jdr

I was annoyed at his attitude to the UK and working class, but I was just saying that I think the freedom to move and work anywhere in the EU only pertains to EU citizens, anyone else has to apply for work permits and even EU citizens have to apply for residence of the country they want to move to.
He is probably right about Switzerland offering a visa, but that will not make you an EU citizen and have the ability to move without permits etc.

YankeemovingAbroad

Believe I understand what you're saying.Only if I were to become a citizen of Switzerland would it be possible for me to move around in the EU? That would make sense.

jdr

Thats right, if you stay an American citizen then you will need visas etc to move about.

mike25nyc

Ok this guy above does not know what he is talking. If you have Swiss residency - then you are allowed to move around FREELY in all SCHENGEN countries - most of which except the UK are also EU countries. So you get access to most of the EU. I am 150% sure about this - please contact your local Swiss embassy for more information on this visa.

Yes a lot of wealthy - everyone has moved to Switzerland and again I do beleive that switzerland is much more liberal and accepting than France. France is a great country too but lots of racial / ethnic tensions there now and not really a very welcoming country for immigrants of any kind. Also French hate Americans - sorry but that is the truth as bad as it sounds. The swiss love everyone who can afford to come live in their country...LOL. why else do you think so many rich Americans are moving there as well as other rich people from third world countries? There are no ethnic tensions in Switzerland at all.

As for the weather - I lived in NYC and london and just visited Zurich for 2 weeks in December. This is the coldest it gets there and it was still warmer compared to NYC. I would say its only a little bit colder than London for a few months in the winter. If you don't live high up in the mountains it is not at all bad... the coldest months are Dec. thru Feb - and you can always go to spain or portugal for those 3 months if you really hate the cold weather. One more thing - the summers in Zurich are absolutely wonderful... people go swimming in the lakes and its a very nice atmosphere. Switzerland also has the most advanced and ACCURATE public transportation i've ever seen anywhere in the world... I am seriously in love with the swiss way of life.. its clean fresh air... everything is perfect and they are not at all arrogant about it. In UK - systems are horrible... things fail all the time - recently the British govt. lost financial data, including bank account numbers for 25 million British families in their Postal System. it was a huge controversy and sorry but governments should not make such horrible mistakes. All that data was on 2 CD's which got lost in the Mail... by the HMRC... they still have not found those discs and are taking serious measures to protect those 25 million families from Identity related thefts if those 2 discs fall into the wrong hands. The public transportation in london also sucks big time - they are always repairing it and half the time they are delayed. Just getting in and out of Heathrow airport is a painful experience now with HUGE lines for immigration. Unless you are fabulously rich - at least worth $1 billion - its really not worth it to move to London anymore.

P.S. - I also found out that Austria has the fastest route to almost Immediate citizenship but you need $ 2.5 million for that so not sure if its worth it. Also Bulgaria is offering cheap citizenship for like $250,000 but again comes with a lot of restrictions as to where you can live and move around plus you have to spend 6 months a year in Bulgaria and its not a very fun country to live....

I am also tired of the lack of culture in America - thats why I want to move to europe.. its a wonderful place to live and so much beauty, culture and history that you can never get bored. And if you are wealthy - living in europe then the choices are endless....

mike25nyc

One thing I forgot to mention - if you are a Swiss resident - not even a citizen - then also you have freedom to move around in all Schengen countries. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A SWISS CITIZEN TO MOVE AROUND IN SCHENGEN. Please google what countries are part of the Schengen treaty - I believe there are 13 or 14 now... and most of them are also part of the EU.

Switzerland deliberately did not take EU membership because they want to keep their identity independant of the rest of Europe which seems to be getting messy now with all the free open immigration. I am all for such a country and by letting only wealthy or highly qualified people in - who are willing ti assimilate / integrate - dont really see anything wrong with it.

jdr

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mike25nyc Apologies accepted on 100 dollar notes. ;-))

Quote from Europa site.

How does being a resident of Switzerland change your nationality from being American ?

mike25nyc

JDR - no offense but I am giving some information to someone who is asking for it - don't understand why you are interefering and making this into some sort of a pissing contest?

But to answer your question - You can have US citizenship and still be a Swiss Permanent Resident - as long as you have Swiis Resident Permit (similar to a US greencard) then you have all rights to move freely anywhere in the SCHENGEN... and furthermore most Schengen countries are also part of the EU. If you want to travel to the UK - you can do so with a US passport anytime. It takes several years to get Swiss citizenship but there are no restrictions for traveling in most european countries as long as you have a SWISS RESIDENT PERMIT.

jdr

I am not interfering and just giving how I understand the rules of movement in the EU.
We will just have to agree to differ and YankeemovingAbroad can make his own mind up. ;-)

YankeemovingAbroad

Thank you mike for all your helpful advice.I was wondering how much time have you spent in France?I've heard comments/stories from friends, and read in news papers about the racial tensions and riots.I however don't have a clear picture where it all stim from.Surely some of the tension is in direct relation to the lack of economic resources for the new minority communities in addition to bias' against people of color in general found in the work place.

I hear more times than not it is quite difficult for qualified people of color to advance in their profession in France due to bias.Yet socially in matters of dating and marriage race seems to be less of a issue.That to me is very curious!! In all honesty I'm not sure living in France would appeal to me as much if working as a employee was apart of my game plan.But of course the same can be said about living in certain southern regions of the United States.

I plan to check into the possible options for immigrating to Europe and will include Switzerland.Certainly can't think of a more beautiful looking country than the Swiss nation and have heard about the precise nature in how that country run its government and transportation system.Who doesn't love a Swiss watch!!The information I have about their society is limited but can honestly say have never heard anything bad about Switzerland.They are known to be nuetral on just about everything political.Meeting some where in the middle in most things is not a bad way to live one's life.

mike25nyc

I have not spent too much time in France - you might be true about workplace discrimination in french society - they also hate americans seriously.. but you're going to see that all over Europe these days. The best way to tackle anti-americanism is to let them know on your own why you left the US to be in their country - then they are very welcoming. Europeans are much more humanitarian than Americans in my opinion... they do care for other cultures / races and relegions whereas the average white American only cares for himself. I've been all over the world and still find the US to be one of the most discriminating country in the world - its also highly seggregated based on race - no where in Europe will you find such race seggregation... and in Dating / relationships europeans are much more open minded than Americans.

When the US attacked Iraq - a large number of Americans supported the war.. and many still do... when UK went into iraq - none of the people supported it and there were lots of protests against it. You also have to remember that Europe does not have a blacks/white history like the US does... so they are not so affected.

With the US economy going the way it is - I would suggest you get out of there anyway if you are an investor... there is no way you can make money in the US for the next 10 years now.. its going to be very volatile and scary.

mike25nyc

Forgot to mention... if you really want to live in the UK - then as an American you can live there as long as you don't plan on taking up any public funds or doing any work in the UK besides investing. There are no restrictions for foreigners to invest in UK property / funds / businesses etc. But only restriction is you have to leave every 6 months and then re-enter anytime for another 6 months. This way you don't need to spend any money for immigrating there and can invest in the most optimal way to make money in UK. Also foreigners in the UK are only taxed on the income they make in the UK.. not what they make outside the country.

YankeemovingAbroad

No?? Would an American need to pretend to hate America in order for a Frenchman to accept me? I love America even if I dislike those who have run our government over the last 7 years. I've heard that the French like Americans but they don't like our government leaders(Bush).Do you really think the French can't seperate an American person from his/her government?

You stated that Europeans iyo are more humanitarian than Americans.What do you base that opinion on? No country in the world takes in more immigrants than America does.No country gives more financial aid to third world nations than America does.No country have given a better standard of life on par(despite our lack of national health care,which is very important and a big detraction from our greatness) to minorities and all citizens than currently exist here in the States.

So which countries in Europe, have minorities achieve positions of government power and economic power on par to what we have here in america?

I have allways said that given the choice of being liked or respected as a person ,it would be my druthers to be respected.Liking someone can change on a dime but respect is far reaching.I have yet to see respect for minorities(in the corporate world & government) in Europe compared to what currently exist here in America.

What is your opinion?

Nathu

Hello! Switzerland has not joined Schengen yet, because a couple of EU countries required more time to ratify the treaty. It probably will next November.

To own a Swiss business is not a reason for automatically getting a residence permit. The rich expats with individual tax deals must not do any business in the country, if I'm not mistaken.

From residence permit to Swiss citizenship leads a long road. If you don't have the right for facilitated naturalisation, it will be 12 years at least.

lcortez

However if the OP was to invest ina Schengen country,they could get a Schengen Visa,so long as they have at least 3 mths remaining on their origanol investment visa.
This would then enable free movemnt throughout Schengen for the life of the visa.With renewals this could be kept up until Residency or Citizenship is gained
Situation is easily solvable with a bit of lateral thinking