Hello,
My husband is thinking of moving to Switzerland (near Zurich) and I wanted to know if I need a special working visa...I have both US and Italian citizenship but I am a US resident.
Also, I was trying to search the internet to figure out what is needed to be able to work as a massage therapist in Switzerland but I could not find any information.
Can anyone help me out?
Peace & Blessings,
Laura
You can get a work permit immediately with your EU citizenship, this is not a problem at all.
Now concerning massage therapy, it is my second profession, and I'm still figuring out how it works here. Maybe someone with experience going through the process can shed more light on the subject ...
From what I figured out so far - Switzerland has two massage therapy professions. One is called 'medical massage therapist' (Madizinische Masseur in German) and is regulated title and practice. The other is not regulated and called 'professional', or just 'massage therapist' (Berufsmasseur).
I'm still not quite certain if the regulated title is part of the medical services (hospitals etc.).
The second one however is very similar to how it works in North America - your credentials are evaluated by a professional association. Becoming a member gives you the right to issue insurance recipts covered by your clients' complementary medical insurances.
Found two professional associations for complementary medicine which certify several massage therapy techniques:
[HTML]http://www.asca.ch/[/HTML] - those guys have the site in Italian
[HTML]http://www.emr.ch/[/HTML]
Maybe there are more organizations, don't know.