sey085

Once you have an apartment, you can apply for a residence permit. Once you've applied for a residence permit, you can apply for a bank account. And, once you have a bank account, you can finally pay the rent and deposit on your apartment, sign up for renters' insurance, fire insurance, and health insurance, get internet access, etc. Having an honest-to-god Swiss bank account means that you are finally established as more than a transient visitor to the country. Also, it means that you have a Swiss bank account, which makes you just a little bit more like James Bond. It was thus with great excitement that I went to the Post Office a couple weeks ago to open an account. The Post Office? Where else! For a country with such a reputation for banking, there sure aren't a lot of banks in Lausanne. Actually, I think there are lots of banks; there just aren't a lot of banks for the hoi polloi. You basically have your choice between PostFinance, UBS (which is currently ...