I'm currently in plans to make a move from the uk to Ticino canton (near Bellinzona), I understand that to get b permit (self employed version), i need to visit the immigration office. My Italian is poor (working on learning), so i would need to speak English, i dont want to seem like I'm not making an effort. I just can't speak it yet very well. Do you know if they speak English, so i'd be able to walk in with Italian greeting but then switch to English for proceeds?
Is it simply a case of dropping off documents there, or is there also a meeting or series of questions etc? And if so, is it possible to speak English for them.
I assume the process is similar between cantons, so if you just know for another, it should help still
There is no requirement on them to speak English, so it will be the luck of the draw, there may be some around that speaks English or there may not. No one can tell you this for sure....
Most of the people who work with foreigners here (but I'm in Zürich) speak English. But some of them don't like it and answer that they don't. I usually greeted them in German and asked (in German) if they speak English, because my German is poor. If they answered that they don't speak English, I tried to explain the purpose of my visit in German. When they heard my German they switched to English
Very doubtful, though I did luck into a guy at the tax office when I first had to do a tax return here who spoke perfect English, but he was a one-off.
You might get by with French, that's what I used in the early days.
When I registered my arrival at the gemeinde the woman who received me didn't seem very fluent in English. I fortunately had my German-speaking girlfriend with me for that particular case. They will ask some questions, so some level of mutual understanding is probably good.
They spoke English well at the migration office when I went to do my biometric data.
The communication I have with them per mail is that they write in German, and I respond in English. All my documents are also in English. We don't seem to fully understand each other, but they don't have appear to have a problem with communicating in this manner
I had to renew my C permit card in January in the immigration office in Bellinzona and, although I spoke Italian during my visit, the person there asked first if I wanted to use Italian or English. I was surprised; that hasn't ever happened before.