Sabbatical

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1

Hi All,

We are planning a long sabbatical for at least 2 years as from 2026.
Now doing research online gives you only so many answers and even more questions!

We are wondering if there are people here who have experience with a sabbatical and what implications that has on topics like Insurance, Taxes, AHV and all kinds of other stuff we might not have thought about.

We are owners of an apartment in Zurich and like to rent that out during the period of travelling. We will keep our residence here (I suppose). I’m having a EU passport with a C permit and my girlfriend has a Swiss passport. So, no trouble returning.

As for our health insurance we are thinking of SafetyWing as this looks to cover our needs there… the question here arises if the Swiss government accepts we have no Swiss health insurerer.

I know for the first pillar for AHV you can keep on making your yearly contributions… Here you can find more info about that

For taxes we reaaly have no clue how that will work.

So, again, we are looking for people who have done a longer (multiyear sabbatical and tackled these topics.

Many thanks in advance for contributing!!

Cheers
Pauly

2
If you stay registered in Switzerland, you have to pay Swiss health insurance. Normally a travel insurer will try to get you home asap to continue medical treatment, so you need a medical option in your "home country".

Edit

If you deregister, you'll lose your C. If you stay registered you can only leave for 6 months.

3
You will lose the C.

Tom

4
Not always. Some EU friends of ours have been gone for 2 years now, both on Cs and both have permission to keep them. They also have property here, which they kept and rented out. Terms and conditions apply, obviously.

To the OP, your best bet would be to talk to your local gemeinde/commune. Whereas my friends got permission, other authorities may vary but direct contact with them might let them make a discretionary decision.

5
Normally only granted for being sent abroad by employer or studying abroad.

6
Neither apply in this case. They were originally planning to travel for 6 months then joined a charity and applied directly to their gemeinde for the extension.

The husband can go back to his profession when they return.

Maybe they are an exception and maybe it helps that he has a job to return to but it's always worth asking directly.

7
They have become much more relaxed about putting a C permit on hold in recent years so a two year sabbatical abroad will likely be fine.

8
Why not get your Swiss Passport before you go?

9
Maybe he doesn’t qualify to apply for one yet?

10

... or doesn't want to lose the original citizenship (it's a consideration for some EU countries' citizens, too).

11
Voluntary AHV contribution to make each year count, ~1k each per year.

Pillar 2 will be transferred to a Freizügigkeitskonto. Consider investing it.