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Mandatory Basic Health Insurance (Krankenkasse) — the 90-day enrollment rule
Document Checklist
Valid passport or national identity card
Issued by: Your home-country passport authority
Required: Yes — for every applicant, including each enrolled family member
Insurers normally accept a scanned copy for online enrollment.
Anmeldebestätigung / attestation de domicile / certificato di domicilio
Residence-registration confirmation
Issued by: Commune residents' registration office (Einwohnerkontrolle / Contrôle des habitants / Controllo degli abitanti) where you will live
Required: Yes — the issue date is the canonical start of the three-month enrollment countdown
Issued within days of the in-person commune registration. The issue date — not the arrival date — anchors the 90-day deadline.
L / B / C / G permit
Residence-permit decision or interim communal confirmation
Issued by: Cantonal migration office (Migrationsamt / Office cantonal de la population et des migrations / Ufficio della migrazione)
Required: Required to identify the canton of residence; the interim communal confirmation is accepted while the formal permit decision is pending
Permit decisions can lag behind the commune registration. Insurers accept the communal interim confirmation in the meantime.
AHV / AVS / OASI number (13-digit, 756.XXXX.XXXX.XX)
Swiss social-security number
Issued by: Federal Compensation Office / Caisse fédérale de compensation — assigned at first permit issuance or first employment in Switzerland
Required: Used by the insurer for system look-up and by the cantonal authority for cross-reference
If the number has not yet been assigned, the insurer accepts a placeholder and adds it once issued.
IBAN (LSV / DD payment)
Bank account details for direct debit
Issued by: Your Swiss or SEPA-area bank
Required: Optional — alternative is a monthly paper invoice (Rechnung / facture / fattura) at a small surcharge
Direct debit is the standard premium-collection method. A Swiss IBAN is usual; some insurers accept SEPA IBANs.
Wahlrecht / droit d'option / diritto di opzione
Choice of health insurance system form (cross-border workers only)
Issued by: Standardised federal form; counter-signed by the home-country statutory insurer (for example, CPAM for France)
Required: Required only if you are a cross-border worker resident in Germany, Austria, France, or Italy and wish to remain in the home-country health system; submit to the cantonal authority of the canton where you work within three months of starting work
The option is irrevocable for the duration of the cross-border activity unless personal circumstances change.
Proof of equivalent foreign coverage (exemption applicants only)
Issued by: Your foreign insurer (students and posted workers) or the home-country social-security institution issuing the S1 portable document (EU/EFTA pension recipients)
Required: Required for exemption applications as student or trainee, posted worker under a bilateral social-security agreement, or EU/EFTA pension recipient covered by the pension state
Student exemption is granted for three years, renewable once for a further three. Posted-worker exemption is tied to an A1 / certificate-of-coverage period. EU/EFTA pension recipients register the S1 with the Common Institution KVG.
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