During the first 15 days after your arrival in Switzerland, you need to apply for the permit of residence to the department of Contrôle des Habitants of the municipality (in french “Commune”). In the canton of Vaud, there are many communes, divided in 10 areas. The commune where you have to apply is the one your address belongs to. Attention: The address which you’ll declare doesn’t need to be permanent, it can be temporaray (e.g. hotel, house of a friend/relative) but when you’ll change it you need to declare the change of address. The necessary documents you need to submit are the following:
- Passport or identity card with latin characters.
- Colored identity photos (usually you need 2 but it’s better to have more with you just in case). In general you can find a machine for istant phots, either in the building of the commune (but not in every one), or at the gare of Lausanne or elsewhere in the city center (the cost is around 8 swiss francs for 4 photos).
- A document from the responsible for your doctoral program RH department (Human Resources). In order to receive this document, you need to have already signed the work contract.
After you apply for the permit of residence, ask for a certificate of residence (in french Attestation de Résidence). You can receive it the next day and you can make multiple copies od it to use it whenever they ask you your address (e.g. at the bank).
Do not forger to have with you enough money, around 200 swiss francs, since the permit of residence (~100CHF) and the certificate of residence (~12CHF) cost and the prices differ from commune to commune.
For more information or question you can visit the official site of canton Vaud or the Population Service [Avenuede Beaulieu 19, 1014 Lausanne, Tel. +41 21 316 4646, Email: [email protected] (general questions) και [email protected] (precise questions)]
In case of a problem, you can also ask question to the secretary of your doctoral program or to the secretary of your laboratory.