EU Family reunification in CH

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Dear all,

I am an EU citizen, have recently moved to Switzerland with my family and thinking to bring my elderly parents (non-EU) to live with us. I believe under EU family reunification law there might be some chance of success, although there are difficulties and lots of requirements.

Our situation is as follows:

1. Me and my husband both have EU citizenship

2. We have type B perming in CH.

3. My parents are in their 70s and retired.

4. They are financially dependent on us (and also my brother who is EU citizen and currently lives in Germany) for many years

5. I know that we are supposed to live together in the same house/flat.

6. I know that we need to prove financially that we can take care of them (health insurance, other expenses, etc.)

7. We live in canton Zurich

I would like to ask for your advice/experience (first or second-hand).

- what are the chances this to be successful (considering all the points above), any positive experiences?

- Besides place to live and everyday expences,..what kind of health insurance will be needed for them? is it very expensive? or it will get higher in time?

- How much hiring a lawyer can help?

- Shall I talk to Gemeinde first? or Zurich immigration office?

- Any other ideas/suggestions/questions are very welcomed!

Thank you very much for your time.

2

Should be pretty straightforward if you can meet the requirements.

https://www.ch.ch/en/family-reunification-eu-efta

Swiss basic health insurance will cover most things. You can use comparis.ch to compare the different types of insurance cover. Note that pre-existing conditions can’t be excluded from basic cover, but you’d be unlikely to get any supplementary/complimentary cover they may need.

Still you also need to ask yourself and your parents how they’d feel up and moving at their ages. Do they speak a Swiss language for example? Would someone be home with them during the day or would they be sitting inside all day with nothing much to do? Would they miss their friends and could they make new ones here?

3
Thank you very much for your comments Medea Fleecestealer, very useful!

I will take time to read about the swiss insurance more, to better understand about the pre-existing conditions!

4
What about a dependent son (28) with a British passport, he is an aerospace engineer about to submit his phd. We (my husband and I) are in Switzerland since 2011 and now in Canton Schwyz with permits B & C. It will take longer than 3 months for my son to find employment and we are the only family he has hence the only place he can live until he finds employment. If he went back to UK he cannot get a student accommodation because he will not be there for full academic year. Here, we can stay with us in our family apartment and we will be financially support him until he can find suitable employment anywhere in Europe.

Thanks for the advice in advance.

5

According to this it may be possible. Contact your cantonal migration office to be sure though.

https://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/en/home…arbeit/uk.html

However, if he plans to look for a job here he’ll fall under the non-EU hiring criteria.

https://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/en/home…zulassung.html