hi, my name is Luka and I am a Swiss national, but I was raised in New Zealand and speak only English. I am considering going to my father's country to look for work this year, and am wondering if anybody knows if I am entitled to an unemployment benefit immediately because of my Swiss nationality, or if i have to jump through some hoops? i know this forum is mainly directed towards foreign nationals but i thought i'd put the question out there because i really need some advice before i go, and my family there don't speak sufficient english to help me.

if anyone has any advice at all i would really appreciate it. it's strange having a passport to a country i know nothing about!

Unlikely that you will get "unemployment" benefit per se as you have not (I assume) made any insurance contributions into your unemployment fund.

There may be some other repatriation benefits available for returning Swiss nationals.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics...ml?cid=5945066

Repatriation assistance for voluntary returnees includes a range of different measures, including counselling services, individual support and social and economic structural projects for communities and regions to help them cope with the arrival of returnees. The overall programme costs around SFr15 million ($12 million) annually.

Swiss repatriation assistance is granted to almost all returning migrants, independently of their asylum status or their particular country of origin. Only citizens from the European Union are excluded.

Asylum seekers who decide to return home can claim transport costs, up to SFr1,000 or SFr500 for adults and SFr500 for children, depending on how long they have stayed in Switzerland.

They can also obtain medical assistance and get help finding accommodation, as well as SFr3,000 towards a professional project to help them get back to work.

According to Gnesa, this approach has meant that Switzerland is considered a model by some of its European neighbours.

"Four or five years ago Germany came here to find out how our return programmes work. They took a great deal on board. Britain is another very good example. About two or three years ago they didn't give any return assistance support or projects [for returnees]. Now they are very successful with that," he explained.

I think this refers to people returning to their home country from Switzerland, and the OP is asking about returning to Switzerland from NZ. Maybe NZ has a similar repatriation program?

Services exist for returning citizens whether or not they've ever lived in Switzerland.

Yes, quite right...Similar assistance is available though to returning Swiss Nationals. It appears that he may be eligible for up to 3 months benefit here if they have paid 12/24 months contributions in their own country.

http://www.aso.ch/files/webcontent/r..._with_logo.pdf