Use the checklists below as a project plan, then adapt them to your nationality, canton and family situation.
90-180 days before the move
- Confirm whether you have EU/EFTA free-movement rights or need a third-country immigration route.
- For non-EU employment, ensure the employer starts the permit application.
- For non-working/high-net-worth residence, identify the cantons willing to consider the relevant route before committing to housing.
- Review exit tax, residence and temporary-non-residence rules in the country you are leaving.
- Map bank accounts, brokerage portfolios, companies, pensions, trusts/foundations and property.
- Shortlist cantons using tax, wealth tax, schools, language, housing and airport/rail access.
- Begin school/international-school and childcare enquiries if relevant.
30-90 days before the move
- Secure the Swiss lease or purchase only when the immigration strategy supports it.
- Prepare civil-status documents and apostilles/legalisations where required.
- Prepare household-goods Form 18.44 and inventory.
- Decide what happens to your existing brokerage account.
- Pre-clear source-of-funds/source-of-wealth documentation with the target bank.
- Compare compulsory health-insurance models and premiums for the destination canton.
- Review company management and permanent-establishment risks if you own a foreign company.
Arrival week
- Clear qualifying household effects correctly at customs.
- Register with the commune within 14 days.
- Ensure every family member is registered.
- Confirm the residence-permit process and any biometric appointment.
- Keep the commune’s residence confirmation: you will use it repeatedly.
First three months
- Take out compulsory Swiss health insurance within the three-month deadline.
- Open your operational bank account.
- Move assets only after the bank/broker compliance file is ready.
- Register with the AHV compensation office if you are non-employed and required to do so.
- Update banks, brokers, insurers and corporate records with the new tax residence.
- Review payroll source-tax coding if employed.
- Begin language/integration planning if C permit or citizenship is a long-term objective.
If this decision changes the viability or sequence of your move, a Swiss relocation strategy consultation can apply it to your own facts.
First tax year
- Set aside cash for cantonal/communal tax and wealth tax.
- Obtain valuation data for securities, private companies and property.
- Gather foreign income and asset reporting information.
- Claim foreign withholding-tax relief/credits where available, including DA-1 where relevant.
- Reconcile any tax return still due in your former country.
Company-owner checklist
- Determine where central management and decision-making actually occur.
- Review whether moving yourself also moves tax residence or creates a Swiss permanent establishment for the company.
- Decide whether to keep, migrate, liquidate or replace the foreign entity.
- Open the Swiss business bank account before operational deadlines make it urgent.
- Review Swiss salary/dividend mix, AHV and pension implications.
- Register for VAT if the statutory threshold/rules require it.
Family checklist
- Confirm family-reunification rights and deadlines for non-EU family members.
- Secure school places or international-school admissions.
- Check childcare waiting lists before selecting the commune.
- Arrange health insurance for every family member.
- Update wills, powers of attorney and succession planning for the new residence.
The one-page order
Permit -> canton -> housing -> customs -> registration -> insurance -> banking -> asset transfer -> tax return.
For the surrounding context, see Swiss residence routes.
For the surrounding context, see EU/EFTA residence.
For the surrounding context, see the B permit.
Not every case follows exactly the same path. But if you cannot explain why you are changing that order, pause before you do it.
A checklist is not bureaucracy. It is what keeps an international move from becoming an expensive collection of individually reasonable mistakes.
