Hello, my name is Drew and I am new to this community and wanted to say "Hey!!"
I am 49, I am from Los Angeles, currently living in Michigan (long story) I was a professional chef and drummer for 30 years, neither of which I am currently doing (notice I said currently...hehehe.) I am a published writer (Amazon e-books) and a painter.
After 16 surgeries head to toe over the last 43 years, and three in the last few months on both feet, one could say my life has changed drastically.
I have two kids back in L.A., 18 and 21, my soul mate is in Mongolia (another long story). She has a friend in Zurich she visits (just this last week as a matter of fact) and I want to see whats going on lately over there, because we both want to move there eventually, within the next year or so. I have traveled to over a dozen countries, including Turkey, S. Korea, Philippines, Austria, Germany and Switzerland and I have lived (for months at a time) in Spain, Mongolia and Brazil and dying to be an Ex-pat.
So thank you for reading all my boring crap and thank you for allowing me to be here with you all.
stay blessed

Welcome to the forum Drew, but frankly moving here isn't going to be easy for you without being employed by a Swiss firm nor for your girlfriend either unless she's an EU national. The rules for hiring of non-EU's are very strict as outlined here:

https://www.bfm.admin.ch/bfm/en/home...zulassung.html

And could get even tougher as the Swiss voted last year to curb immigration from EU countries as well. How that's going to be implemented is still under discussion, but something has to be sorted out within the next year or so.

I don't know when you were last living abroad, but the US's FATCA law has been implemented which means you'll have trouble getting a bank account here. To do so you'll need to sign a W-9 form to allow said bank to send your account info to the IRS and depending on the bank you may also need to provide proof of recent US tax returns filings. You'll also need to fill in an annual FBAR form for all your "foreign", i.e. outside of US, bank accounts if the aggregate figure comes to more than $10,000 at any time of the year. And of course continue to file US returns and possibly owe US tax on top of the Swiss ones.

You should also be aware that you'll need to take out Swiss health insurance once you become a resident here. It will cover pre-existing conditions, but note that you'll only get the basic insurance for these so if there's any complementary/supplementary treatments that you're having you would have to pay for them yourself as you won't get supplementary insurance to cover them.

I suggest you get hold of a copy of "Living and Working in Switzerland" by David Hampshire. It's full of useful info for both before and after you move. You can order it from your local bookshop or via the Internet.

Thank you for the info and the love? We are both U.S. citizens btw and hopefully with her professional/political connections, we can make it happen. I don't blame people (every where) for NOT liking Americans, although I was born and raised here, I have never felt at home, an "a-typical" American you might say when it comes to political/social/global issues. It seems millions are trying to get here, funny, I enjoy this place most when I leave it.

Like everywhere else, it'll depend on whether your/her skills/experience are in demand here or not. If there's a shortage of skilled Swiss/EU nationals in that particular field then you stand a good chance. If there's plenty of them available with the right skills/experience then you won't be hired. It's the same for getting into the States. What does your girlfriend do for a living?

International immigration for corporations among other things and we are aware of the things you speak of, thanks again.

Welcome to the Forum

Thank you mama!

Always post an undate in a year or so if you remember. Love reading these stories then wonder if it works out for the person poster or not.

Oh and of course welcome.

Drew, that is weird. Since when does an Angeleno move to Michigan? I suppose it would be the type of Angeleno who moves to Switzerland. So come on over! Life is good here, but the weather sucks. We just have way too much fresh water herw - the lakes are full of Evian. Need some in L.A.? BTW, Creatives complain it is dead here. So you would want to level your expectations before moving, lest you go into shock. Good luck!

thank you babaloo and Phos, I moved from L.A. (Burbank to be exact, from Angeleno Ave even...) because I hade two foot surgeries and two titanium clamps fused in my lower back, lost my job, lost my insurance, lost my home. Lived in a tent in the mountains for a summer (2013) and then moved in with mom in SW Michigan, only to have more surgeries on both feet and soon another disc fused in my lower back. Maybe I should move to Transylvania, I feel more like the Monster of Frankenstein...hahahahaha. I am so tired of sunshine and palm trees 365 days a year but even more sick of this country (a not so long story.....hahaha...) Thanx for the love and I WILL stay posted.

The weather on Lake Michigan sucks even more than in Switzerland. Honestly. In our area, i.e. the Leelanau Peninsula, we ask the tourists, "So you don't like it here because of the weather? Just stay another six hours. It'll change."

Welcome to our bunch Drew. Here is a part-time Michigander with an OH born in Detroit but transplanted to the lovely Grand Traverse Area for greener pastures.

So you are the guy who always has to be patted down at every airport?

hahahaha Mr. Grey...I love upper Michigan and the UP, I have been to Lake Charlevoix many times. Ya, the weather is crazy here alright, just like in Mongolia, can change on a dime, nutz!! As far as the airport, I have been through dozens and rarely get stopped, but being a white guy, it happens. In South Korea last spring I was coming back from Mongolia and needed a cane to walk and board first (I had all my disability papers) They said OK, but took me aside and did everything but a cavity search, of course they found nothing and let me board. I didn't mind, I want them to feel safe at 10,000 feet!!!

Funny, that is exactly what I said about it - 72 degrees and sunny, just like the day before, and before, and before, ad infinitum. Until you lose touch with reality. So yeah, Angeleno here who moved to Switzerland.


I mention that because a large portion of people I meet in L.A. are transplants from Michigan wanting to escape the cold. I joke that because of the Michiganders, California will snap two and fall into the ocean.

hahahahaha...it will snap off soon, hopefully my two kids will be gone by then :-( I was born in L.A. in '66, moved to Flint when I was eight months (so not by choice) and went back to Cali when I was honorably/medically discharged from the U.S.M.C. and spent 30 years there. Even though I traveled quite extensively, I still spent way too much time there. I met, worked with and for many celebrities, jammed on stage with Cheap Trick, The Romantics and Berlin, met Lidstrom and Osgood on the Tonight Show in '08 and touched the cup, was on a game show (by a fluke) and much much more, so I had a good time there. I'll be 50 soon (03/2016) and so I look forward to the second half of this crazy game we call "consciousness"...

Aha.... a KROQ dude? And you still have brain cells left? Just kidding, because I know. If you should ever come out here, I'd have coffee with you.

after 35 years straight (medicating naturally) I am surprised I remember how to get dressed...hahahaha....I'll look forward to coffee with you. With all my surgeries and HATING pharmaceuticals, I have no choice....

Do we get invited to the birthday party next year then?

There is a job here too:
Drummer needed

If you can Kick and Crash with your hands, while the feet heal that is...

Welcome to the forum.

Yup, da UP. I love it too. Here's something I posted just recently (stupid typo included), referring to the Upper Peninsula.

Charlevoix is almost due east from South Fox Island. On clear days you can see the tops of the hills of South and North Fox peeping over the horizon, often accompanied by pretty interesting mirages mimicking even more islands.

Out there we are restoring the most isolated lighthouse in Lake Michigan, actually a complete light station with two light towers and five more buildings. My OH and I founded the Fox Island Lighthouse Association a good ten years ago, and believe me, the weather is not our friend.

Although we have several seaworthy boats, sometimes we cannot make it to the island for weeks even in the seemingly fairest summer weather. A few days with a nice southwesterly across the lake from Milwaukee can turn the waters around the island into a boiling cauldron. Even my boat, a very sturdy 456 HP 31 footer, often cannot risk the ride across the Manitou passage, let alone lying at anchor in those boulder-infested anchorages around the station.

Once in a while a volunteer crew can get marooned out there for days. Happened to me too, and on another occasion, half a dozen volunteers were waiting there for almost a week to be picked up for the ride back home. They made the best out of their predicament and had a great time. Pretty adventurous sometimes.

We keep several barrels of emergency food at the station, just in case. So, if you ever make a trip from Charlevoix to South Fox aboard a pleasure craft and get caught out there by heavy seas and winds, please know that you won't starve to death. But you'll need a square bit screwdriver to remove the steel grating at the lighthouse door to get access to the barrels. A few bucks left next to the guestbook in the boathouse would be appreciated. No credit cards accepted, ha ha.

P.S.: I just saw you already found our flatulence thread.

__________________

"This is AMAZING! I have the exact amount of money Joe Biden has cost us playing golf in my sweatpants pocket!" — Kona Lowell

Thank you Ranga for the link and the welcome. The world is my drum set and my body is just a vessel. The planet in which my people are from, play music with our minds, a form of telethapy, so it is refreshing to say the least for me to be able to physically beat on something, quite archaic but very theraputic.

okay, that is way too Californian now.