Hi all,

My name is Josefa, and im new here
I would love to hear some advices from some of you, ive been reading a lot other comments, and I hope be writting at the right place.
Since a time I have a swiss boyfriend from Laussane, im chilean (southamerica). Hes been here several times, and i also been there.
Now of course we are in the point that we want to share more time together than some holidays...
There he has a good job and a nice life, and for my side Im the same here... but we need to choose, and one of us will have to move.
The bad thing is for him, with his career in Chile he would never ever had a "decent" job (and he loves what he does), he is a gardener.
And for other side im an architect, and ive been reaserching and its seems my degrees arent recongnized by swiss institutions, i also dont speak fluent french right now (i could learn it), and of course im from a southamerican country, wich seems to be more than complicated for me to find a job there...

The question are: some of you have ever met a swiss who came to live in southamerica and survive? do you know latin people in switzerland with a degree who are working in they careers and found a job there?

Any other advices?

Thanks all, regards.

Yes, of course Swiss people can survive in Latin America and vice versa. It's not necessarily easy to make it work, but it can be done.

For you to move here, yes, it's difficult to find a job. First you'd need to see if your qualifications can be recognised so check here:

http://www.sbfi.admin.ch/diploma/017...x.html?lang=en

Employers have a lengthy and expensive process they have to go through to be able to hire a non-EU national:

https://www.bfm.admin.ch/content/bfm...zulassung.html

So the more you can do to make yourself desirable in the jobs market the better. Learn a Swiss language, two if you can, get your degrees recognised if it's possible, maybe take an architect course here (Masters are taught in English), etc.

And don't forget that as a tourist you can visit Switzerland for up to 90 days at a time.

Thank you very much!
Ill see that links carefully... I really need to study all the posibilities.
I know a swiss can totally survive out... In fact he loves this country, the problem is that would never happen doing his career.

Josefa,

Try searching for an internship or volunteering; maybe that's easier to land. Geneve is full of NGO's hungry for interns/volunteers!

<Spanish>
Ginebra es la casa matriz de muchas muchas fundaciones/ONGs, de seguro pillas algo. Por ej: Mi polola está haciendo una práctica en la WWF (Ella es EU eso si). Con la práctica podés quedarte unos 6 meses acá y te aseguro que desde acá es mucho más fácil tramitar/buscar pega y aprender francés .
</Spanish>

Hey, Josefa (awesome name, btw)

I think a gardener would find it easier to find a job in Chile and adjust to life/career/fun there than a foreign architect here. Your career seems more advanced, go where it's easier for him in Chile as opposed to you switching completely to a foreign country/continent. As far as I know it seems here quite cliquey in terms of architecture employment.

Or come here for a year, test it without expectations of long term and see, but life can be very expensive here.

A gardner Chile will struggle to make a living wage as he can in Switzerland.

As for Josefa and her degree, she may not be able to be a full architect with 'sign off' rights but she can be a drafts person and work in the field. I know someone who has an architecture degree from Bolivia and that was his experience.

Of course this is assuming she gets a permit through marriage. Getting a permit for a drafting job is probably not likely or at least not at all easy.