Look inside
The plan for Switzerland, from the inside
These are all 25 steps of the Switzerland journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
For which country?
Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 25
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 54
- Only for your situation
- 4
Phase 1
5 steps
Orientation
Switzerland looks like an EU country but isn't one. You may live and work there, but you need a permit, have a real customs border to cross, and a healthcare bill that counts per person. This phase gets that in view before you commit to anything.
- 1.1
Understand free movement: a right, with a card to go with it
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 1.2
Know the Dutch advantage: permanent after five years
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.3
Get a picture of what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.4
Choose your canton, and so your language
- Lead time
- take your time
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- one moment, and it may shift later
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
10 steps
Closing the Netherlands
The familiar closing list, with one point that has been different since 2021 from almost every guide you find online: the Netherlands withholds tax on your pension. And because Switzerland is outside the EU, your documents need more than within Europe.
- 2.1
Pension and AOW: the Netherlands withholds, up to 15%
- Lead time
- an afternoon of research
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 2.2
AOW accrual: stops, and the clock runs one year
- Lead time
- registering is possible up to 1 year after departure
- Costs
- voluntary continuation: 17.9% of your income (min € 569, max € 5,693 a year, 2026)
3 official sources
- 2.3
Healthcare: report, and know which route applies to you
- Lead time
- start 3 months before departure
- Costs
- none in the Netherlands
4 official sources
- 2.4
The tax wind-up and your allowances
- Lead time
- the return follows after the emigration year
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 2.5
Deregister, and arrange DigiD before you go
- Lead time
- 15 minutes at the counter
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 2.6
Documents: multilingual extract, or apostille
- Lead time
- 1-2 weeks
- Costs
- multilingual extract: municipal rate; apostille € 27 per document
3 official sources
- 2.7
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few things to arrange
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.8
Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you commit to anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.9
The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours; when renting out possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.10
Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and after that one report a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 3
3 steps
The move
A real customs border: your household goods are cleared. Perfectly doable with one form and a list — but plan it on a working day, and count on your car yielding nothing more on the Dutch side.
- 3.1
Declare your household goods as Übersiedlungsgut
- Lead time
- the clearance itself takes a morning
- Costs
- no import charges provided you meet the conditions
2 official sources
- 3.2
Decide about the car: here exporting yields nothing
- Lead time
- count 4-8 weeks for a good sale
- Costs
- RDW export notification € 12; no BPM refund
3 official sources
- 3.3
Pets: chip before vaccination
- Lead time
- start 2 months in advance
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
Phase 4
3 steps
Registration in Switzerland
Two clocks run at the same time from your arrival: fourteen days for your registration, three months for your health insurance. That second clock is the expensive one — it runs retroactively.
- 4.1
Register with your municipality within fourteen days
- Lead time
- 15 minutes at the counter; the card follows by post
- Costs
- around CHF 65 for the permit plus CHF 10 for the card (canton of Zurich; differs per canton)
3 official sources
- 4.2
Take out your health insurance: the clock runs backwards
- Lead time
- an evening of comparing, then take it out straight away
- Costs
- around CHF 465 per adult and CHF 123 per child per month (2026)
3 official sources
- 4.3
Open a bank account and arrange your wages
- Lead time
- an appointment
- Costs
- usually none; some banks charge monthly fees
Phase 5
4 steps
Arrival
The last clocks: twelve months for your driving licence and your number plate, ten days for your dog. And one bill that comes by itself.
- 5.1
Exchange your driving licence within twelve months
- Lead time
- 10-14 working days after the application
- Costs
- around CHF 95-120, differs per canton
1 official source
- 5.2
Register your dog with the municipality and AMICUS
- Lead time
- an hour
- Costs
- dog tax, set per municipality
2 official sources
- 5.3
The broadcasting fee comes by itself
- Lead time
- no action needed
- Costs
- CHF 335 per household per year (from 1 January 2027: CHF 312)
2 official sources
- 5.4
School for the children, in the language of your canton
- Lead time
- enrol at the municipality
- Costs
- public education is free
2 official sources
4 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Switzerland journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 1.2 of your plan
Know the Dutch advantage: permanent after five years
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
Here's something most emigration sites don't know. Switzerland grants the permanent settlement permit (the C permit) after five years of uninterrupted residence to citizens of countries with which it has a settlement agreement — and the Netherlands is such a country, on the basis of an exchange of notes from 1935. Citizens of, for instance, Poland, Hungary or Croatia in principle have to wait ten years.
Why that matters: with a C permit your residence is unlimited and unconditional, you don't lose it after six months abroad but only after four years, and the restrictions on the labour market disappear. It's also the permit you need if you ever want to become Swiss. For a Dutch citizen seriously considering staying, this halves the waiting time — that may weigh in your decision.
This is step 1.2 of 25. The other 24 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on Switzerland?
All 25 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 299 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Switzerland: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Switzerland really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
Thirty-six journeys are fully ready — Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Canada, Panama, United States, Suriname, China, Dubai, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.