Personal Assistance in Switzerland

Hello Olivia,



First off, on behalf of everybody at Expat-blog, welcome on board. I hope your experience here will be both enjoyable and informative.

Regarding your idea, while it's great to think about opening one's own business and being your own boss your idea may not be as easy to put into action as you may at first think.

In most countries, if you're planning on charging for any services related to immigration, visas, etc., at the very least you'd probably be considered an Immigrations Consultant and as such be required to have some kind of license and/or membership in some regulatory body such as an Association of Immigrations Consultants. These are issues you'll really need to investigate more thouroughly before you bolt out of the starting gate.

Then too there is the question of legal liability arising from your services. For example, you promise someone that theirs is a very simple case and that you'll have no problem in obtaining the visa they require - then you make some mistake and because of it the visa is refused; your client would then have a legal right to bring on a civil action for damages. You'd need some kind of insurance coverage for such things no doubt.

Now, regarding "cross-cultural counselling" which is what assisting expats adapt to their new surroundings, the culture, the workplace, customs and traditions, etc., that too might be harder than you might think. You'd have to have a broad knowledge of many different cultures in order to understand exactly what it is that each new client needs most. You really couldn't offer a "one-size-fits-all" sort of service since the adaptational needs of someone coming from Tibet certainly wouldn't be the same as someone coming from the USA or an EU nation.

Just a few thoughts!

Cheers,
William James Woodward, EB Experts Team

Thank you very much for your warm welcome and for your thoughts.
You've pointed out some important facts and details which needed to be considered carefully.

Hi!

That sounds as a great idea! For me one of the toughest things here in Switzerland is finding a job. Maybe you could provide help on that...
Good luck
have a nice day
l.

hello i think i really need your help i am in Geneva since 4 months.contact me please