My boyfriend and I are moving to Zurich in February. I have work arranged and he is coming out to look for work. We are both from the UK. As I understand it at the moment (please correct me if I'm wrong ) he is allowed to be in Switzerland seeking work for 3 months and if unsuccessful in this time he then applies for an L Permit.
My question is regarding his health cover during that initial three month period... Couple of questions and big apologies if this is covered else where - have done quite a bit of searching on the forum but couldn't see the answer.
- Can he get his health insurance without any permit? (Thinking in the essence of time and efficiency whilst we are sorting mine would it not make sense to sort his as well)
- if not possible, does that mean for the first three months he would not be able to access any healthcare?
- Reading through the forum and on comparis I understand that the three month grace period to sort out your insurance is always back dated to the day you arrived in the country, but in some places this is referred to as the day you get your permit? In my boyfriends case whilst he is seeking work for the first three months would this count as his arrival date in the country OR the day he got either his L-permit or fingers crossed his b-permit once he has found a job? (Helps with the budgeting knowing how much we need to have available)
Hope that all makes sense, not sure whether I've just read and reread too much information and got myself confused but wanted to ask the questions
Compulsory health insurance is required for residents and citizens, those who are living in the country longer than three months. Until you have confirmation you are a resident with permit and registered with your Gemeinde, you cannot get health insurance, you will most likely need some kind of travel insurance to cover you for this period. It is back payable 3 months so if you do find you get your permit sorted later you will have to pay from the date of your arrival.
Happy for someone to tell me this is incorrect but this is my understanding of how it works.
If I remember correctly I had to prove I was health insured when I registered so I must have signed an insurance contract before I officially lived here.
Not necessarily because if one does not organize health insurance within the three months of arriving they are nominated one by the canton. In this situation it is possible to register but not yet have health insurance organized. But this might depend on what the person's status is, i.e. married to a swiss spouse etc.
Just so you are clear, if your boyfriend fails to find a job within the three months, you'll need to sponsor him to get a permit, as far as I remember.
Hi my family and I just settled here and this is how it went down for us. Maybe someone can pick up some pointers from it.
Housing was arranged and we're EU citizens so might be a bit more difficult for other nationalities
Arrived early November, registered at the townhall 2 days later. Had to pay that moment for the registration fees for the Residence permits (B). No one asked about health insurance. The migrationsamt sent the permits by mail to our townhall. We were informed about a week later that we can go and pick them up. Still no questions about health insurance, 2 days later we received a letter with the request to have our insurance company sign a declaration that we have a valid health insurance and send this to the townhall within 14 days of writing.
We started the application process for a health insurance right after moving in November but the insurance companies were holding off asking for a residence permit. I even had an argument with one agent about this strange chicken and egg problem.
Anyway it comes down to the following I believe:
you have to have a health insurance within 3 months of arriving. If not they will chose one for you. so once you have your insurance policies I think it's wise to at least go by your local community and show them that you are insured.