@etefan
Some of the reactions you’ve received on this thread express annoyance that you could even be contemplating arriving here and going straight to the Social Security Office. Such reactions could have a number of different explanations. Even if you don’t like what they said, or perhaps just the way they wrote it, I think it would be good for you to be able to understand them. I say this because, if you really come here and do go to the Social Security Office to claim benefits, and settle down here, (and then find work, or don’t) you will, again and again, meet with more people who make these same reproaches.
Many people in Switzerland (no matter whether rich or poor) work very, very hard. Some with foreign backgrounds under considerable financial pressure because they have relations back home, outside of Switzerland who have the illusion that “living in Switzerland” automatically equates to “picking gold off the trees”. Those facing the realities of their Swiss taxes and cost of living can sometimes feel bitter because their friends and family outside of Switzerland might have the illusion that everything here comes for free.
Perhaps some of those reading your posts could regard you as dreaming of a too-easy life. They might resent the fact that their own taxes contribute to the Social Security which you would be claiming.
Or they might be worrying about their own sons and daughters, or other young adults they know, who live from Social Security benefits and never manage to motivate themselves, to get out of that mind-set, or who are genuinely trying hard but cannot find work, and who do not manage to build a productive life of their own.
Some on the English Forum are highly qualified people who have been struggling for a long time to find work, especially if they are the husband/wife of someone who already does have a job. They know how competitive the job market can be.
Some here have struggled and been through a great deal of tedious paperwork to get their permits to be in Switzerland, and it might feel to them like it is just too easy, somehow unfair, if you can just fly here and immediately be entitled to help from the government.
And yet others here on the English Forum suffer greatly, emotionally and organisationally, because of their lack of command of a local language. They already live here, but they, like you, struggle to find the information they need about all sorts of aspects of their every-day lives, because they would like to read it in English. Some of them are disciplined and attend language school; others do not have the time, energy, health or academic ability, and may become too frustrated or depressed and give up trying to learn the local language. That, in turn, makes just about every other aspect of their lives more difficult.
My point in listing these various possible explanations is that you will meet the same sorts of arguments repeatedly, and at least some of them do have a good rational or at least an understandable emotional basis. I think it would be good for you to think about how you will cope with them, psychologically, once you’re living here.
Personally, I believe you are trying to gather information to find out what is, and what is not, realistic. I always admire people who, like you, seek to find out as much as they can before embarking on a project: you have already read about the SVP, you are willing to do menial work, you do not want to bother your uncle, you are asking for advice before taking your decision.
I really do understand that one could feel a strong desire to leave a third-world country to try to build up a new life somewhere else. And the most logical options would be (in no particular ranking)
a) a place which is seeking the skills you already have, or could obtain (e.g. engineering in another tropical country)
b) a country the language of which you already speak or might be able to learn relatively easily (e.g. all English-speaking countries, probably both Spain and Portugal, perhaps Italy)
c) a country for which you already have citizenship (Switzerland).
As I see it, for a) above you'd need to complete your engineering studies, and then, most likely, you'd be looking for work in another tropical country. If you want to get away from the stresses and insecurities of the third-world, then the factor of skills-for-a-tropical-environment somewhat limits the options. And then you’d most likely have a language barrier, too.
If you chose b), you’d have to get residence permits. If you chose any country in the EU you, as a Swiss citizen, would be able to reside freely, but only if you already have work. As I understand it, you cannot go to England, for example, and simply settle there, without first having a job. If you do find work, then the permit is automatic for you, being Swiss. The same is true, here, for British or Portuguese people who are automatically entitled to live in Switzerland, but only once they have actually found a job.
You’ve received quite a lot of suggestions along the lines of a) or b). However, a) doesn’t seem to provide you the way forward out of the third-world, and b) doesn’t seem possible, especially since you can’t afford to fly backwards and forwards to London or Dublin, looking for work.
Therefore, as far as I see it, your main two options are only either staying where you are or taking the big step and going for c). You are, after all, Swiss and have the right to be here.
If c), here are some ideas that could make it better.
If you have good contact/relationship with your father, and if he himself actually ever lived in Switzerland (and not merely his father, for example) ask him for every single idea he has, including especially the names, addresses and professions of all his school-friends and former work colleagues, his former neighbours, and for as much information he can find about the family-tree and any relations here.
Even if your father is not present or does not know these things, perhaps your mother might remember hearing some details.
If you can contact your uncle, do so. Ditto as with your father.
Many things in Switzerland work by word-of-mouth, by personal recommendation, by knowing someone who knows someone, and since it is a very small country, made smaller again by the language areas, any one of your father’s connections might be able to send out a number of enquiries on your behalf.
Make a list of things you already can do, besides what you learnt at university. Perhaps some of your father’s or uncle’s connections might be happy to offer you menial work for low wages, or in exchange for food and lodging, while you get started. You might consider non-academic things you learnt at school, through boy scouts, through a church or a youth group.
For example: cooking, cleaning the kitchen, chopping wood, sorting library books, going on shopping errands, helping people move home, caring for an elderly person, cleaning, babysitting working in the garden, playing the guitar, caring for animals (though you may need a licence to do this... if you think this is relevant for you, please read about that in other threads on this forum), drilling holes in walls, interpreting, polishing shoes, doing the laundry, helping someone tidy out their cellar or attic, fixing bicycles, repairing other things, cleaning out animal sheds, etc. And remember that not only will you need to learn the local language, but you can offer to practice conversation with anyone in the language(s) you speak.
Once you have that list, you might feel more comfortable asking your uncle: “May I please come to visit you, and is there anything at all I could do to help you? Or for your family or your neighbours?” You can tell him that you are willing to work hard to help anyone he can think of, and ask him if you may send him your list of immediate skills. Remember, too, that though many Swiss people have broadband at home, if your uncle happens to be, for example, a farmer, or a very old man, or not have a lot of school education, he might prefer to receive this information in a letter in an envelope.
Of the many threads on the English Forum about topics similar to yours, I’d recommend, in particular
simple non-skilled people job=inexistent?
by a young Swiss man from Argentina
where to look for jobs with no job qualifications
by a no-longer-quite-young Swiss woman from New Zealand
Base salary and simples jobs
by a young Swiss woman who is already in Switzerland, from Brazil.
You might consider writing to the Original Poster in each thread, and ask them how they’re doing now.
I’d recommend you make a FREE profile on Couchsurfing. Make your profile detailed. Try to meet other couchsurfers where you live now, and learn from their travel experiences. Search on the couchsurfing website to see whether there are, for example, any couchsurfers near you who have ever lived in Switzerland. Write thoughtful references for those you meet, and ask them each to a write a reference for you: this builds your profile. Search the Swiss couchsurfing folk, to see whether there is anyone who has specified on their profile that they are trying to learn a language you already speak... they might be very happy to receive you as a guest, at least for a few days. Remember that couchsurfing does not usually include food, but even so, you could meet people and, at least for a day or two at a time, have a roof over your head.
Here is an organisation which rescues food from shops which would otherwise have to throw it away. There are strict laws about “sell-by dates”, and after they expire, the shops may no longer sell certain products, even though the food itself may still be fine. So volunteers collect those foods from the shops (and the shops are happy not to have to throw the stuff away) and bring it to distributions points where anyone who has joined can collect the food for FREE. Obviously, there are no guarantees of supply, but at least some food can be obtained this way, rather than landing, tragically, in the trash. https://foodsharing.de/?page=fairtei...bid=108&id=360
The website “foodsharing.ch” doesn’t seem to be doing anything, and the “foodsharing.de” runs info not only about projects in Germany but also in Switzerland.
I think that could be at least some help to tide you over as you start. So, that’s some perspective for you, at least as a young man looking for something new, and with the right to live in the country of your citizenship.
However, I’d like to urge you to learn a local language, probably German.
Seriously, nothing is likely to work out well for you if you don’t.
Start now, where you are, at least online, and don’t miss a day’s practicing.
The people who make it in Switzerland, feeling completely comfortable speaking only English, are those in the top segment of wealth (e.g. very senior managers or in the entertainment business), who can afford to pay local staff to deal with organisational matters for them. For anyone not in that economic league, a weak command of the local language sooner or later means some door will remain closed: professionally, in the local supermarket, in making friends, getting along with the neighbours or in furthering their education.
My last bit of advice for today is: seriously consider moving to Switzerland ONLY if
a) you understand that you will be poor to start with, and
b) you are willing to work hard.
Living on Social Security benefits means being very, very careful with every cent. Long-term, that can be really depressing. At least while you have few skills, and even if you do have skills, you’ll be competing with many others better qualified than you. As you find work, you might end up scraping a living from lots of small jobs at low hourly wages. And as I keep repeating, you’ll need to allocate energy, time (and perhaps money) to learning the language.