Nine years ago, I landed at Zurich airport with two suitcases and a feeling I can only describe as terrified excitement. I didn't speak German. I didn't know how the recycling system worked. I had no idea that Swiss bureaucracy would become both my biggest headache and my most impressive life skill.
I just knew I was supposed to be here.
And now, nine years later, I'm still here. Not passing through. Not on an extended holiday. Here to stay. Zurich became the place I built my life, my creative work, and eventually - my home.
But it didn't happen overnight. And nobody told me most of the things I needed to know.
The Part Nobody Prepares You For
When you tell people you're relocating to Zurich, they say things like "Oh, Switzerland is beautiful" and "You'll love the mountains." And yes - it is beautiful. The lake alone can stop you mid-sentence. The light in autumn makes everything look like a painting you'd want to hang on your wall.
But beauty doesn't help you figure out where to register your address. It doesn't explain Betreibungsregisterauszug or why you need one. It doesn't tell you which health insurance to pick, how the tax system actually works, or where to find an apartment that doesn't require a Bewerbungsdossier thicker than your university thesis.
The practical side of moving to Zurich is a maze. And most of the information out there is either outdated, scattered across ten different government websites, or written in a tone so dry it makes Swiss tax forms feel exciting by comparison.
That's the gap I kept running into when friends and friends-of-friends would message me asking for advice. "I'm moving to Zurich - what do I need to know?" And I'd end up typing the same novel-length messages over and over again. The same tips. The same warnings. The same "I wish someone had told me this" moments.
Eventually I thought - why not just write it all down?
Why I Created the Zurich Relocation Guide
Not a generic expat blog post. Not a government PDF with seventeen acronyms and zero warmth. A real, honest, actually helpful guide - written by someone who has lived the entire process and come out the other side with her sanity mostly intact.
The kind of guide I desperately wanted when I first arrived.
So I made two.
The free starter guide covers the essentials - the things you need to know before you even get on the plane. Registration, permits, health insurance basics, a first-week checklist. Think of it as the friend who picks you up from the airport and tells you the five things that matter most right now.
The premium relocation guide goes deep. Really deep. It's everything I've learned in nine years of actually living here - from navigating the apartment search to understanding Swiss work culture, from setting up your finances to finding your people. It includes a complete application form directory with direct links to every office and form you'll need, a neighbourhood breakdown of Zurich, and all the little insider things that take years to figure out on your own.
It's the guide that turns months of confusion into a weekend of reading.
Here to Stay
There's a moment that happens to almost everyone who moves abroad. Maybe six months in, maybe a year. You're walking down a street you've walked down a hundred times, and something shifts. The city stops feeling like a place you moved to and starts feeling like a place you belong.
For me, it happened on a Tuesday evening by the lake. Nothing dramatic. I was just walking home - and I realised I'd said "home" without thinking about it. Not "the apartment." Not "where I'm staying." Home.
That shift - from arriving to belonging - is what the Zurich print in our collection captures. The hand illustrated cityscape with "here to stay" written across it. Because that's the feeling. Not just visiting. Not just surviving the paperwork. Actually landing. Putting roots down. Making it yours.
Relocating to Zurich is one of the most exciting, overwhelming, beautiful, bureaucratic, and ultimately rewarding things you can do. It changed my life in ways I couldn't have imagined when I was standing at that airport with my two suitcases.
And I want it to be easier for you than it was for me.
Where to Start
If you're thinking about relocating to Zurich - or you're already here and still figuring things out - start with the free starter guide. It's yours, no strings attached.
And when you're ready to go deeper, the premium guide is there to walk you through everything else. You can also grab it bundled with the Zurich "here to stay" print - because sometimes the best way to feel at home is to make your walls reflect the life you're building.
Explore everything on the Zurich relocation guide page.
Welcome to Zurich. You're going to love it here.