Newcomer Area¶
This section is for new members of the GDD team — students, researchers, and staff who are arriving in Geneva, joining UNIGE, or both. If you have been here a while, you probably do not need these pages, though they are worth checking when something administrative comes up for the first time.
Arriving involves three separate tracks that run partly in parallel: getting the right to be in Switzerland, setting up a life in Geneva, and being onboarded at the university. They are handled by different offices and on different timelines, so they are kept on separate pages here.
Much of the content comes from the GDD Guide to Geneva, written by colleagues who went through the process themselves. Their first-hand accounts are genuinely useful, and they describe what happened in particular cases at a particular time — they are not authoritative procedure.
Verify anything time-sensitive
Prices, premiums, deadlines, tax rates, permit processes, and opening hours change. Every figure here has a date attached or a link to an official source. Check the official source and ask your UNIGE HR liaison or the UNIGE Welcome Center before acting on anything that costs money or has a deadline.
Reach out if you have content to add or update!
Where to start¶
- Before you arrive: Immigration & residency — the visa and permit process starts months ahead of everything else.
- Once you have a start date: Getting started at UNIGE and GDD — contract, ID card, email, salary.
- Once you are here: Settling in Geneva — phone, mail, housing, insurance, banking, and the rest of daily life.
The 14-day and 90-day clocks
Two deadlines start the moment you arrive: you must register your address with the OCPM within 14 days, and take out basic health insurance within 90 days. Both are covered on the pages below. Do not let either slip.
In this section¶
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Phone, mail and e-government, emergencies, housing, health insurance, banking, living costs and taxes, transport, language learning, activities, and shopping.
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Visas, permits, the documents to prepare, and first-hand accounts of the process for several appointment types.
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Getting started at UNIGE and GDD
Contract and onboarding, the multiservice card, email, salary, leave and holidays, and UNIGE staff benefits.
Still to add¶
- About GDD and our research principles — Guide
- Who's who and who to ask — Guide
- New team member checklist — Template/Checklist
- Accounts, access, software, mailing lists, calendars, and chat — Guide
- First week and first month — Template/Checklist
See the existing content map for the source inventory and outstanding review needs.