First job / apprenticeship

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1

An odd one, and not sure where to put this.

Someone in my family (17y/o) is about to finish high school in the UK (multiple passports of which one EU). He wants to take a gap year, and potentially work (even for free) in Switzerland to get some experience. He’s interested in IT, which is why they reached out to me (I work in the sector).

His parents aren’t struggling economically, so they offered to buy him a flat in Zurich if he finds an apprenticeship or something here (from what I understand, as an EU citizen, as soon as he has a B permit, he could buy, assuming he’s 18 by then).

Does anyone see any issues with this idea? I mean, he doesn’t speak German, so the likelihood of finding something here without that will be challenging… but other than that, any thoughts? Ideas? Hints? I want to try to help him, but no clue where to start.

2

More a question of what Swiss languages if any he speaks. Also not sure he get any permit if he’s not earning in some way.

Why buy a flat though? Surely easy enough just to rent if it’s only for a year. Leave buying until later if he decides to stay in the country.

3

First 3 months do not require a permit. If he still does not have a job after 3 months (which sounds rather likely to me unless you host him), he can apply for short term permit for job search for another 3 months. This requires registration with RAV (including the demonstration of efforts to find a job) and might be extended for up to one year.

Renting a place might be very challenging with no permit and no job, I guess. WG maybe.

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4

Capital gains taxes after one year would eat up any possible profit.

5

Buying a flat would be a stupid thing to do in my opinion.
Finding a job/apprenticeship is already is already going to be hard enough without all the added complications of home ownership, especially for such a potentially short timeframe.

6

Why would it be extended that long? Okay as an EU national can be here as a tourist before applying for a job seeker’s permit, but far as I know those are for 3 months and then can only be extended for another 3 months. After that it’s goodbye, please leave the country.

7

If he’s not 18 by then yet he’ll probably need a Beistand or similar, something like a (reduced?) guardianship.

As EU citizen with sufficient financial means he has the right to “residence without gainful activity”. He’ll need mandatory health insurance plus accident insurance, that’s it. See Residing without gainful activity

The question is what an apprenticeship is categorised as. Could be student permit as it’s not enough to make a living, could be gainful employment. Both seem to automtically give him the right to a permit B given he (the parents, respectively) have enough money.

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8

It parents are willing to spend 7 figures buying a house, I guess they could also put 6 figures into his bank account so he can show he has sufficient means to live.

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9

Indeed, register at any random language school, show 22k CHF in a bank account every year an d there’s a student permit until 25 YO. That would allow to combine language learning with some work.

10

Answering a few questions in no specific order:

why buy and not rent?

It’s cultural. Also in my family, when given the option to buy over rent, we buy if we can. The view is that it’s cheaper to buy and resell after 12 months, than it is to rent.

e.g. when I moved to London for high school, my father bought a house… he went to an estate agent one morning with a few properties lined up - saw a few of them in a row, and made an offer on 3 of them in parallel with the proviso that the first to accept the offer would be binding, the others would automatically be cancelled. One offer was accepted same day…

Same for CH, when I moved here, I rented for a few months - but then bought. Even if selling for the same value, the “loss” is minimal (canton dependent of course as the taxes are different per canton). They’ve seen a few flats online, and wanted me to go speak to the estate agents for them… but I want to make sure I have enough facts to hand first!

bank account / 22k / permit

he (the child) has an account with a Swiss private bank already, so that part isn’t an issue. I just need to figure out what’s the easiest way to get him a permit… I mean, worst case he can stay at my house for a few weeks while paperwork is sorted.

short timeframe

what’s the “deal” if someone on a B-permit buys a property, then leaves after 12 months? Is he forced to sell, or can he rent it out?

languages

this is the main issue - he speaks French (checked) and English, but no German. That will make finding an apprenticeship difficult I reckon.

Maybe I tell him to come here, stay with me a few weeks - register in intensive language school, get his B permit, and then we can jointly look at properties… I’ve seen schools in Zurich offer 4-6 hours/day intense classes, so that could be interesting…

Thank you!

11

EU citizens, resident or not, have the same rights as the Swiss.

12

He’s not going to get a proper Swiss apprenticeship. Possibly an unpaid internship in an international company.

I’d have thought, language school plus a job working in a bar a few nights a week might be a good combo.

If he speaks French, why not the French speaking part?
There are many international companies, organisations, sports governing bodies etc there that might give an internship to a French/English speaker.

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13

Why Zurich? Why not one of the bilingual towns like Biel/Bienne or Fribourg/Freiburg. With his French that will ease his transition. B/B only an hour and a quarter away by train.

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14

This is like putting the cart before the horse. There are many students looking for internships here and the competition will be very tough. If I were you, I’d advise him to come here and see how this plan goes, buying an apt. would be the last thing to do.
He’s a teenager, he doesn’t even know if he’s going to like it here, or the company he’ll be doing his internship at. What parents want and what he can actually do or like are probably two separate things. Your intention to invite him over for a few weeks is very good, and you would probably do him a service if you don’t encourage your relatives to add so much pressure. Btw, maybe your company can offer him an internship?

15

Thanks all :slight_smile:

Indeed - I fell that the parental pressure is what is driving this. Especially as he’s currently under IB mocks, so not really the right time to be doing this… but it’s a complex situation (without going into details there may be a divorce looming… gut feel) - so I see benefits to him owning a property in his name that is “separate”. Here or elsewhere is irrelevant, but it does serve a purpose…

As to why Zurich - were family, and in Zurich he would have someone he knows.

As for my company - we do internship for working students in the last year of university or gap year during university. He’s not there yet; and wants to take a gap year before uni. Had already asked…

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