.
Cheers mate and good luck, hope to here from you soon
surfarichris

Hello,
If anyone else could help me it would be fantastic!
Thanks guys
surfarichris

Gday safarichris,

You can find all the info and forms here:

http://www.swissemigration.ch/themen...x.html?lang=en

The hard part, as I discovered, is finding an employer who's willing to go through with it all.

Best of luck to you mate.

Whereabouts in Swiss are you, just out of interest?

Hello Doblepluggas

Thanks for the info, can you tell me if i can apply for this in Switzerland or in any other country in Europe or do i have to return to Australia? And what is the 2 years vocational study, is this compulsary? Cheers mate thanks for your help, i am in St gallen

I'm a bit hazy on the details, it was a while ago that I went down this road. But, from memory, you had to apply at a Swiss embassy/consulate in a country that you have some form of residency for, whether it be temporary or permanent. The 2yrs vocational study relates to whatever study/apprenticeship/training you did for your occupation. I'm not sure if on the job experience counts towards this, I doubt that it would.
I'm don't know what line of work you're in but, like I said, I had dramas finding a company willing to go through with the application. I'm in the aviation industry and most of the HR departments I dealt with found the whole process too daunting, as they'd never seen or heard of it before. Not trying to ruin your day here, whatever you do to earn a crust may be completely different.
Again, I'm not 100% on all the details, so it could pay off to check it out further for yourself.