Signing on and registration

You should notify the regional employment centre (RAV) of your unemployment as early as possible, but no later than on the first day for which you wish to claim unemployment insurance benefits. To sign on with the public employment service (RAV) you will need your OASI number (on your OASI card or health insurance card).

You must notify the appropriate RAV of your unemployment. This can be done online Signing on with the public employment service (RAV) or in person.

After signing on with the RAV, you can register on Job Room and create a user account (see page Registration). Only people who have registered with the RAV as job seekers can use the following Job Room eServices and functions:

• Online submission of the ʻProof of efforts undertaken to find workʼ form
• Online submission of the ʻDetails of insured personʼ form
• Uploading of application documents
• Setting up a job alert
• Setting up job watchlists

Job Room contains Switzerland’s largest job portal. By registering on the platform, you benefit from advanced information and can view job vacancies reported by employers as part of their job vacancy notice obligation five working days before they are published on other job portals or websites.

The RAV is responsible for:

• providing personal advice to job seekers before they become unemployed or during their unemployment;
• reintegrating unemployed persons into the labour market as quickly as possible;
• providing information and granting benefits according to labour market measures;
• discontinuing benefits if the unemployed person does not comply with the general requirements (e.g. if the person does not make sufficient efforts to find a job)

Within 15 days of reporting your unemployment to the RAV, you will be invited for an initial consultation. Please bring the following documents with you:

• OASI insurance card or health insurance card
• Official identity document (ID card, passport, foreign national identity card)
• Proof of efforts undertaken to find work
• All other information required by the RAV 
• The ʻPD U2ʼ form if, as a citizen of an EU/EFTA country, you are already receiving unemployment benefits from an EU/EFTA country and are looking for a job in Switzerland.

The RAV will try to help you avoid becoming unemployed. RAV personnel consultants maintain strong networks with employers in your region. This means that they often know about job vacancies at an early stage. Therefore, do not hesitate to contact the RAV to help you look for a job during the notice period.

The ALK pays the daily unemployment allowance and is responsible for information concerning:

• entitlement to daily unemployment allowance;
• calculation of daily unemployment allowance (incl. temporary employment);
• termination of entitlement in the event of self-induced unemployment (e.g. if you leave your old job without having a new one)

During the process of registering with the RAV, you will be informed about the available public and private unemployment funds. You are free to choose any fund, but are then tied to this fund for the entire period (two years). You may only change the fund under certain conditions.

The fund will clarify your entitlement and then pay the relevant benefits each month. In order to receive unemployment benefits, you must provide your chosen fund with the following documents:

• the ʻApplication for unemployment benefitsʼ form
• employer’s certificates from the last two years
• other information required by the unemployment insurance fund
• the ʻPD U2ʼ form if you have come to Switzerland from an EU/EFTA country

Always submit the necessary details and documents as early as possible and in full, so that your unemployment insurance fund can determine and pay out the benefits to which you are entitled as quickly as possible.