I've been in the process of looking to move my family to Zurich since late last year, and I finally received a good job offer the other day which I have accepted. My wife, 3 month old baby, 2 labradors and a couple of cats will be making the move from Cape Town in September.
I did my research and have had all the animals "prepped" on this side with vaccinations, blood tests, chips etc, so from a legal side, its going to be quite easy to get the pets in (just expensive). However, I have begun to deal with a relocation agency who will assist with finding accommodation. I have been warned a few times that finding accommodation with pets will be "very difficult". I will be working in Seefeld and am more than happy to stay outside of the city, as long as I am more or less within 30 minutes from work using public transport.
Apparently what usually happens with moves like this, is temporary furnished accommodation is arranged for a month or two to give you an opportunity to find a good permanent place (and to bridge the gap while your furniture is on a ship for 7 weeks). But, I've heard it is "nearly impossible" to find a temporary place that will allow pets. So now this puts me in a tricky situation. I think it will be ok to leave my dogs in South Africa for 1 or 2 months while we find a place, but our cats are senior citizens and the stress of kennels, plane flight, and new home might be too much for them. My wife has insisted that the cats fly at the same time as us.
I would like some advice if possible. Firstly, do you think it would be impossible to find temp accommodation that would allow cats (no dogs)? And is it really going to be that difficult to find a permanent place that will take all my pets? One of the main reasons for the appeal of moving to continental Europe is the absence of quarantine, but if we cant come with our pets then we cant come at all. This is stressing me out quite a lot, especially with the other 100 things that need to be done with a move of this magnitude.
We just arrived here from the US with our Golden Retriever and our bunny and we are staying in pet friendly accomodation in Seefeld until our tenants leave our apartment in August. Our relocation agent offered us several choices that accept pets- so I think that it is not impossible.
We had no trouble getting the pets here it was just confusing as to how to pick them up after we arrived at the airport. Make sure you have CHF 382 in cash when you go to the cargo agent to pick up your pets. After the cargo agent you go to the airport vet office to get forms stamped, etc. There is a woman there who speaks perfect English. Then you go to the Customs office to pay the import fee of CHF 88 (they accept credit cards here). Finally, you go back to the cargo agent who will get your pets for you.
Good luck- let me know if you would like the name of our relocation agent.
Difficult, but not impossible. This is the point of a relocation agent, right? To make this initial transition easier for you.
Finding a permanent place will also be difficult. Finding a place in Zurich without pets (as a non-Swiss) is always a challenge, so having pets can compound the situation. Although, depending on your finances (read: more money to spend, and no, I am not asking for details so please don't provide them), this search could be more straightforward. Expect to pay around 1/3 of your salary per month, as a rule of thumb, on housing. I would recommend starting your search on homegate.ch or somewhere similar (now), figure out what towns outside Zurich are within the 30-minute-public-transport-limit you have established, and ask your relocation agent to represent you in person (especially if you find something you think might be perfect). If the agency won't help you out with that, then you can contact them (usually an email address is provided), see if they respond favorably, and, at the very least, have an idea of what could be available when you get here. The more research you do before you arrive, the more prepared you are to get on it when you arrive.
There are three main times a year that standard leases in Switzerland let people out of their contract, and one is coming up Oct 1. This will definitely be your *best* chance to find something (purely because there will be the most selection). I know you are barely moving here in September, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to just move into your real place? Again, talk to the relocation agent; they should be working for you. And admittedly, I have never used one, but in my opinion, this is what they are getting paid to do.
Good luck...
We've never had much of a problem finding places to rent with our collie and two cats. However, we have always rented houses with gardens - not apartments. With 2 labs I'd guess the op would be doing the same.
This might involve heading out into the countryside - 30 mins from ZH and the rents drop, pet friendliness apepars like magic, and the "walkies" opportunites are endless .
Exactly why I suggested he start looking himself (and not rely on the relocation agency) outside Zurich now. And perhaps he could just move into a place that could be long term right away...
We moved from the US to Luzern last November. We bought our little wiener along with us. It took all the Vaccinations (CH and Euro) and International Micro Chip. Also, we needed to get an dog passport from the Swiss Embassy. Also, we needed an official International Pet Carrier which we bought online. It is a basic carrier but is more sturdy and has more lock down features. When we got here we had to register our dog at the Geminde (you gotta pay dog taxes). Hope it helps and good luck with your travel.
Exactly. You shouldn't have to post here if your relo agent was doing the job they were hired to do. I just hope you are not working with this agent. No name has been mentioned but perhaps the poster will provide this to you in a private mail.
Renting with dogs.. an impossible task?
That is what I usually recommend. Furniture rental can be arranged, or if furniture is not being shipped, the basics can purchased immediately.
Our first night back in Switzerland we slept on air mattresses in an empty house . That was the only solution for keeping our 3 dogs and parrot with us after a very long journey home. The things us pet owners do for our pets.
never had a problem finding places that will accept pets, just look outside of the city and you'll be fine. Just make sure wherever you look has a train line (and station!!) and you'll be good to go.
Thanks for all the replies. I'm flying into Zurich next week Friday with my family to meet the relocation agent and do some orientation, look at possible properties etc.
To be fair, the relocation agent thinks we'll be able to find a place for the pets permanently, but it may take some time, especially if we have other requirements. The challenge was that if we couldnt find a place we liked before we arrive, then they suggest we would go into temp (furnished) accommodation for one or two months until we do find a place we like. I think they are reluctant to have us sign a long term lease on a place which we haven't physically seen, but I dont really have a problem with choosing a place based on photos, and a map location.
In the past couple of months I have done quite a lot of searching online myself, and you're right, the places outside the city have more reasonable rent and a significant number of them are "pets allowed".
Our moving with our Maltese was a disaster. We thought we had all the necessary documentation & chip, but the Airport Vet didn’t allow her into the country since we moved from Turkey and Turkey is considered here as a “high risk country” in terms of dog diseases. It didn’t count that we are EU citizens and our doggy was born in the EU, but we lived 2 years in Turkey (and she got really amazing care there). She had been released after 3 days when we were able to provide one extra document from a state vet – friends helped us to find someone in Ankara in the Ministry of Health who was willing to sign this document. We lived in Istanbul and our former vet’s signature was not accepted although he knew the dog but this guy in Ankara never met with us. We had a relocation agent but the agency weren’t too proactive with the dog – I suggest you to check 3 times what documents are necessary for the pets. The Swiss authorities are EXTREMLY bureaucratic.
We lived one month in a temporary accommodation in Zürich and the doggy was no problem, than found an apartment in Horgen – doggy was not a problem at all.
Maybe cats are different, but I when I moved my cat I went to the Vet to get all the paperwork and proper cage recommendations for the flight. After we arrived in Zurich at the baggage claim they just slid the cage under the cargo bay. At customs they asked "Hey, where are you going with that cat!" Then they had a 10 second glance at the paperwork and let me through. Surprisingly easy. Has it changed in 3 years?
I'm spending a little more than I have to on this side to pay for the animals to get into switzerland - using something like a pet relocation agency. They then take responsibility that all the paper work is in order before the animals leave etc. There is also an option for someone to collect the animals at Zurich airport and make sure all the customs are taken care of (at a fee), after which they will deliver the animals to us.
I'm considering this since I can't imagine trying to cope with all the animals on public transport! Perhaps that would be a good reason to pay for a taxi. The only decision I still have to make is the choice of airline. There are no direct flights from Cape Town to ZH, so they will have to be in transit somewhere. The pet relocation people have suggested 2 airlines - Qatar - the cheaper option - (stopping in Qatar obviously) and KLM (Amsterdam) since these 2 airlines as well as the transit airports are particularly good with pets. Swiss is also pretty good, but Johannesburg airport is apparently not very good with the pets and Swiss flies direct from JHB.
I think thats very sensible of your relocation agent ie to move into a temp accomodation until you find a place you like. Looking at a place based on photos and map due to convenience sounds like a good idea on paper, but you might miss out the little niggly things about the property that you might not like if you dont see it in real life - for example: too close to a busy road, noisy, too dark etc etc.
It will be costly not to mention painful and stressful to move again - something which can be avoided in this instance so I think your relocation agent is right for advising you to live in a temp space first.
As far as I am aware, the only temp furnished accomodation that I've come across are business apartments and I dont think they will be very keen to have pets in there. It never hurts to ask. Another site you can try is www.ums.ch
The properties on this site is usually posted by tenants who are subletting their properties for a FIXED period - when they go on holidays, fixed working period abroad or sabbaticals.
The only down side is that UMS will charge you a month's rent as commission. I've seen some ads that do welcome pets. Good luck in your move and welcome in advance!
Peter, if you have trouble finding suitable temporary housing, would it be possible for one of you to move ahead of the family, scout out housing, and then have the family join you once you've found a place?
We've done it this way several times - largely driven by my husband's need to start the new job yesterday, I'll admit - but I've found it easier if he goes ahead while the dogs and I stay in familiar surroundings, where we have a support system in place, until housing gets sorted. One of the issues is that many places have a longer lead time until the hand-over than one may be used to seeing in other countries.
When we moved to Switzerland (a million years ago), my husband went over first, started the ball rolling with the relocation agent, outlined our needs, etc. Once the agent had found a few possibilities and set up viewing appointments, I then came over for a very short visit to see the houses. I chose one, then hopped back on a plane, leaving my husband and the relo agent to sort the details.
The dogs and I flew over then a few months later, once we had keys to the new house. For us it was easier to be apart for a short time than to deal with the stress of temporary housing with mutts.
Best of luck to you and your family (canines and humans alike.)
By the way, my dogs flew KLM once. I will not do so again.
This was also a suggestion I've been told, but its really not possible because I have a 3 month old baby coming along also, and it will actually be tougher on both my wife and I to be apart - we make quite a team at 3:30am with the baby
However, it will be possible to leave the dogs behind for a month or two (with my father-in-law) while we stay in temporary accommodation and find the perfect place. But like I said in my original post, we feel that leaving the cats behind, and then flying them and rehoming them would be too traumatic given their age.
The ideal would be to find a temp place that will allow the cats - who only eat and sleep anyway, and then send for the dogs once we have found a good place. Another suggestion was for me to fly over again some time in August, like you did, and look at a few permanent places that the relocation agent has found.
What happened on KLM that makes you want to avoid them, if you don't mind sharing?
When we arrived we had a driver arranged and a van. There is no way you can manage all this on public transport. My driver has access to the baggage area so he was able to load all the kennels onto the large carts as well as our bags. There was no other way to handle it.
We flew Swiss on a direct flight. It is always better to avoid connecting flights.
There isn't any reason why you should not find permanent housing now and thus avoid temporary housing which is expensive and in your situation, not ideal. Most of the properties currently on the market now are for October 1st. You should have plenty of choice.
I like to keep families together from the start, which means the 4 legged members too . If you have a reasonable rental budget and are willing to be flexible about location, you should find something.
Since you can't do a nonstop flight, you should check the facilities in each of the connecting airports. Also how long is the layover, and what happens if it's 45 C outside.
I know that Schipol (I assume that's where your pup will change planes) has an onsite kennel and I think there is a vet there as well. We used Continental to transport our pup from the US to ZRH - there was no nonstop flight available either, so we sent her through Newark, which also has an onsite kennel and since her layover was a little more than 4 hours, they took her out for a little rest break.
I mention this because KLM and Continental share facilities. I know Meloncollie had a bad experience with KLM. By the same token, we had no trouble with Continental and I talked to someone who shipped a lot of animals between Amsterdam and both Newark and Houston, and they were happy with both Continental and KLM.
Dubai may also have excellent facilities at their stopover point. Good luck with the move... it is stressful, isn't it?
I think a driver is an excellent idea. We rented a car, but we had only us with minimal stuff and our dog, and we came the day before and spent the night in a hotel. We put the dog on a different flight - we flew a different airline.
We moved to Switzerland from the US last spring with two dogs. Although we are not in the Zurich area (we reside near Neuchatel), finding housing that allowed pets required more work, but was by no means impossible.
The relocation agency that my partner worked with was not that helpful. Finding the right accommodations required personal footwork, but was well worth it. We know of another american couple who also relocated with two large dogs and found a great house to rent, right on lake Neuchatel. Hopefully you will find equally as viable options near Zurich. Be persistent!