One of the most challenging relocations we handled recently was that of a family of three moving from Shanghai in China to Zug in Switzerland. At first glance, this family’s relocation looked fairly easy – the only obvious challenge was the fact that the Rotkreuz-Zug region is notoriously hard to find a home in because of its low taxes.
However, things were far more complicated than they seemed.
The family consisted of two parents, a child, a German Shepherd and ….. two corn snakes!
While the snakes were non-venomous, they still needed special moving procedures and substantial paperwork – like other European countries, Swiss law is very strict when it comes to pets, especially those brought in from another country.
The 6-year old child had a speech impediment, so special arrangements for education had to be made.
Additionally, the family wanted to bring along their live-in nanny, whom the child was very attached to. This is not widely known, but in Switzerland, unlike other European countries, it is almost impossible to get a work permit for a live-in house aid.
The family needed to move within four weeks and had booked temporary accommodation for one month only.
An additional challenge came up (as it almost always does despite careful planning): given the size of their dog, they needed larger-than-usual temporary accommodation, much larger than normally available in the Rotkreuz-Zug area.