Hello..
A short intrduction.. I am a 25 year old canadian girl (born in Canada but parents born in Italy). I speak english, french, italian, spanish and learning german. About 7 months ago, I met a swiss man.. a wonderful man. Since then, we have been dating and we are both very excited and hopeful to begin a life together.
Basically, I'm crazy about this person and I would love to have an opportunity to begin a life with him. So... I guess what I am asking is how would I be able to live and work legally in Switzerland. I'm sure that the easiest way would be to marry him but I never believed that marriage should be used to receive permanent residency.
As far as employment is involved, hopefully, the fact that I can speak almost 5 languages should open some doors for me. I have a degree in tourism and have work experience with airlines and travel agencies. I also have experience in the hotel and restaurant industry..
I know that if I were to move to Switzerland I would be taking employment from a Swiss national and in the point of view of a Country, Why would they employ a Canadian rather than a Swiss?
I'm at the point of not caring about salary... I just want to earn enough to live and hopefully have a family with this special person that I have been "virtually" dating...
Any suggestions for the Canadian in love?
Thanking you in advance for all of your assistance and suggestions... Right now I feel lost and need any guidance I can get...
;-)

Your languages are not unusual so don't assume folk will be beating down doors to give you jobs based on that (sadly). The Swiss typically will speak at least 2 languages and it's not uncommon that they also can speak 3 or 4.

If you have some specific skills, you might be lucky but the competition from Swiss and EU-ers will make it tough.

Marriage would be the simplest way to remove this barrier (probably).

Thank you for your quick response.. I kind of already knew that.. I guess I was hoping for another alternative... So it looks like I will have to get married? What if I have aunts and uncles living in Switzerland. What if they own a company? Can they sponsor me?

I would slow down a bit. Are you really going to marry someone for a passport and try and find a job "without caring about the salary" ? You sound giddy with romance, which is great, but take it easy !

dave

PS: Carrie, I await your remonstrations

True, the languages won't give her a leg up over the Swiss. But they will make her look better than the typical expat who speaks one or fewer languages.

My unsolicited advice: don't get married yet. Your're still young, and 7 months is not that long a time, no matter how in love you are. Come to Switzerland on a tourist visa and see how things work out with the relationship and job prospects. Good luck!

Hey Canadian girl!
I married for the love of a Swiss lady... We spoke for months over internet and phone before we made the plunge. We got married because we knew it was what we wanted. Now have 3 boys, house, cars and a great life. That all started in '99.
One thing for you to remember, you can come and stay for 3 months at a time, must leave for a few weeks, then can come and stay again for 3 months. (how it was in '99).
It may take quite some time to find a job anyhow, so come, check it out, check him out very well, and use time in you favour. Don't rush into the Swiss life since it seems so great until you've spent time here. The way of life is very different and if you love the Canadian laughter and smiles you get when you go to the Kwiki Mart, Switzerland is not for you. Smiling with a stranger is a sign of unprofessionalism. (so it seems).
good luck

I'm a Canadian who met a swiss on holidays in Dom Rep in the discotheque!
I knew him for all of 7 weeks before I took the plunge and just moved here and married him.

The work is going to be the hardest obstacle, I never even *really* looked into how difficult it would be. I've had to take cleaning jobs under the table to help out and give me something productive to do with my idle hands I also don't speak numerous languages as yourself.
The 3 month tourist VISA sounds like it may be your best option.

for me it wasn't. I wanted to be with this guy no matter what, and the thought of leaving him after 3 months was not an option we were both happy with, so we just went for it.
I've never looked back (it'll be 2 years this Dec we were married, so we're still fresh lol) again though, that ain't for everyone.

Do ALOT of research on this country, I had stars (hearts) in my eyes and the 1st yr was quite diffcult in many ways.
good luck though! hopefully love wins in the end

If both of your parents are Italian, are you eligible for an Italian Passport?

Having an EU passport would make things a lot easier for you when it comes to working in Switzerland.

7 weeks....that's a bit shorter than the time taken by royal couples (arranged marriage)...

good to know that the discotheque works for some people, as most people say it's not the place to 'meet' but only to 'see'.

Don't get married for a visa, it is bad karma. Like they say, you have nothing to lose by just coming here for three months with short breaks in between, which you can always spent just across the border in Germany for example! Then see if you still want to stay after 6 months or so...

Girlie you break my heart.

Here's how an american friend moved to Switzerland:

Get the ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP papers requirement from the ITALIAN embassy: they include your parents birth certificates, italian passport copy, marriage certificate and your own birth certificate, all with apostilles.
Enter Italy as a tourist. Rent an apartment there or ask friends to let you register at their address.

Take your papers to the comune to claim your italian citizenship and to get a "permesso in attesa di cittadinanza" wait for the polizia to visit and confirm you're living there, within a month, and then you can visit your BF all you want. It's just a few hours between Milano and most of Switzerland. Como (Italy) and Lugano (Switzerland) are around 30-40 minutes away by car.

The italian are usually nice but they will be nicer if you're fluent in Italian.

Three months after your fist visit to the comune (usually) you will get your cittadinanza and passaporto and you will be able to just move to Switzerland and look for a job without restrictions as an EU citzen.

You can indeed get Italian citizenship, go for it, the whole of Europe will open up for you.

And my congratulations on choosing a Swiss man

I think you should come to Switzerland as a tourist and start applying for a job.. or register yourself at the university, which gives you a residency permit, and then start looking for a job.. is there anything you would still like to study?
I have been in Zurich for 2 and a half years, also from Canada, soon to be 25! I've been working here for one year now. I guess I am in a field in demand so it was not so difficult to find a job and get the permit. But as long as you can find a position where you can prove to have high qualifications then it should be ok... plus there are always surprises so try it!
Good Luck!!!

One last thing girlie:
Don't apply for citizenship from Canada. It will take YEARS. Go buy your plane ticket and do the paperwork in Italy, it's much much faster.

First of all, Dankeshoen for all of your helpful responses!
I would like to clarify that I have no itentions of marrying someone for residency. I do not believe that it is a reason for a union.. I am catholic and wish to be married in a church when the time is right.. Marriage is my ultimate last resort...
As for a EU passport... Well... I am on a waiting list (its 1 year now).. If I would have known before, I would have applied for it in Italy because its been one year and I dont have any updates on the status of my request... I wonder if I can "Reapply" in Italy.
My aunt and uncle (father's brother and sister) live in Swiss and have residency (permit c I believe). Does this help me? Can I have them sponsor me?
I would have absolutely no problems working in Italy. I am currently employed by an Italian ceramic tile factory. I am a factory representative in USA and Canada... so I would be able to work for them in Italy.. The simplest idea would be for me to sell their product in Europe but there is no opening for that position.
I also would have no problems supplying a residence address in Italy.
In other words, I would not have a problem living in Italy but that would not solve anything. I would still have to commute to Basel (that's where he lives) which is at least 300 km away from the Italian border..

Not ideal but you will be only 5 hours away on a train if you base yourself in Milan, which is a good deal closer than now

He could also move to Ticino, plenty of "expats" Swiss-German there...

I don't know if you can do this, but you should research this possibility immediately.

I would start asking the embassy what happens with your application if you move to Italy.

Then I would ask the relevant italian authorities ( the comune or Prefettura don't remember) how to get a Permesso in Attesa di Cittadinanza with a Citizenship Application in progress. This is key. Once you get this permesso it's just a few weeks until you get your cittadinanza.

Do what feels right, Canadian Girl. As a Canadian Boy married to (and still madly in love with) a Swiss Girl, I can say that the rest of it will look after itself. Sometimes just a question of getting over here and figuring it out. You've gotten some great suggestions from the rest of your replies....use them, get over here, and see if this is what you want.

An unsolicited tip on marriage. Don't marry this guy if you can see yourself spending the rest of your life with him...marry him if you can't imaging NOT being married to him. Sounds corny, overly romantic and retarded...but it works for me.

Bonne chance.

You'd be marrying for love, not for residency!

There's another possibility, which is that you become his concubine No, seriously. Basically he signs some papers that say he's willing to pay all your expenses while you are in Switzerland, and you get residency. Sounds pretty close to some kind of slavery when put that way, doesn't it?! You might get problems if you haven't lived together before though, I don't know the legal ins and outs (err... )

That said, the Italian citizenship idea does seem the most open ended and practical.

Well, you can try some swiss hotel management schools, from time to time, some of them are looking for native english speaking teacher, I suggest you do a "CHE" certificate before you come over, you'd have a higher probability to be hried with that piece of paper. (i 4got, CHE = certified hospitality educator).

Good luck!