I would like to get help for which permit to apply when I am planning to move to Switzerland with my boyfriend - he is US citizen, has multiple companies and high income. I am EU nationality right now on maternity leave.
We are planning to move to Switzerland, but with no intention to work - stay there few months, then fly to the US and go like that back and forth.
We also have 2yo son, my plan is to have him go to Switz school once he is old enough.
I read somewhere that we can apply for some permit to stay there and we need to prove that we have enough money that we don’t need to work. How can we do that if we are not married? We apply separately? And each of us shows bank statements?
Is anyone dealing with the same situation when you wanted to move there with no intention to work? How did you do that?
Your partner will need to prove to the Swiss authorities that he can afford to be here without working so yes, bank statements, other assets, etc. He needs to be aware that as a US citizen he’s still obliged to file US tax returns and could owe the US tax on top of Swiss ones (you too if you hold a Green Card and don’t give it up). There are some double taxation treaties which may help. Start researching that here
Also be aware that most Swiss banks will not touch US citizens/Green Card holders at all so your banking choices are limited to UBS, Credit Suisse and PostFinance. Depending on exactly how “wealthy” your partner is you may not be able to get anything more than a simple checking account.
Assuming he can get a permit (not guaranteed since to obtain one your centre of life should be in Switzerland, not flitting back and forth every few months) then he would need to apply for a concubine permit for you. Again be aware that not all cantons have this type of permit; far as I know only Geneva, Vaud, Neuchatel and Zurich offer it so if none of those are where you plan to live it simply won’t be possible for you to join him that way. Of course you could either marry or as an EU national you could get an independent permit yourself if you either get a job here or have enough funds to support yourself financially without working.
I would also point out that you simply won’t be able to take your son (and any other future kids) out of school here whenever you feel like flitting back to the US. The Swiss are very strict on when children can be taken out of school and for how long.
I have to ask why you even want to attempt this. The tax complications alone make it uneconomic to attempt plus you’d have the costs of renting somewhere to live here all year round, Swiss health insurance costs, etc.
Question for the permit experts, in a case where a family is wealthy but not UHNW, and the non-EU citizen is the family breadwinner:
Could the EU citizen sponsor a non-EU citizen without working themselves? Or does an EU citizen have to be economically engaged to apply for a standard family reunion visa?
(I realize this is not the case with the OP, as they are not married. Just a tangential question.)
The FMOP rules are there to facilitate the operation of the single market, not to facilitate the actual migration of people and that applies to EU citizens within the EU as well. Apart from family reunification and retirement all other rights require economic activity.
I assume there are people who offer the rich the service of sorting this out with the tax & immigration authorities. I assume people like Tina Turner (when she first came here) did not negotiate with the Swiss authorities themselves. Whatever, it will result in you paying taxes in CH and the USA - if the Swiss let you in they want to be financially rewarded. But it’s possible, plenty of rich Non-EU here who don’t work in Switzerland.
If the EU is wealthy enough not to have to work, sure. No difference there, but they still have to prove that they can financially support their dependents and that their accommodation is large enough for everyone. And of course would need either a concubine permit for the other non-EU half or to get married.
and then, of course, the Swiss government information website www.ch.ch . Some of its pages are translated, as a courtesy, into English, but there is often more information on the pages in a Swiss language. https://www.ch.ch/en/school-and-educ…ul-employment/
Living in Switzerland without gainful employment