My Sister is wanting to come out and visit me for a bit of time in Zürich. She's on a Canadian passport. Aside from the 3 month tourist visa, is there any chance of her getting a permit to stay longer, and/or to do some work without having a job lined up already? Ignore the fact for the moment that she doesn't speak any german, and doesn't have any banking/finance/insurance skills that would get her an easily placable job as an expat; What are her options for staying longer than 3 months, with possibility of some sort of income?

Hmmm... as another Canadian who did the exact same thing she is wanting to do, I'd say it's not going to work. And I'm not trying to be negative, but I've been here for almost two years, had tons of job offers, but as a Canadian they just don't give out permits to you unless you belong to a specialist field (ie: something that the Swiss specifically lack due to schooling options, etc - like Dental Hygiene etc). She can come and ago every three months, like I am doing, but after much stress and effort I think I'm finally giving up and moving somewhere else.
If she still wants more info, visit www.movetoswizterland.com, www.justlanded.com or www.workpermit.com . Good luck to her!

She has indeed very little chance. What can work out is if she comes here and finds a company willing to sponsor her but that is about the lot unless she is financially self supporting in which case she can apply for a permit without much hassle. When I say financially self supporting I am talking of more than one million of liquid assets

Yeah, true enough. A friend of mine applied for a permit with $200,000 US in the bank as support for the first few months and was denied.

Thanks for the info all - its pretty much what I guessed it would be. Well, looks like it will be a three month stay then :-)