Survival guide, Switzerland: Partners, families, day-care centres and child benefit

EU citizens
Those of you with an EU passport can bring some of your family with you to Switzerland. This includes children under the age of 21 years, as well as parents and grandparents who are financially dependent on you. Girlfriends and boyfriends can come and live with you provided that they have lived with you for at least four years.

Non-EU citizens
As a tourist in Switzerland, your partner can stay in the country for 6 months a year, with a maximum of three months duration per stay. Your partner will also not have a right to work. Your partner can obtain a residence permit if he or she enrols at an educational institute such as a college or university.

Swiss cantons do not recognize unmarried couples when it comes to residence permits.  Unlike EU citizens, you will require a special permit to have your parents and grandparents join you, provided that they are financially dependent on you. If you want your au pair to join you, they must apply for a work permit, which in its own is not a very easy procedure.

Day-care centres
Children under four years of age have the option of institutions like nurseries, care at home or kindergartens.  Nurseries are open on weekdays from 7am to 6:30pm. The cost is calculated on the basis of the parents’ income, and is typically 9-12% of their salary.  Family nurseries or crèches familiales organise day care at the home of a certified nurse assistant.

Haltes-garderies are short-term nurseries, used by parents when they want to go shopping, for example. Parents can make use of them for a maximum of three hours a day, three days a week.

Child benefit
Child benefit is regulated on a cantonal basis in Switzerland. This means that the cantons decide who is entitled to child benefit. The benefit can vary between Sfr 150 and Sfr 444 per child. At least one parent must be in gainful employment or drawing daily benefits from the unemployment insurance fund to be entitled to child benefit. It is worth noting that if you are working on a part-time basis, you may receive only a partial amount of child benefit, or none at all. Again, your canton will decide this. In Geneva, self-employed individuals can claim child benefit. 

The procedure of paying out child benefit is such that the Family Compensation Fund will demand you to register your family and your child’s birth certificate. 

EU citizens are entitled to full child benefit. Non-EU citizens must adhere to certain regulations. Some cantons pay out child benefit only if your country has entered a social insurance agreement with Switzerland. Benefits to children living abroad are only paid to asylum seekers after a fixed residence status has been obtained in Switzerland.

[Expatica, 2008]