Your first year in Switzerland: three clocks and a language choice

The Swiss paperwork peaks before arrival: the permit within fourteen days, the health insurance within three months. What comes after looks modest — and that is precisely where people run into deadlines nobody told them about.

Twelve months for your driving licence, and not a day more

Your Dutch driving licence is valid in Switzerland for exactly twelve months after arrival. After that you're driving without a valid licence — not "technically incorrect", but genuinely driving uninsured. The exchange itself is no ordeal: for an EU licence there is no practical test, you hand in a valid eye test, a passport photo and your original licence, and after ten to fourteen working days you have the Swiss one. Cantons advise submitting the application at least a month before that twelve-month limit, and that advice is worth taking: the waiting time counts against you, not against the counter.

Two things to know. You don't get your Dutch licence back — it is returned to the Netherlands. And if you brought your car, the same clock runs for the Swiss number plates: one date, two obligations. Count on around 95 to 120 francs, with differences per canton.

Ten days for the dog

Whoever brings a dog has the shortest deadline of all: within ten days of entry the animal must be in AMICUS, the national dog database. You don't arrange that yourself but through a vet, and in addition you register the dog with your municipality of residence — which then levies an annual dog tax at a rate it sets itself.

Look beyond the registration. Some municipalities set extra requirements for new dog owners, such as a compulsory course, and the list of banned breeds differs per canton. Whoever moves with a dog that could be on such a list checks that before choosing where to live — not after.

The bill that comes by itself

The broadcasting fee is the opposite of a chore: you don't have to register anywhere. Serafe takes your details directly from your municipality's register of residents, so your registration on arrival is enough — and the invoice follows by itself. It's good to understand how it works, because the logic differs from the Dutch one: the fee applies per household, not per person and not per device, and not even if you have no television. All adult residents are on the invoice and are jointly and severally liable.

The amount is 335 francs per year, and whoever comes later is in luck: from 1 January 2027 it drops to 312 francs.

The choice without a deadline: in which language does your child go to school

This is the decision with the longest effect, and the only one without a clock. Under the free-movement agreement your children have the same access to education as Swiss children, and public education is free; you register with the municipality. But education is entirely cantonal: the language, the school system and the moments at which children are divided across school types differ per canton, because the cantons determine their own official language.

For Dutch families the surprise lies in the German-speaking cantons: the teaching materials are in standard German, but in the playground and often in the classroom too Swiss German is spoken — a dialect you won't get from a course. The experience of many emigrants is that children get through it faster than their parents. Whoever still has the choice between cantons open therefore weighs the language as a school choice, not just as a choice of where to live.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the route: the same steps, but applied to your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole route to Switzerland.