Switzerland movers between the UK and the Alps, with guides for the paperwork and the city kerb.
International Movers to and from Switzerland
A household moving between Britain and Switzerland meets Swiss customs at the border, a permit question for the person and, in a city, a rule on where the lorry may stand. Pick your route, your subject or your city further down. We’re an introduction service, not a mover. Your removal company will tell you what it needs from you and when.
Which guide do you need: into Switzerland, out of it, or across a neighbouring border?
Open the direction that matches your move. Moving in, the questions are whether you may live in Switzerland, what Swiss customs does with the load and how a lorry may drive there. Moving out, you leave your commune and give customs a list, and in the UK HMRC approves the relief before you claim it.
UK to Switzerland
From the UK into Switzerland
The UK to Switzerland removals guide begins with status. The State Secretariat for Migration treats UK nationals as third-country nationals since 1 January 2021, so a permit comes first. Customs relief and lorry rules follow. No official page we read gives a price for the move, so the guide quotes none.
Switzerland to UK
From Switzerland back to the UK
The Switzerland to UK removals guide covers deregistering from your commune, returning Swiss plates and the inventory list that Swiss customs asks for. At the UK end it explains HMRC’s ToR1 approval, and that a car must be reported within fourteen days of arriving.
Switzerland to Germany
Across the Swiss border with Germany or Spain
Two guides sit outside this section. Switzerland to Germany removals covers a move across the northern border, with Swiss and German customs for household goods and a car. Spain to Switzerland removals covers Swiss duty relief and the car’s Spanish exit.
Customs, pets, lorries
What do the customs, pet and lorry guides settle?
Customs, animals and heavy lorries each get their own guide, as any of them can shift a date or a route. Customs decides on duty relief at the entry office, a veterinary check applies to a dog or cat, and federal rules limit when and where a heavy lorry drives.
Duty relief on your furniture and boxes
The customs and transfer of residence guide sets out the Swiss customs authority’s rules. Goods are duty-free on a change of residence if you used them personally for at least six months. Declare on form 18.44, and note that an advance check is offered at only three offices: Mendrisiotto (Stabio-Confine), Vedeggio and Chiasso-Strada. Send the papers two working days before you cross. The authority says the goods may follow within two years of the move, and items that fail the six-month test go on a separate list to be cleared. Offices close for commercial goods on national holidays.
A dog or cat from the UK
The pet guide follows the veterinary office’s order: microchip first, then the rabies vaccination, then a wait of twenty-one days. Great Britain sits on its low-risk list. The animal is declared in person at a staffed crossing and shown at the red customs exit, and a dog is checked by a vet within ten days of import.
Heavy lorries on Swiss roads
The lorry rules and heavy vehicle fee guide applies to goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes. A distance-based fee is charged from entry to exit, and a ban runs from 22:00 to 05:00. A permit for a trip from abroad comes from the canton of entry, and no source we read exempts household removals.
A car in the move
No separate car guide exists, and whether there will be one is undecided. Its customs counterpart covers a car’s first crossing in one section.
Which city
Which city or commune sets your deadline, and how much notice does the truck need?
Twelve places are covered so far, and the notice differs: ninety-six hours in Neuchâtel, seventy-two hours in Meyrin, four working days in Lucerne, seven days in Lugano, seven working days in Lausanne, eight in Basel, ten working days in Geneva and ten days in Yverdon-les-Bains, where the pedestrian centre has its own three-working-day permit. Zurich splits by zone, seven working days in the Blue Zone and three in the White. Bern asks eight working days for both permit and signs, and Winterthur and St. Gallen state no period. Each point below comes from the page that place's guide cites.
Zurich
Bays: the city police let you reserve bays for up to 14 days. One or two adjoining bays held for one day cost CHF 120 to 170 (Zurich guide).
Year end: a request valid between 24 December 2026 and 8 January 2027 must be in by 17 December 2026.
Closed zones: a day permit lets the named vehicle load and unload, not park.
Geneva
Permission: a move needs permission for increased use of public space, filed at least ten working days ahead (Geneva guide).
Fee: the cantonal tariff gives CHF 10 per square metre for up to seven days, in a 2018 text that allows adjustment.
Signs: a reservation for a move is limited to eight days, and signs must stand three days before. They are requested separately.
Basel
Signs: the canton lends mobile no-parking signs, ordered online at least eight days ahead. They cost CHF 5 each a day, and CHF 50 if the police set them out (Basel guide).
Reach: the page covers moves to or within Basel-Stadt, Riehen and Bettingen.
Core zone: anyone may handle goods there from Monday to Saturday, 05:00 to 11:00.
Lucerne
Parking: apply at least four working days ahead. One to three spaces for a day cost CHF 110, and the fee is due even if unused (Lucerne guide).
Old Town: loading is allowed Monday to Saturday, 6 am to 10 am. A one-off permit costs CHF 10.
Lugano
Police permit: file at least seven days ahead, because the system takes no shorter notice. The fee is CHF 70, plus CHF 10 a day for each space (Lugano guide).
Old centre: delivery vehicles enter weekdays 7:00 to 10:00 and Saturdays 7:00 to 9:00. The page does not say a house move qualifies.
Bern
Permit: a moving permit for the inner city, or for standing in a stopping or parking ban, is free, and its form asks for the order eight working days ahead (Bern guide).
Signs: order them at least eight working days before the move, from a regional removal firm or the cantonal police signage unit.
Not confirmed: who applies when a removal company does the move, and whether the permit lets a lorry into the Old Town.
Lausanne
Bays: the city police reserve marked bays, at least seven working days ahead (Lausanne guide).
Fee: CHF 130 plus VAT for the signs, with meter and blue zone charges from CHF 8 a half-day to CHF 24 a day.
Abroad: for a move to another country the form page asks for cash in advance.
Winterthur
Bays: the city blocks marked bays on request, and its works department sends the bill (Winterthur guide).
Old Town: a general driving ban applies, with parking only on approved private ground.
Not confirmed: a notice period and a price for a move.
St. Gallen
Police: tell the city police so public bays stay free, and order the signs from them by phone for a fee (St. Gallen guide).
Blue zone: a car may stand overnight once a calendar week without a permit.
Neuchâtel
Signs: a fee of CHF 100 plus CHF 5 a sign, with at least two signs, requested 96 hours ahead, weekends and holidays not counted (Neuchâtel guide).
Registration: the move is reported to the residents' office within 14 days.
Meyrin
Signs: CHF 50 plus CHF 70 a sign, paid at the town hall counter before the request is processed (Meyrin guide).
Notice: 72 hours for the request, and the form wants the signs standing three days ahead.
Yverdon-les-Bains
Reservation: a parking space on an ordinary street is asked at least 10 days ahead (Yverdon-les-Bains guide).
Pedestrian centre: a one-day permit at CHF 20 with signs included, asked three working days ahead. Keep the two rules apart.
Settle who applies before you accept a quote, since no city page here names the applicant for a removal-company move.
All 26 cantons
Which guide covers your canton?
Every canton is named below with the guide that covers it. Where the guide only names the town, no rule is given for it: that city or commune has not been read, and the customs, pet and lorry guides apply across the country.
Zurich: the Zurich guide and the Winterthur guide.
Bern: the Bern guide, which names Thun and Biel/Bienne without a rule, and Köniz and Fribourg with the rule their councils publish.
Vaud: the Lausanne guide and the Yverdon-les-Bains guide; the Lausanne guide names Montreux, Vevey, Nyon, Morges and Pully without a rule.
Aargau: named in the Zurich guide (Aarau, Baden, Wettingen), no rule read.
St. Gallen: the St. Gallen guide.
Geneva: the Geneva guide and the Meyrin guide.
Lucerne: the Lucerne guide.
Valais: named in the Lausanne guide (Sion, 37,844 residents) and here (Zermatt, 6,113 residents, whose municipal website could not be read on 3 November 2026), no rule read.
Ticino: the Lugano guide, which names Bellinzona and Locarno.
Neuchâtel: the Neuchâtel guide.
Fribourg: named in the Bern guide, with the ten days its council asks for a move reservation.
Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt: the Basel guide, which covers Basel-Stadt, Riehen and Bettingen and names the towns of Basel-Landschaft without a rule.
Thurgau, Graubünden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus: named in the St. Gallen guide, no rule read.
Solothurn: named in the Bern guide, no rule read.
Schwyz and Zug: named in the Zurich guide and, for Schwyz, in the Lucerne guide, no rule read.
Uri, Obwalden and Nidwalden: named in the Lucerne guide, no rule read.
Schaffhausen: named in the Winterthur guide, no rule read.
Jura: named in the Lausanne guide, no rule read.
Living somewhere else? Put the exact address and the nearest city on your enquiry, and ask which commune decides.
All guides
All Switzerland guides: direction, subject or city
Official pages are listed at the foot of every guide. A town that is not shown here can go on the enquiry beside its nearest city, and the canton list above says which guide names it.
Open your direction first, then the customs guide for the goods.
Read the city guide once you know the commune, because notice periods and fees differ from city to city.
Are household goods duty-free when moving to Switzerland?
They can be, if your residence moves there and you used the goods personally for at least six months, says the customs authority.
You declare them on form 18.44 at the entry office.
How much notice does Geneva want for a moving truck?
Geneva wants the application filed at least ten working days before the occupation begins.
The page is silent on who files when a removal company runs the move.
How early must I reserve truck parking in Lucerne or Zurich?
Lucerne asks at least four working days. Zurich asks seven working days for Blue Zone bays and three for White Zone bays.
Lucerne charges CHF 110 for one to three spaces for a day, and Zurich gives CHF 120 to 170 for one or two bays.
Do Lausanne, Bern, Winterthur and St. Gallen have a guide?
Yes. Each has a guide from its city pages, read on 1 November 2026.
Bern, Winterthur and St. Gallen say plainly which details are not confirmed. The customs, pet and lorry guides apply across the country.
Is there a car guide for Switzerland?
No. Whether one will be written is undecided.
The customs guide has a section on a car at its first crossing.
Which communes below 50,000 residents have a guide of their own?
Neuchâtel, Meyrin and Yverdon-les-Bains, because each council publishes a fee and a notice period for a move.
Köniz and Fribourg are named in the Bern guide with the rule their councils publish. Other places are named in the guide of the nearest city, with their population.
Tell us about your Swiss move
Add both addresses and the Swiss commune, then your dates and a rough inventory. Tell us about any dog, cat or car, and whether the Swiss home sits inside a city centre.
International Removals Companies is an enquiry and introduction service run by DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD, in partnership with AGM Group. We don't move goods ourselves: the removal company quotes for your move and carries it out, so check its credentials and terms before you book. Our service is free. Discuss the quotation and booking terms directly with the removal company.