You say that your husband is from Sweden but in your Profile you say he is Swiss.

Haha, wow! This move has me more stressed than I realized. Funny is he hates when people confuse  him for being Swiss (the words Swedish and Swiss are very similar in Spanish). He is in fact Swedish. All three of us have Swedish passports. Any advice?

Hi Tracy,

There are thousands of frontaliers crossing the border in each direction every day, so this category  is a very common one. Being an EU (Swedish) citizen, your husband can live and look for work anywhere within the EU and the Shengen area. Switzerland has one of the lowest unemployment rates across the EEA, so finding a “job” is not that difficult, especially if he speaks the local language (French for Geneva area). As in any other job market, the rest depends mostly on his set of skills and experience. 

You are right saying that everything (especially rent, food, health insurance, communication services - mobile, internet, etc.) costs more in Switzerland than just across the border.

For childcare, there are both day crèches and au pairs, both in France and Switzerland. My patients tell me that some Swiss crèches happily take the babies as young as 6-7 months old and some companies/employers have some arrangements for their employees, so might be worth checking with your work HR as well.

Best of luck!

Slava, acupuncturist

Well, Tracy, you are even more stressed than you think. The words in Spanish are "Sueco" for Swedish and "Suizo" for Swiss. Don't sound that similiar to me.

Why would residing in France make it harder for your husband to find a job (I suppose you mean in Geneva)? This is Europe, not the US. The only wall here was torn down in 1989. His place of residence should not make any difference, only when it comes to paying taxes.

It is not impossible to find day care in Geneva, it is just harder, and it is definitely costlier than in France. The simplest, frankly, is to get an au pair or a nonoo in the Pays de Gex, and it will be definitely less costly and less administratively complicated than in Switzerland. You can look for ads in "leboncoin.fr" or in the CERN community website "https://marketplace.web.cern.ch/login"

If you want your daughter to have a social experience, in a structured environment, there are creches in Saint Genis, if you want some place close to the aiport. For Ferney Voltaire, look here:

https://www.ferney-voltaire.fr/enfance-jeunesse/famille/petite-enfance

When your daughter turns three, she will be able to enroll in the ecole maternelle of the French school system, the best option by far, thought it will only take care of her on a fixed schedule, from 8:30 to 16:30, extendible to 18:00. Where she enroll depends on the town where you decide to live.

The first place where you should look for advice on both matters, though is the Human Relations department of your employer. Unless you will be working for a very small enterprise, they should have knowldegeable answers to your questions.

Thank you both!

I just keep reading about employers not wanting to hire frontaliers, etc. I haven't been there so I only go on what I read. So, good to have you guys clear it up!

@JR haha I speak fluent Spanish and have lived in 12 countries (many Spanish speaking, I left the US in 2006) so I know very well the difference between Sueco and Suizo. However, trust me from experience people ALWAYS say he's Suizo. Actually, even English speakers will think he is Swiss. Or know he is Swedish and mention things like watches and chocolates, and we have to correct them that it's actually ABBA and Ikea!

Thanks again both of you, and I will check out the links for the daycare options. I have done many moves in my life, but this is the first one with a baby, and it defintitely adds a level of difficulty!

I think to have the solution for the job and the daycare! Please send me personal message I will tell you more and he could start very soon working 

Just for the record, the last post on this thread is two years’ old – and  much has changed since then.

Hye,

I agree, I lived in Switzerland for a while and my friends in Spain confused "Suiza" and "Suecia" all the time ;)

I've heard that for EU citizens  it's more difficult to find a job in Gva if you live in France instead of Switzerland. We live in France. My eldest daughter (18) applied for two jobs last summer and it didn't work because of that (one of the employers was a friend, so it must be true).

Finding a place in crêche both in France and Switzerland is difficult. For this reason in France there is the system of "assistantes maternelles" or "nounous agréées". It's basically ladies who mind several kids and have had some training and supervison from the authorities. You' ll deduct part of the pay from your taxes. French admin is a pain though, but you get used to it (kind of)

Best of luck!