Hi guys I am about move to Switzerland from Germany but I just wonder about bureaucracy in Switzerland in Germany it took nearly 6 months to change my previous driving license that I got from Turkey. How long it takes to make a change likw this and how it goes and works general bureaucracy in Switzerland? I hope it is faster than Deutsche Bürokratie.. 😄😄

OP - the people I’ve known who have moved the other way have complained about how slow and bureaucratic processes are.

Anytime I’ve dealt with the authorities here they have been efficient and polite.

Public service works very well here, and contrary to Germany is actually a service. A service you pay for. Changing driving license will be easy, but probably cost you 60 CHF or more.

He has this closet crush on Von der Leyen, and hates himself for it. Not his fault, a victim of the circumstances.

Since Switzerland is a capitalist country it all depends on the bakshish.

I have heard Ticino is nice. According to one resident.

Welcome! You seem to be a great asset for the forum.

To change a driving licence issued in Turkey they would need to have a Kontrollfahrt.

I presume OP has a German license now. Which would need to be changed within a year from taking residence here.

it doesn't. You just cannot drive after one year but you may change it later if you want.

21 hours between the delivery of the form at the Motor Office and the pickup of the new license in my physical mailbox.
(plus a quick visit at the Optics a couple of days before)

Simple things are generally fast, but of course there are exceptions.

Don't you have to redo the driving test after 1 year?

I was age 77 when I exchanged my driver licence. I gave them my French one which was worthless anyway as EU licences are not valid after age 70 if you don't live in the issuing country, and my Florida one (still valid, they returned it). I had to submit both an optician's and a doctor's report. Now, two years later, I have to do those all over again. Unlike in Britain where every two years a driver over 70 self-certifies his/her medical capacity to drive, or Florida where unless you get some kind of moving violation that calls into question your ability you can drive forever. I gave up my Quebec licence last year after 50 years because I'm not going back there and gave up my second home--Quebec requires periodic medical tests from age 70 as well. And it cost C$100 a year because it includes some insurance.

Once the paperwork (sent via the Foreigner's Office in my commune of residence) got to Sion, the licence was issued in a few days together with a bill for 123.50 of which 70 francs related to the exchange of a foreign licence and 53.50 for the licence itself. I'm outside the country and delayed returning from the UK due to quarantine nuisance; they extended my medical deadline for me from July to mid-September. If I can't meet that deadline I'll have to post them the licence and they'll reissue it (and charge me another 53.50) when I do pass the medical.

By comparison, a 90+ y.o. friend in Maryland was falsely accused of scraping another car (they both are insured by Geico who affirmed the cars never touched); but the police had been called and on the spot revoked his licence on the basis of the purported "accident". It cost him a fortune in specialist doctors and lawyers to get his licence reinstated, and that took six months.

EU countries and still the UK will not waive theory and practical tests when you offer another EU licence in exchange unless you at some time passed theory and practical tests in an EU country or if the licence you exchanged to get it is also on the new country's happy list. I had to take the UK theory and practical: third time lucky on the practical. I think my kids all passed first or second try but driving around London with UK diplomatic licence (they issue the old red booklet, valid 3 years at a time) makes one a sloppy driver.

My spouse could not exchange a Swiss licence for a UK one because the Swiss licence had been issued based on a NY licence and diplomatic privileges.

Don't know how Swiss law compares.

The Swiss will convert your German license into a Swiss one without any test. I believe you only need to have your eyesight checked.

German bureaucracy went a long way in costing them the war. Interesting documentary about it on Smithsonian recently.

Yeh, and they were Nazis…

Terrible.

Who would have thought.

That, and the corruption. 1/3 of the people actually believed in the stuff, 1/3 just went along and the rest was just in it to line their own pockets.

Anyway, German bureaucracy goes back over 100 years. The flags may have changed from time to time (and the pictures on the wall), but the spirit hasn't.

Switzerland is in a different universe, really.

I mean, it can work - look at Tesla's Brandenburg' factory - but it requires a tremendous effort on all sides and constant "pushing".
Having enough money to pay lawyers, contractors and even more lawyers probably helps a lot, though.

Were you ever involved in Swiss process of building some new? Maybe try to renovate an old farm house into a home up to modern standards? One floor more, even where it is aloved? etc

Let me tell you, the process is very slow, as in any working democratic country. They ask everyone. Usualy 3 times. I find the process good, even when it is often extremly anoying and I am pissed on (temporary) on most on the involved people.

That's still probably nothing compared to French bureaucracy, the forefathers of any of them.