Switzerland · administrative route
Emigrating to Switzerland
Switzerland looks like an EU country but isn't one. You may live and work there, but you get a residence permit, cross a real customs border and pay your healthcare entirely yourself — per person. This page shows which clocks run and in which order they work with you.
€ 299 one-off · 25 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- Free movement, with a residence permit
- Two clocks
- 14 days to register, 3 months to insure
- Healthcare
- Fixed premium per person, children too
Last updated: August 2026
The journey
Five phases, from choosing a canton to being settled
No visa and no waiting time, but two deadlines that run from your day of arrival — and one of them works retroactively. Whoever knows the order is settled within a month.
- 1
Orientation
Which permit, and which canton?
Switzerland isn't an EU member, but since 2002 free movement of persons applies: you enter on your identity card and have a right of residence. The permit you apply for proves that right — it doesn't grant it. In this phase you also discover the Dutch privilege: thanks to a treaty from 1935 you get permanent residence after just five years, where most other EU citizens have to wait ten. And you choose your canton, because that decides your language, your tax and your rates.
- 2
Closing the Netherlands
Outside the EU, so mind your documents
The familiar closing list — health insurance, AOW, benefits, deregistration, DigiD — with one difference that surprises people: because Switzerland isn't an EU country, apostille-free document traffic doesn't apply here. For your birth and marriage certificates an international multilingual extract fortunately suffices — a treaty from 1976 makes legalisation of those unnecessary. Everything else, from diploma to certificate of conduct, does need an apostille.
- 3
The move
A real customs border — and no BPM back
Your removal goods are cleared: one form, an inventory list and proof that you're really moving, and then they come in duty-free provided you used the things yourself for six months. Plan the border crossing on a weekday, because customs doesn't work on Sunday. And mind the car: the BPM refund that does exist for Germany lapses entirely here — that scheme stops at the border of the EU and the EEA.
- 4
Registration in Switzerland
Two clocks, and the second is the expensive one
Within fourteen days you register with your municipality, and in any case before you start working; the treaty limits what they may ask to your ID and an employer's declaration. Within three months you take out health insurance — and that's not a reflection period but a deferred invoice: the cover starts on your date of arrival and so do the premiums. Waiting saves nothing.
- 5
Arrival
The last deadlines, and one bill that comes by itself
Twelve months for your driving licence and your plates, ten days for registering your dog. The broadcasting fee you don't have to apply for: it follows automatically from your registration with the municipality. And the children go to school in the language of your canton — free, and on the same terms as Swiss children.
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.
What it costs
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 5.600 – € 13.200
Where does that difference come from?
- Landen en op gang komen€ 4.000 – € 11.000
Open the breakdown below: there you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 95 – € 300
- De verhuizing
- € 60 – € 350
- De eerste maanden
- € 5.400 – € 12.600
View the itemsPer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- Verblijfsvergunning en pas€ 65 – € 85
- Uittreksels, apostilles en vertalingen(estimate)€ 30 – € 200
De verhuizing
- Reis(estimate)€ 60 – € 350
Een dag rijden vanuit Nederland, of een korte vlucht. De spreiding zit in de vraag of je met de auto gaat (met een overnachting onderweg) of vliegt en ter plaatse iets huurt.
De eerste maanden
- Zorgverzekering (eerste drie maanden)€ 1.400 – € 1.600
- Landen en op gang komen(estimate)€ 4.000 – € 11.000
De borg is wettelijk gemaximeerd op drie maanden kale huur en moet op een geblokkeerde rekening op jouw naam staan — je krijgt hem terug, maar je moet hem wel drie maanden vooruit kunnen missen. Reken verder op tijdelijk verblijf tijdens het zoeken, de Serafe-omroepbijdrage van CHF 335 per jaar, en werkkapitaal: in de ambulante zorg betaal je de arts vaak eerst zelf en declareert daarna. Zwitserse huren en prijzen liggen fors boven het Nederlandse niveau, met grote verschillen tussen kantons.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 2 to 5% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 5.000 to € 12.500.
De bijkomende kosten zijn laag: acht kantons (waaronder Zürich, Zug en Aargau) heffen helemaal geen Handänderungssteuer en rekenen alleen registratiekosten van een kwart procent; Vaud en Neuchâtel zitten aan de andere kant met 3,3%. Notaris en Grundbuch samen ongeveer 0,3%. Het geld zit in Zwitserland niet in de kosten koper maar in de koopsom zelf, en in de eis dat je minstens 20% eigen middelen inbrengt.
Note: buying isn't simply allowed here
De Lex Koller beperkt wie er mag kopen. Met een B-vergunning mag je één woning kopen om zelf in te wonen, in het kanton waar je woont — geen tweede woning en geen vakantiehuis. Wie hier niet woont, kan alleen een vakantiewoning in een aangewezen toeristische zone kopen, en daarvoor zijn er landelijk maar zo'n 1.500 vergunningen per jaar. Met een C-vergunning verdwijnt de beperking en koop je als een Zwitser.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
Rates checked on 15 August 2026.
Your complete, personal cost picture — with your route, your documents and your deadlines — you get in Vertrekklaar.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Who may tax your pension once you live in Switzerland, is there a favourable regime, and how do you become insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you see which rules apply to you — with the source.
See the financial conditionsThe 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 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.
Read on
The knowledge base on Switzerland
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
Arrival
- 3 min
Buying a house in Switzerland: first the Lex Koller question — are you allowed to buy yet?
In Switzerland a house purchase doesn't begin with the viewing but with one legal question: do you already live there? Whoever as an EU citizen genuinely lives in Switzerland buys freely; whoever wants to buy something from the Netherlands in advance falls under the permit requirement of the Lex Koller. After that the canton determines almost everything: the notary, the costs and the Handänderungssteuer. And for tax purposes your own home still counts, for now, as notional income — the Eigenmietwert.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 3 min
Your first year in Switzerland: three clocks and a language choice
In Switzerland, arrival isn't the end of the paperwork but the start of three deadlines: twelve months for your driving licence and your number plates, ten days for your dog, and a broadcasting bill that arrives by itself once you're registered. Plus the decision that has no deadline but determines the most: in which language your children go to school.
Updated 23 August 2026
Leaving the Netherlands — for every destination
- 2 min
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
- 2 min
Emigrating with children after a divorce: the consent that comes before everything
With joint custody you can't just go abroad with the children — you need the consent of the other parent, or substitute consent from the court. What the court weighs, and why leaving without consent is legally child abduction.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 16 August 2026
- 2 min
The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because an invitation rarely comes by itself.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 2 min
Your AOW accrual stops on departure — and you have one year to repair that
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you 2% AOW (the Dutch state pension), for life. The SVB has a voluntary continuation that closes that gap — but signing up is only possible in the first year after departure, and almost everyone misses that deadline.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 9 min
Partner comes along without a job of their own: deregistering, healthcare, AOW and the house
Your partner has a job, a visa or a right of residence there; you come along without a job of your own. Administratively you're then no passenger: the deregistration, the end of your health insurance and your AOW accrual apply to you separately. What you get back if you arrange it well, what it costs if you let it slide — and why "just staying registered" isn't an option.
Updated 7 September 2026
- 2 min
Stopping allowances on emigration: do it yourself, and in time
Housing allowance, healthcare allowance, childcare allowance and child budget don't stop by themselves on the day you leave. Whoever lets them run gets a reclaim months later — this is what you arrange per allowance.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 3 min
Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then
Deregistering from the BRP is only possible from five days before departure, and is compulsory as soon as you're away for more than eight months a year. What stops at that moment, what stays, and which piece of paper you have to ask for right away.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 6 min
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
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