Hi, We are considering moving to Zurich as my husband has a tentative offer there. We are currently living in bangalore, India. We have an adorable 2.5 year son.. who will mostly be 3 by the time we land there We have never lived out of India and this would be our FIRST overseas move. I am very concerned about moving to Zurich for the following reasons. Can someone please help me out with these? I saw similar threads but they were atleast 1-2 years old, so creating a new one to get latest responses.. hope this is ok. Child : I am not able to figure out how to help my little one settle down - kindergarten, english-speaking play groups etc. would he be able to make friends there? Any leads, names of good kindergartens, play groups, any info at all would be really really helpful. Social circle : we dont know anyone there as such.. yet to find contacts (friends-of-friends-of-friends etc). A bit of internet research tells me Swiss are not friendly towards immigrants and this is scary to say the least! How has your experience been in this regard? Language : German is another thing Im worried about.. how easy (or do I ask difficult) is it to manage in Zurich without knowing even a single word in german (google tells me there are two Germans!!)? Cost-of-living: What is a decent salary for a family of three (esp with a 2.5 yr old - Kindergarten/daycare expenses) to survive in Zurich? I know a lot of it depends on our lifestlye. We are not spend-thrifts and eat out very less. A rough figure would help me..But can you also give me an upper bound - like what you think an extravagant family of 4 needs. This will help us negotiate with the prospective employer. Part-time jobs : how flexible are the employers there? I would like to work part-time if all else settles down... anyone in the IT field?? Im a.. no I used to be a software developer before the little one came along so any info here would help too. eagerly waiting for replies..
Hello manasa, i m settled in Switzerland in st.gallen canton since 5 years and I am mother of 8 nd 5 year old children. settling in Swiss is not difficult if u make your mind specially in Zurich as lots Indians are settled in Zurich, but of course it depends where you stay in Zurich. In Switzerland you have different cantons. Many Indians prefer to put their children in local school as kids learns fast.when I came first to Switzerland I was also not sure to many things but I decided to stay so now it's easy....but of of course if possible you should know little German to get integrated .I think putting your child in local school is not a bad idea, though you can find personal English kindergarten in Zurich and this is the right age for your kid to join local school as she will pick early... Initially teacher will also cooperate as they also know that we are new to Switzerland ..I can't say much about Zurich school as I don't stay in Zurich but yes I know many Indian who has their children studying in local school. In Zurich it's easy to get social circle but u need to check the area where you will be staying. Regarding german speaking yes they speak two types of German but high German is easy to learn.its easy to learn if u want to learn cost of living is high but also it's depends on the quality of living....to give some idea on this here rental in Zurich for family or three cost approach 2000-3000 chf depends upon the area..... I personally do not have any idea about working Zurich ... hope this helps regrds kita
