Young professionals (trainees)

Switzerland has concluded trainee agreements with several countries. These agreements enable young foreign professionals from the countries listed below to spend a limited period of time living and working in Switzerland to broaden their professional and language skills:

Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Philippines, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, USA

To qualify as a trainee, you must have completed vocational training or tertiary education. Canada also accepts students who wish to spend time abroad as part of their education, whereas Japan only admits graduates. The age limit is 35 years (Australia, New Zealand, Russia, USA: 30 years).

Employers should send trainees an employment contract and a detailled outline of the training programme in triplicate as well as the official application form. Once this has been completed, employers are not required to do anything further. Additional information on this admission procedure is available in the Instructions for Young professionals (trainees).

Foreign trainees are responsible for submitting their own application as part of the bilateral trainee agreement. The application for admission must be submitted to the competent authorities in the trainee’s country of origin. The competent authorities require the official Swiss application form (in duplicate) and the employment contract with trainee programme (also in duplicate), as well as a curriculum vitae, a copy of the trainee’s passport, diploma(s), employer references, a character reference and a translation of the documents. All other information on submitting an application can be obtained from the competent authorities in the trainee’s country of origin.