Hello EnglishForum,

first of all I just wanted to thank all of you for this great forum that has a lot of useful information. I have been a lurker for a while.

I have a question regarding my situation.

I have been offered a job contract in Zurich starting July 1st. I'm from Spain, and from what I got from one friend that works in HR in Zurich, he told me that I should come, and I have several days between starting my contract and registering for the residence permit.

I was a bit worried because I was having trouble finding a temporary accomodation, and I read that some workers in the Kreisburo sometimes think that an Airbnb for 1/2 months is not enough even if your contract is "unlimited" in time.

The thing is that I wrote to Zurich's Inmigration Office, and today I got this response:

From what I understand, seems like I need to register BEFORE starting work?

From all my friends experience (EU's in Zurich) this has never been the way. I'm flying on Sunday and I'm staying first on a hotel for the first few days until I can move to an Airbnb that I got for 2 months, so how am I supposed to go to the Kreisburo? What address would I give to them?

Can you help me figure stuff out?

Thank you in advance

Yes, you need to register before you start working.

So how am I supposed to be able to do that if I'm staying first in an hotel and then the Airbnb? Doesn't the Kreisburo need a proof of residence (and sometimes from what I've read they seem picky)?

They will reject me on Monday or Tuesday, wouldn't they?

Tell them what you do, hotel first then b&b

As an EU citizen, you only have to register before you start working. You don't need to wait until the permit is in your hand, as that can take some time with the backlog.

I've seen stories on EF where the authorities wanted at least a 2-month lease for AirBnB type of accommodation, if that helps. The reply ZH sent says you can use temporary accommodation so I wouldn't stress too much. As roegner says, just tell them what you're doing.

You just give the address of where you are currently living. Problem is every time you move you have to change the address and pay again. Can you not organise your Airbnb for before you arrive and go straight there, that way you will only have to change your address once.

I wish I could do that...

Thing is that everything was so rushed that the Airbnbs that I had checked got some days locked in the middle of July so now I was stuck choosing the "remainings".
The only good one that I found was only available from July 3rd, so that's what I went with.

I'm trusting on the good side of the people working at the Kreisburo, if I show up with documents explaining my situation and being really straightforward...