Guide for students

Everything You Need to Do After Getting Accepted to ETH Zurich (2023)

Acceptance email

Log into your eApply account and click on the program you applied for to view the decision.

Online info event about visa and entry into Switzerland

Key points from this event (2023)

Start the process by the end of May/ beginning of June. Even June end is still okay, but try to do it earlier.
For Zurich, the bank statement must be from a bank domiciled in Switzerland, which is accepted by “FINMA.” ETH will explain this to you in the info event.
The account must have at least CHF 21,000 for Zurich and CHF 24,000 for Basel.
The account must be your own (not of your parents)! Supportive letters from parents are not accepted despite any contrary information from the Embassies (I will explain this in the next section).

The Visa Process (After the visa info event)

Start the visa process after the Online info event about visas. Please follow whatever ETH says exactly. They know the visa process the best. They will provide you with their websites that have the information. This was the website for 2023: https://ethz.ch/en/studies/international/after-admission/immigration/visa.html

Some important things to keep in mind:

You need to apply for a student visa, which is a “National D Type Visa: Student with a stay in Switzerland of more than 90 days.”
The visa requirements are different in different “cantons” of Switzerland. You can think of cantons in Switzerland (like the cantons of Zurich, Vaud, Bern, Luzern, etc.) as the different states in India.
Most requirements are the same in each canton, but not all. For example, the financial status requirement is different in Zurich and Vaud. In Zurich, the bank statement must be in the student’s name, not their parents. But if you are going to EPFL in the canton Vaud, you can show the bank statement in your sponsor’s (e.g., parents’) account and a confirmation letter from them.
Reasons for contradictory information on the website of the Swiss Embassy in India
- As I mentioned before, different cantons have slightly different requirements.
- The embassy only has the general requirements on its website, not the canton-specific things.
- For example, on the Swiss embassy in India’s website, they haven’t mentioned that the bank account must be in the student’s name for the canton of Zurich. They say submitting a sponsor’s bank statement with a confirmation letter is okay.
- But please listen to whatever ETH Zurich tells you.
But there’s another slight issue. The embassy also mentions some things not mentioned by ETH. For example, according to the checklist of the embassy, you must provide “A solvency proof of the sponsor” and the Income Tax Return of your sponsor.
The rule of thumb is:
- Follow ETH: if both ETH and the embassy mention the document.
- Follow Embassy: if the document is only mentioned by the embassy.
Reason for this:
- After you submit the visa application, the first people to check it is the Swiss embassy in India.
- You have to satisfy their additional requirements as well so that your application gets forwarded to the Migration office of Zurich.
- The next step is for the Migration office to go through it. And they are the ultimate authority for issuing your visa (not the Swiss embassy in India).
- So, for the documents that overlap (like bank statements), strictly follow whatever ETH tells you.

Booking an appointment (mid May)

Here is the sad part: you have to go all the way to the Swiss embassy in Delhi for this. They don’t give out student visas in VFS globals around India. They only do it in the Swiss Embassy. (This was in 2023. I genuinely hope it changes soon.)
Book an appointment on this website: https://visa.vfsglobal.com/ind/en/che
If you select the option of a National D-type student visa, their website will only give you the option of booking an appointment at the embassy in New Delhi.
Try to book an appointment by mid May. All other Indian students will try to book an appointment after the online event. When I booked my visa appointment on May 20, I got the earliest appointment of June 15.
If you can’t book an early appointment, don’t worry. Many people had their appointments in July, and everything was fine. It would just be better for your mental health if you do this early.

Documents

There’s a list of documents on ETH’s website and the Swiss embassy in India’s website:

ETH (same link as before):
https://ethz.ch/en/studies/international/after-admission/immigration/visa.html
Embassy: https://www.eda.admin.ch/countries/india/en/home/visa/entry-ch/more-90-days/documents-national.html

The ETH link above also has all the steps and requirements. This website is what I was talking about earlier. Follow it exactly.

An Important Thing About the Documents

You need to make 3 sets of all the documents!
On the day of the appointment, you will be asked to submit all 3 visa application forms and 2 complete sets of documents.
The last set is for backup, but you still need to carry this.
There must be one original bank statement and the additional currency converted letter (explained in the next section, ‘Financial Proof’). The ones in the 2nd and 3rd sets can be photocopies. But one must be original.
Don’t throw away the third set. You might still need them for the residence permit.
Keep the documents in all three sets in the exact order as given in the Swiss embassy’s checklist.

Opening a Bank Account (ASAP after the visa info event)

This is the most time-consuming and frustrating part of the entire visa process. So get started with this as soon as possible.

Bank statement

To reiterate,
- The bank statement must be from a bank domiciled in Switzerland.
- It must have at least CHF 21,000 for Zurich and CHF 24,000 for Basel
In 2023, during my application process, the only two options were HSBC and Deutsche Bank.
Opening a bank account will take at least 1 week. So start this process as soon as possible.
You have to get a bank statement with the stamp and signature from the bank. And
You also need to get an additional letter from the bank that states your balance in Swiss Francs, Euros, or US Dollars. So, unfortunately, you have to make multiple trips to the bank.
Also, try to get the statement and the letter one week before my appointment. I’m not sure if this matters, but I still recommend doing this.

Solvency Proof of the Sponsor

Remember when I said follow the embassy if the document is only mentioned by the embassy? The following are the additional documents mentioned on the embassy’s list, and you have to provide these:

Written confirmation letter from the sponsor that he/she covers all the costs. Please explain distinctly the origin of the funds (loan with bank letter/family fortune/salary) and what is the relationship with the student
A copy of his/her passport (first and last page)
A solvency proof of the sponsor (Personal ITR: only ITR-V; Indian Income Tax Return Verification Form or Acknowledgement is accepted) for the last 2 assessment years
Bank account statement for the last three months, in format A4, with stamp and signature of Bank.

I have just copied and pasted the above points from the embassy checklist. Regarding point 3, many people were confused by “only ITR-V” because some people’s parents get ITR-I or ITR-II. But you can just use the ITR Acknowledgement, which does not have to be of ITR-V.

VISA Application Form:

The link to download the application form is available on the D-Checklist.
Answer all the questions according to your passport.
14. Number of travel documents = 1
19. and 20. Current occupation and Employer and employer’s address and telephone number
- If you have worked after graduating, fill in the details.
- If you have just graduated, you can just write that you are not working. Write the details of your educational institution for the next question.
- If you graduated in an earlier year but didn’t work, write something like: “Graduated in <year>. Not working since.” And for the next question, write the details of your bachelor’s institution even though you graduated in a previous year.
22. Duration of the intended stay: Write the minimum duration, not the maximum. For example, the minimum duration in MSc Physics is 18 months (3 semesters = 1.5 years). But the maximum duration is 6 semesters (3 years). So, you must write ‘18 months’.
23. Intended date of arrival: Don’t put in something too late. The validity of your visa will start from something around this date. Some people got this exact date, and some received an earlier or a later date. To give you an idea, the session for 2023 started on 19th Sept. So, I wrote 1st September as the date of arrival.
24. Probable address in Switzerland: You can write something like “Student room in Zurich.”
25. Number of entries requested: I checked “single entry” but got multiple entries on my visa. So, I don’t think this matters too much.
27. Family: You can leave this entire section blank.
28. Name and address of employer – educational institution – medical facility in Switzerland: ETH Zurich, Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zurich
30. Travel expenses and costs of living during the applicant’s stay are covered: You MUST select “by the applicant himself/herself.”

Letter of motivation, Confirmation of leaving, and Future plans

For all of these, keep it short. A few sentences are sufficient.

Curriculum vitae / language skills

Look at the ETH website. They have mentioned this: “Curriculum vitae in table form in German or English; list language skills in detail.”
Please don’t forget to write your language skills in the CV.
Also, in the embassy checklist, I have no idea what “(1 original + 1 copy)” means.

Acceptance/confirmation/registration letter from the school, university

Print out copies of the Acceptance Letter, Confirmation of Registration, and the Matriculation Confirmation

Proof of payment of the Swiss school/university

The ETH website has a link to an official pdf about how you need to pay the fees after the semester starts. Take printouts of this.

On the Day of the Appointment

Reach the embassy a little early. I reached 30 mins before mine.
You need to show a printout of your Appointment Letter that you receive from vfsglobal to the person at the gate.
You will get a locker to keep your personal belongings. So, yes. You can carry your phone, wallet, laptop, etc., and keep them in the locker. You don’t need to leave all this in your home/hotel room. These lockers are inside the gate but outside the actual building.
You are only allowed to carry the documents and the certificates (degree, 12th, 10th certificate, work certificate, etc.) with you.
There is a waiting area at the entrance. And there are multiple booths for conducting your visa appointment.
The waiting time is up to chance. Some people only had to wait until the time of their appointment, while others had to wait almost an hour.
When you enter, a person will ask you to make three sets and keep the documents in the order given in the embassy checklist. I urge you to do this in the comfort of your home.
The total duration of the appointment is roughly 10 minutes.
1st, you have to hand over your passport. And then, as mentioned previously, you will be asked to submit all 3 visa application forms and 2 complete sets of documents. The last set is just for backup, but you still need to carry this.
They will check your documents and ask some questions like why you chose ETH Zurich, what program you are joining, etc.
That’s pretty much it if everything all the documents are okay. At the end, they will tell you that:
- They will forward your application to the Migration Office of the Canton of Zurich.
- Then, after 6-8 weeks, you will receive an email with an “Authorization Letter” from the Canton, which ultimately confirms that your visa application is successful.
- Then, you are supposed to forward this email to the Swiss embassy in Delhi.
- And finally, you can submit your passport for the visa stamping process.
If something is missing, don’t panic. You will have the option to send it via email. You don’t have to travel all the way to Delhi again. But don’t rely on this option, especially with the really important documents. Most people in my year only had to use this because
But in reality, you can get the visa confirmation from the Canton of Zurich quicker than 6-8 weeks and get the visa stamped without the actual authorization letter—more on this in the next section.

Visa Confirmation from the Canton of Zurich

The embassy will tell you that the canton will send you the visa confirmation within 6-8 weeks. In reality, if all of your documents are correct, it takes around 3 weeks.
But you might not receive the confirmation email in 3 weeks.
I recommend using this Contact form of the Migration Office of Zurich to inquire about the status of your visa application.
https://www.zh.ch/de/migration-integration/kontaktformularmigrationsamt-ohne-zhnr.html
(As I repeatedly stated, this is what we did in 2023. Please look for the contact form on the canton’s website in case they changed this link or the entire procedure.)
In the contact form message, do mention your passport number as well.
I don’t know why there’s this delay of 6-8 weeks. I don’t know what/who causes it. But this method of using the contact form worked for us in 2023.
Their replies are in German.
Now, there are four types of replies you can get:
1. They tell you that your application is still being processed.
2. They inform you that something is missing from your documents and that you need to email those documents.
3. They reply with something in German that gets translated to: “We have overridden the authorization to issue visas on <date> to the responsible embassy. You can report there to pick up the visa as soon as possible.” The email is with an “authorization letter” attached.
4. They reply with something similar to the previous point but without the authorization letter attached.
What to do in each case:
1. Wait another week if you don’t get any further updates from the Canton. Use the contact form after one week.
2. Email those documents
3. Everything is okay. You can submit your passport to get the visa stamped.
4. Same as c. Don’t worry if you don’t have the authorization letter. You can still get your passport stamped. If you want, you can request the canton to send you the auth letter via the Contact Form.

Getting your Passport Stamped

Forward the email you received to the Swiss embassy in Delhi.
There are two options. You can either go to the nearest VFS Global or the embassy in Delhi.
They will ask you to carry the following document:
- Passport
- A copy of the authorization received from Switzerland (if received)
- Biometrics are not to be provided
- A copy of the email from the embassy in Delhi
- Visa fee:
  - In 2023, if you go to a VFS Global, the VFS service charge was Rs. 1798, and a convenience fee of Rs. 150. The courier charge (to get your passport delivered to your home) was Rs. 690. And you can pay an additional Rs. 345 for the SMS service for getting an SMS for all the updates. For example, passport received at Delhi, processing done at Delhi, passport shipped from Delhi, etc. So, all in all, the total is Rs. 2983.
  - I don’t know about the prices at the embassy. I think it is free at the embassy.
In 2023, the timings for the visa stamping at VSF Global are between 14:00 and 16:00
You should receive your passport within 3 or 4 days.

Housing (ASAP)

A huge luck factor is involved in getting housing in Zurich. Just be aware of this.

ETH Housing (in May)

To get a room from ETH, you should write an email to housing@ethz.ch about your interest in getting a house from ETH.
Then, they’ll send you a reply with a link to an online form to register on their housing website.
Now’s the waiting game. If they have rooms available, they’ll offer you a room. And their email will have all the necessary steps to take further.
Otherwise, you just have to wait. Sometimes, you never get a reply back 🙁
Why I wrote (in May) in the title:
- The thing about ETH Housing is that they are actually reserved for ESOP students (The Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Programme).
- They start to give out rooms to other students after they have given rooms to the ESOP students who applied to ETH Housing.
- Essentially, there is no “right” time to apply to this. There’s a huge luck factor. Many students do get it, but again, it’s pretty random.

Other websites

I don’t have much information about these websites because I got a room from ETH housing. You just have to look for apartments here and email each of them (or another contacting method provided on the website). I highly recommend not using your primary email for this because it will get flooded with junk.

Housing Websites: Beware of Scams. Another reason to not use your primary email is that you shouldn’t give your main email to potential scammers. Ask the people in the InSAZ groups. There is one general rule. If they ask you for money upfront, it is a scam. If you get a place from ETH, they do require payment of rent and security deposit upfront. But ETH won’t scam you. Here are a few websites:
Student Village is like a legendary set of student rooms near the ETH Hönggerberg campus. You have to be incredibly lucky to get a room here. Or you have to know someone there already who is moving out (or who knows someone else who is moving out).
- https://studentvillage.ch/en/
Facebook groups are another option. But again, beware of scams. Inquire with various people about any offer you receive.

Desperate situations

You can stay in an Airbnb for a few weeks when you come here. But yes, it’s going to be a bit expensive.
There are also hostels in Zurich where you can stay temporarily.
ETH will also give you some suggestions in their various online events.

An example of a scam

(This was when I was looking for a new place for the time after my second semester):

I applied to a place on flatfox that looked amazing. They replied back saying that they were interested in taking us (me and some friends) as their new tenants. This is already a slight red flag. Usually they would invite you for a viewing of the place. I was obviously elated when I read that. We, of course, asked about a viewing and they emailed us a booking.com link and said that we needed to schedule a viewing through that website (which is kinda weird). We went to that website, filled in some details, and on the next page it said that we needed to pay 4000 CHF. That instantly gave away that it’s a scam. But we inquired about it to those people anyway. And they gave some weird reason for why we needed to pay that. We obviously didn’t do it. In hindsight, I should’ve figured out that it was a scam sooner. Then we did some digging and figured out a few things. Here are some important takeaways from this story:

Again, they ask you for money upfront, it is most likely a scam. If you feel even a bit suspicious, ask about it on the InSAZ whatsapp group.
We found that the booking.com website WAS FAKE! They made a whole webpage that looked identical to the real website to scam people.
Be careful about giving out your personal information and don’t use the passwords you use for important stuff!
If they send you images of the place, check if it’s AI generated (I have seen AI generated images on a few house listings).
Also, use reverse image search on those pictures. This helped me out in detecting a few scams.
I even went through google street view just to make sure the views from the windows in the images lined fairly well with the street view.

Flight (ASAP)

As soon as you decide on what date to fly, book a flight. The prices won’t wait for you.

If you are flying from Delhi or Mumbai, I recommend taking the direct flight by Swiss Airlines. If you try to book on their website, they only have a 23 kg limit on your checked-in luggage. But if you use the student offered by Air India or via Lufthansa, you’ll be able to buy the ticket for cheaper and get more checked-in weight! (2 Suitcases of 23 Kgs each!)

Packing (Start of Aug)

Start buying things from the start of August. Packing and purchasing is an incredibly annoying step. The sooner you start, the better. Have a look at this list. It should give you some ideas.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BBs2Xt6s1zDLm7iGbnfe4p_0R6j–z3-IlXjfQ03zdE/edit?usp=sharing

Forex Card and Cash (Anytime in August)

Even though I wrote “Anytime in August,” try to get this in the 1st week of August. It’s fine if you can’t do it. I know people who did this one week before arriving in Zurich. It’s just that you’ll feel better if this task is done.
There are a bunch of services like Thomas Cook, BookMyForex, etc. Compare the exchange rates and choose the best one. They provide both cash and a Forex card.\
I recommend carrying at least CHF 1000 in cash and card. To be honest, I had even more in my forex card. It’s because opening a bank account is incredibly annoying here. It might take a few weeks to open a bank account. But at least CHF 1000 in each is good enough.

SIM Card

You can do this even after you arrive here. It’s not that annoying. But there is a sim provider called “Yallo Swipe.” You can download their app, fill out the details, and order a sim card directly to your housing in Zurich. I did this on the day of my flight and received the sim card 2 days later at my house in Zurich. There’s a lot of randomness here too. Some people got it way later than 2 days. Honestly, there are other better options than this and I recommend that you ask about this on the whatsapp group.

Getting to your new home from the Airport

If you sign up to the InSAZ Airport Pickup Initiative, someone from InSAZ will help you out with things after you land in Zurich.
I recommend getting the Swiss public transport pass at the airport after you land. You need to buy this anyway. If you have questions about this, ask on the whatsapp group.
The public transport in Zurich is absolutely fantastic. If you bought the pass, you can consider this.
I personally took a taxi when I arrived. Carry cash with you to pay for it. Fair warning, it’s going to be expensive. Like really expensive. I had to pay ~40 CHF for that taxi ride. I got the “Zurich is one of the most expensive cities in the world” experience as soon as I landed. But you’ll get used to seeing your money evaporating away in Zurich soon enough.

Conclusion

Of course, you’ll have a lot more questions about living here. But, by this time, you should have a mentor assigned to you. They will help you out from this point. I hope this document was helpful to you. I made it in 2023 because it was pretty difficult to find a lot of information about immigrating to Switzerland. There are so many websites and resources for people going to the US, Canada, or Germany. And I wished I had a document like this when I was going through all this. I guess this goes to show you just how selective ETH is and how getting accepted to it is an amazing feat. Pat yourself on the back! And don’t worry too much, everything will be alright. ETH is an amazing university, and you’ll have a lot of fun here!