Hello
We are a familly of three romanian of origin(wife husband,child)with a 10year old son and a dog and we are currently living in Belgium for the last 12years and would like to move to switzerland to thun or sierre,i mention these towns because here i saw jobs for welders and cleaning.I saw a lot of advantages for living in switzerland including free school,a very clean enviroment and familly friendly safe towns.now of course that i dont know much about the transition and that is why i decided to write here.can someone give us advice or some tips as in to what that would include?is someone been through the same tranzition latley?thank you and o apreciate the help
Most important question is if you all have EU passports or not? If not, you will find it very difficult to secure work and residency permits.
Hello
Yes we have european passports we are romanian
What languages do you speak? Romanian obviously, but do you also speak French/Flemish? If French then Thun wouldn’t be particularly good since it’s in the German speaking part of Switzerland. Sierre is French speaking.
We moved here from Belgium with a then 10 year old, a cat and a rabbit.
We moved from Wallonie to Romandie so the main language wasn’t an issue but they did provide extra lessons in German as his second language in Belgium was Dutch. Having said that he picked up the German really quickly which was probably helped by his knowledge of Dutch.
The streaming situation at age 11 really depends on where you are as all the cantons do things differently.
Your biggest challenge will be securing a job before moving here in those fields.
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Hello,
Belgium…Flemish or French speaking part?. Sierre is in the French speaking part of Switzerland. Thun has the local flavor of Schweizerdeutsch.
Yes, education is (mostly) free as in paid by everyone’s taxes, but there are some caveats. Your child at 10 YO is very close to a watershed moment in the Swiss education system. At 11 YO children are screened (exams, grades) and they separated in different secondary schools for high academic achievers and not so high achievers. Mastery of the local language is crucial for this screening.
Apart from that, have you stayed in Switzerland for a while before? Aware of rents, health insurance, food prices?
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I speak english flemish spanish but i learn languages very quickly if necessary.we live in west vlaanderen so an flamish speaking part.i have only looked online at rent and prices,but i feel that living in belgium is so stressfull and we need a change,this is not living,only a robotic lifestyle.
I find living in Switzerland stressful. I am in constant fear of doing something “wrong” and being let know about it! And health insurance prices are a stress too.
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what’s causing the stress? Cost of living in Switzerland is very high when you’re unemployed and job security is not a thing here.
Cost of living is very high in Belgium too and so are taxes.
Job protection is better in Belgium and generally speaking you’ll get a better payout if made redundant there depending on length of service but unemployment benefits in Belgium are pitiful.
I’d rather be unemployed in Switzerland than in Belgium.
Confused about using free education as a reason. Surely education is free in all European countries until University level. Switzerland are talking about doubling university fees.
I was a bit confused by that as well.
Schooling is free in Belgium up to the end of secondary school as long as the child goes to a state school. There are plenty of private schools which of course have to be pay for.
Unlike Switzerland parents are free to choose which school to send their child to and they are guaranteed to get a place, they don’t have to go to the nearest school to where they live.
Our son went to school in a different commune and there were several schools nearer to our house but having visited them we preferred that school so that’s where he went.
Whilst the actual cost of schooling is free all school supplies have to be purchased by the parents in Belgium unlike Switzerland where everything deemed necessary for the year is provided by the school. I think textbooks are provided on loan for the year just like here but I’m not 100% sure on that as it’s been a while. All trips etc are at the expense of the parents in Belgium although much like here they do organise fundraising activities to raise money towards them.
All schools in Belgium offer lunch care and pre and afterschool care. Lunchtimes are free and there is a nominal fee for parascolaire/hort etc outside of school hours but it really is peanuts especially compared to Switzerland. Overall Belgium is far better with regards to school hours and working parents with care guaranteed from 7am to 18.30pm, it was a real shock to us when we moved to Switzerland and discovered how things were here. They’ve improved a lot since we moved here but still not to level things are in Belgium and out of hours care is expensive here.
Overall I don’t think the free school supplies compensates for the things lacking in other areas.
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Do you know where Romania is on a map??? 
They probably thought of this too otherwise I don’t get the free schools argument either, unless they compared it to other countries outside Europe or maybe they imagined Switzerland is different.
Keep looking for a job, get an interview, get a work contract, get the residence permit, take a few weeks off from your current jobs, come, look for an apt. to rent (you’ll need a residence permit for it and to prove you’re employed and can pay the rent), go register your child to the school directorate, et voila - you’re all settled.
Considering the child is in what - 5th grade by then? she’ll have quite a time to adapt to Switzerland and its two concomitant languages* if you move to a German-speaking canton.
I wouldn’t recommend.
*kids are taught in standard German and speak to each other and in day-to-day life in a Swiss-German dialect. They’ll feel very much left out.
I know the refrain - kids adapt quickly etc but let me tell you it’s not always that easy, I know quite a few foreigners from all over the world by now and it hasn’t been a piece of cake for all of them.
@Axa was spot on.
Absolutely. Why do you ask? The OP didn’t mention their passports?
Thank you for the advice,i am looking in all of the aspects for sure but ussually relocating is always difficult and with many challenges but it is not impossible,as to the question of where romania is on the map i find that irrelevant really.i apreciate the answers on topic if you dont mind.good day everybody