That is a whole different shebang. To put it simple, Switzerland is very keen on shared parenthood - dad has as much rights to the child as the mom.

This means that you are not allowed to take the child outside the country without the proper documentation stating that the Swiss father/mother allows this.

I've had contact with parents who are stuck in a limbo in Switzerland - some to great monetary and career sacrifice - because the Swiss parent does not allow them to go away with the kid.

You do not need to get married (there are some advantages to not getting married in terms of taxes), but if things come to worse and you guys separate, be aware you might be forced to stay in the country for the next decade, so prepare accordingly.

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See this

https://www.ch.ch/en/cohabiting/

and this

https://www.ch.ch/en/parental-author...rried-parents/

IMPORTANT: NO DOCUMENT MAY BE OLDER THAN 6 MONTHS. This can create some trouble with people in possession of a birth certificate without a date. Again, call the city chamber of the place you are thinking of giving birth in and ask – they are usually quite nice.

The good news are – you can prepare all the documentation before the child is born and deliver it already in the city chamber. This way is one less thing you need to think about once the little sprout is out and you can’t get no sleep.

First off, thank you for all the info. Regarding the birth certificate, my husband is Swiss and I'm American, however, we are both born in the same country and it's unnecessarily complicated to get our birth certificates. We were married here in Switzerland (for which only I needed to present my birth certificate).

The child will become Swiss after his dad, do we still need our birth certificates? I want to make sure if I do that I arrange for these now.

Hi there! I have to confess that I am not so versed in the case with one parent of Swiss nationality. I would really give the city chamber where you plan to give birth and ask.

I know Swiss parents do not need to get a brith certificate: the little family book is usually enough. But since you are actually a foreigner, and a non-EU, I am not sure and I don't want to give you the wrong information.

Give them a call. They are usually really helpful. The one I called to ask for information even helped me out with my husband's birth certificate - because the German consulate was absurdly unhelpful (at times even rude) and created trouble over trouble because he had been born in East Germany.

For Adliswil:

Zivilstandskreis Sihltal
Zürichstrasse 12
8134 Adliswil
Tel: +41 44 711 77 91
Fax: +41 44 711 77 16
zivilstandsamtsihltal@adliswil.ch

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Fighting for Pluto's liberation from the Dwarf League since 2006 @(°.°)=@)x.X)' ' '

Canadian married to a Swiss - we just took the Familienbuchlein with us to the hospital (Unispital Basel), the midwife took it and within a week it was returned to us with our new baby's info added. I then used the Familienbuchlein the following week to get her identity card and passport. Unbelievably easy.

It doesn't matter if the other parent is Swiss or not, the same rules apply.

Tom

Sure, the same rules apply but the chances of a Swiss partner wanting to take a child abroad to live is rather less than is the case with an 'alien' parent who may wish to have support from their own family in their original homeland if they are the person looking after the youngster on a daily basis.

I have just contacted the city chamber to get clarification on the document requirements and I think it could be helpful to update the following:

We have been advised that any birth certificate / marriage certificate issued outside of the EU (not sure about within the EU) needs an Apostille. This can be done by the country that issued the document and basically assures that this document is legit.

Another thing we've been told is that we need to provide residence confirmations from our Kreisbüro (or Stadthaus) where you are registered. These need to be recent aswell.

Got to love bureaucracy

Thanks for the extra info about non EU. The EU does not need any apostille as the birth/marriage certificates done in the international format are accepted without any trouble (as mentioned, they should come in international format due to language requirements).

This varies from city to city, and that is why I really ask people to call and confirm. I have been asked for one, but I have friends who did not have to provide one.

I keep seeing this thread title and to answer the question........

A BABY !

Hi all

I'm looking for some help.

I've just moved to Switzerland with my partner and discovered I am pregnant. We haven't registered at the council yet as were waiting for my husband's work contract to come through. Therefore we also haven't set up health insurance.

I had a complicated miscarriage about 6 months ago whilst in England so I'm pretty nervous about this pregnancy. I was advised I'd be high risk and should go to an early pregnancy unit for scans as soon as I discovered I am pregnant.

As I have no insurance should I make an appointment with a gynaecologist anyway then have the charges reimbursed once the insurance is set and back dated?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Yes. For my very first doctor's appointment in CH (wasn't a gynae) I had to pay on the spot. After that they sent bills to my home. Keep in mind you'll have a deductible to pay before insurance reimburses - if you're pregnant, you may want take the lowest deductible (300). It means a higher premium but you'll likely come out better off in the long run. At least that's what some friends of ours told us. The second pregnancy wound up "cheaper" with the lower deductible than the first pregnancy, where they had the highest deductible of 2500.

Congrats!

Given your medical history I wouldn't put off a doctors visit. Until you have the insurance organised, you will need to pay upfront which might be a little daunting but keep in mind that once you have insurance sorted, you can send them everything and get reimbursed.

Thanks you so much for the quick responses! This whole thing is such a headache, thank god for the NHS!!
I'll be making an appointment asap.

Hope everything goes okay this time around for you.

Note that if you use the NHS you may not be able to claim anything back. The reclamation only applies to Swiss services I think, especially as you're not yet registered here.

Can you not hurry up your partner's contract? Or register here anyway?

Also note that once you register here, technically you don't qualify for NHS services as you're no longer a UK resident. Not that they check these things much, but once you have Swiss health insurance set up you should present your Swiss EHIC card to the gyno/hospital so they can claim any costs back from your Swiss insurer.

The council has told us he needs his contract in order to register as citizens in Switzerland and we need that document to start the insurance. Good news is he should get his contract by Tuesday so we'll be all sorted. I'm just worrying as I want to have a scan asap so I don't have the same problem as before.

You guys are full of useful information, thank you!

That should be okay then. You should get a document from the gemeinde admin office to say your permits are being processed. With that you should then be able to arrange Swiss health insurance and sort out a bank account here.

Also general info and links here for finding doctors, etc.

https://www.englishforum.ch/family-m...s-general.html

You can also do a search of this part of the forum to find recommendations for doctors, etc, in your area.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! First off having a baby in Switzerland is such a lovely experience; honestly. I think you have gotten some great advice so far. I would add perhaps call around doctors and if the receptionist speaks English, explain briefly your concern and if it would be possible to come in anyways and be billed later? if not then I would just pay up front for this one visit. It is worth it to put your mind at ease.


All the best of luck to you and we all hope that this journey is a beautiful and pleasant one for you and your precious bundle of joy.

Congratulations on your growing family,

Thanks for the helpful information.

I've been living in Switzerland now just over 3 years. Expecting my first baby end of August / early September. So navigating a lot of new waters... currently looking for a hebamme. Any recommendations on how to proceed... except for online searches. I wish there was a ranking site with people's personal experiences. Sort of how we give hotel rankings... I think I would find that useful rather than blindly contacting a person online.

To be honest, I would be very wary of any kind of ranking system to any type of job, since they are usually absolutely biased. Specially something as personal as a mid-wife.

The official site linked on the first post is your best bet, as it's the official site of the Swiss mid-wives. If you are afraid of not going well with the midwife you randomly chose, I contacted all 3 that service my area, only 2 were available at my due date, so I asked to meet and talk to them. Then made my decision based on those conversations.

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