Living in Geneva as an expat

The office is the Office cantonal de la population et des migrations (OCPM), route de Chancy 88, 1213 Onex, phone +41 22 546 46 46. Its counters open only by appointment, for steps that cannot be done online or by post(ge.ch OCPM, checked 21 Oct 2026). Most procedures run through an e-démarches account on ge.ch.

Anyone wishing to settle in Geneva informs the OCPM within 14 days of arrival. The procedure depends on nationality, and since 2021 UK nationals follow the non-EU/EFTA route(ge.ch arrival, checked 21 Oct 2026). The general steps are in registering at your commune and B, L and C permits explained.

EU/EFTA nationals with a job in Geneva

• A contract of more than three months needs a residence permit with gainful activity, filed by the employee or the employer before work starts. With more than four months, work may begin once the complete file reaches the OCPM(ge.ch EU/EFTA permit, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• The file needs a colour copy of a valid ID and a copy of the lease, or the landlord’s AL form for a sublet(ge.ch EU/EFTA permit, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Up to 364 days gives an L permit; one year or more, or an open-ended contract, gives a B permit valid for five years(ge.ch EU/EFTA permit, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Non-EU/EFTA nationals follow separate OCPM procedures. Immigration lawyers and relocation agencies in Geneva are listed in the directory.

How the market works. The canton’s newcomer guide points to property portals, the régies (property management agencies) and the local press. Applicants usually need an OCPM residence certificate, an extract from the debt-enforcement register (extrait du registre des poursuites) and liability insurance. Staff of international organisations, missions and NGOs can turn to the Centre d’Accueil de la Genève Internationale (CAGI)(ge.ch housing, checked 21 Oct 2026). On deposits, see rental deposits in Switzerland.

Geneva counts the kitchen as a room. OCSTAT gives flat sizes in pièces, kitchen included(OCSTAT rent statistics, checked 21 Oct 2026). A Geneva 4-room flat has three rooms besides the kitchen; German-speaking Switzerland usually leaves the kitchen out of the count.

Very few empty flats. On 1 June 2026, 427 flats stood empty in the City (0.37%) and 793 in the canton (0.31%); Carouge was at 0.25%, Lancy at 0.12% and Cologny at 0.54%(OCSTAT vacancy survey, checked 21 Oct 2026). In May 2025 a free-market 4-room flat in the City averaged CHF 1,744 a month, net of charges. Flats let to new tenants averaged CHF 2,006 across the canton, and cooperative members paid CHF 1,010(OCSTAT rent statistics, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Districts and neighbouring communes

OCSTAT publishes rents for the City’s 16 statistical sectors(OCSTAT rent statistics, checked 21 Oct 2026). The surrounding communes are separate municipalities with their own tax rates(ArCA-2026, checked 21 Oct 2026). Housing stock figures in the table are for the end of 2025(OCSTAT Mémento 2026, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Living in France or Vaud

At the end of 2025, 116,195 foreign cross-border commuters (frontaliers) worked in the canton. Of the 21,958 new cross-border permits issued in 2025, 65.8% went to residents of Haute-Savoie and 18.9% to residents of the Ain(OCSTAT Mémento 2026, checked 21 Oct 2026). A foreign national living abroad needs a cross-border permit (G permit) from the OCPM, and chooses once, within three months of starting work, between the home country’s health insurance and Swiss insurance(ge.ch G permit, checked 21 Oct 2026). See also Nyon in canton Vaud, Carouge, and home-search agents in Geneva.

For context, the median gross salary in the canton was CHF 7,893 a month in 2024 (40-hour week), and consumer prices rose 0.1% from December 2024 to December 2025(OCSTAT Mémento 2026, checked 21 Oct 2026). Geneva has the highest average adult health premium of any canton in 2027, CHF 610.60 a month against CHF 487.60 for Switzerland(FOPH 2027 premiums, checked 21 Oct 2026).

City crèche fees depend on household income and are billed 11 times a year(Ville de Genève crèche fees, checked 21 Oct 2026). The radio and TV fee is CHF 335 per household in 2026 and CHF 312 from 1 January 2027(Serafe, checked 21 Oct 2026). Taxes are covered in the next section.

The canton levies 47.5 centimes per franc of its basic income and wealth tax, plus one centime for home care(LCACant, checked 21 Oct 2026). Each commune adds its own centimes additionnels. For 2026 the City of Geneva levies 45.49, Carouge 40, Lancy 47, Vernier 50 and Onex 50.5; Cologny and Genthod have the canton’s lowest rate, 25(ArCA-2026, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Tax at source on a B or L permit

Employers deduct tax at source from the salary of foreign employees without a C permit; the scales already include flat-rate deductions such as pension contributions and health premiums. A later ordinary assessment (taxation ordinaire ultérieure, TOU) is compulsory for residents earning CHF 120,000 gross a year or more, or with taxable wealth or property. Others can request one by 31 March of the following year, and it then applies every year. Cross-border workers earning at least 90% of their worldwide income in Switzerland can also request it(ge.ch TOU, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Tax returns are due on 31 March. An extension, requested online until 31 October, costs CHF 20 to CHF 60 depending on its length(ge.ch tax return, checked 21 Oct 2026). See how to find an English-speaking tax adviser or tax advisers in Geneva.

Children domiciled in Geneva who are 4 by 31 July start the first primary year (1P); the date is strict. Residents get an invitation in early February; families who arrive later call the cantonal school office (DGEO) on 022 327 05 20. In 1P children attend four days a week, and pupils normally go to the school near home(ge.ch school enrolment, checked 21 Oct 2026). Pupils new to French can join welcome classes (classes d’accueil), which had 687 primary pupils in 2025/26(OCSTAT Mémento 2026, checked 21 Oct 2026).

International and bilingual schools

The canton’s register of authorised private schools includes, in alphabetical order: Collège du Léman (Versoix), Deutsche Schule Genf (Vernier), Ecole Internationale de Genève (Ecolint), Ecole Moser (Chêne-Bougeries, bilingual), Ecole Suédoise Internationale de Genève (Meyrin), GES School (Genthod), Institut Florimont (Petit-Lancy), Institut International de Lancy and The British School of Geneva (Châtelaine), plus several bilingual French-English Montessori schools(ge.ch private schools, checked 21 Oct 2026). Curricula and admissions: international schools in Geneva and international schools in Switzerland.

Crèches and the City’s early-childhood office

In 2025 the canton had 134 crèches with 8,413 places, 41 places per 100 pre-school children (29 in 2015)(OCPE 2025, checked 21 Oct 2026). City residents apply online through the Bureau d’information petite enfance (BIPE), rue du Cendrier 8; parents who only work in the City apply first in their own commune(Ville de Genève BIPE, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Fees in City-subsidised crèches follow household income. From August 2026 one 10-hour day a week costs CHF 21.60 to CHF 382.40 a month on scale A; scale B, for people exempt from Swiss income tax on their earnings, reaches CHF 478. A second child pays half, a third nothing(Ville de Genève crèche fees, checked 21 Oct 2026). See daycare in Geneva.

Since 1 December 2025 the Centrale Santé Genève (CeSaGe) has been the canton’s entry point for urgent care that is not life-threatening. It directs callers to a pharmacy, a home-visit doctor, a mobile team or an emergency centre, and the adult on-call surgeries of the doctors’ association (AMGe) are reached only through it(ge.ch CeSaGe, checked 21 Oct 2026).

The HUG adult emergency department answers on +41 22 372 81 20. Children up to 16 go to the paediatric emergency department; people aged 75 and over without injury or danger to life can use the geriatric unit at the Hôpital des Trois-Chêne, 8:00 to 19:00. Paediatricians’ on-call: 0844 022 022(HUG, checked 21 Oct 2026). For English-speaking doctors, see this guide and doctors and dentists in Geneva.

Health insurance within three months

Basic health insurance (LAMal) is compulsory from the moment you take up residence in Switzerland(ge.ch arrival, checked 21 Oct 2026). In Geneva the insurance certificate goes to the cantonal health insurance service (SAM) at the latest three months after taking up residence(ge.ch SAM, checked 21 Oct 2026). The 2027 canton averages are CHF 610.60 a month for adults, CHF 453.00 for ages 19 to 25 and CHF 157.70 for children(FOPH 2027 premiums, checked 21 Oct 2026). See Swiss health insurance for expats.

The zone 10 pass covers buses, trolleybuses, trains, trams and the Mouettes genevoises boats. For 2026 the adult pass costs CHF 500 a year or CHF 70 a month in second class (CHF 850 and CHF 119 in first). Young people aged 6 to 24, seniors and disability pension recipients pay CHF 400 a year or CHF 45 a month(Unireso, checked 21 Oct 2026).

The canton pays the full annual pass for residents under 18 and those aged 18 to 24 in education, and half for AVS/AI pensioners living in Geneva, after an online application. For trips into France, Léman Pass annual passes combine zone 10 with zones across the border(Unireso, checked 21 Oct 2026).

The tpg network counted 222 million boardings in 2024. Geneva Airport handled 17.8 million commercial passengers in 2025, and the canton had 400 cars per 1,000 residents, against 535 for Switzerland(OCSTAT Mémento 2026, checked 21 Oct 2026).

OCSTAT’s structural-survey figures for 2020 to 2024 count 117,657 French speakers and 22,559 English speakers among the City’s 156,953 residents aged 15 and over, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German. People can name several main languages; international civil servants, diplomats and their families are excluded(OCSTAT structural survey, checked 21 Oct 2026). The shares are our calculation.

The cantonal integration office (Bureau de l’intégration et de la citoyenneté, BIC) runs the français & intégration site, which lists low-cost French and literacy courses from non-profit providers by level, schedule and place, in five languages including English(ge.ch BIC, checked 21 Oct 2026). Private courses: language schools and French courses. For permit language levels, see C permit requirements.