When Marie Braun met her husband Sébastien, they both lived in Chicago. But during their second date, Sébastien, originally from France, told Braun that he had no plans to stay in the United States any longer: he had been in America for 15 years and wanted to return to France soon. Europe.
“He actually almost moved away, but then decided to stay a little longer and met me, so it was very serendipitous in that way,” Braun told CNBC Make It.
In late 2020, the couple moved into a two-bedroom apartment together on the north side of Chicago. At the time, Sébastien worked for the ZF Group, a German technology manufacturing company, while Mary worked as a social media manager for a hair care company.
Both worked remotely and the apartment ultimately proved too small for them. So the couple moved across the street into a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom duplex where they paid $2,585 a month in rent.
“I miss it so much. It was a really cute building that still had brick walls and Chicago character, but it was gutted and renovated,” Braun says.
When Mary Braun met her husband Sebastian, they were both living in Chicago. But on their second date, Sébastien, originally from France, told Braun that he had no plans to stay in the United States any longer.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
Braun and Sébastien lived in the apartment for about a year and weathered the Covid-19 pandemic there together. Around this time, they began to seriously think about moving to Europe and which country they could soon call home. Switzerland was at the top of their list.
Sébastien was enrolled in an executive MBA program at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. “He chose it because he could do a lot of things remotely from the United States,” says Braun. “As the long-term goal was to return to Europe, it made sense for him to do a European program.”
Another mitigating factor for the couple was that Sébastien had not been able to see his family in France for an entire year due to travel restrictions linked to the pandemic. He began actively working towards being transferred to his company’s European offices.
The ZF group offered Sébastien to transfer him to an office in Germany, but Braun was hesitant about the idea. She didn’t speak the language and there were no direct flights to and from Chicago. He was then offered the opportunity to work in a ZF office in Bern, Switzerland, the country’s capital.
Although Braun was still not keen on a move to Bern (there are no direct flights to and from Chicago either), she realized that Zurich was close enough for Sebastien to be able to go to the office every day.
“He really thought it was the best career opportunity for him, and at the time the company I worked for was willing to let me work remotely for them from Switzerland,” says Braun. “The stars have aligned.”
In December 2021, the couple had started the process of moving to Switzerland – which included obtaining Swiss visas – and therefore only finally moved in September 2022. Braun and Sébastien married in March of the same year and shipped most of their belongings to Switzerland. Switzerland and moved in with Braun’s parents while waiting for the documents to be sorted out.
“We still had a lot of time to adjust to it and be with my family,” Braun says. “Which I think helped make the transition easier.”
When Braun and Sébastien finally moved to Zurich, they lived in temporary housing – first in a furnished one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment for which they paid 3,880 francs or US$4,253, then into a two-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom apartment rented for 5,090 francs. francs or $5,580, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
“I remember sitting on the bed in the temporary accommodation with our dog and wondering how was this real? How are we getting to Switzerland? How did our dog get here? How did everything happen? is it implemented?” Braun said.
“This was our real life now and we had to deal with it. It was just surreal.”
In December, the couple found a more permanent living arrangement. It was a 2-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom apartment in the Enge neighborhood of Zurich, with rent for 4,120 francs or $4,516.
When Braun and Sébastien finally moved to Zurich, they lived in temporary accommodation. The couple quickly found a more permanent lifestyle.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
The couple loved this apartment, but in January 2023, Braun learned she was pregnant. Living on the fourth floor of a building without an elevator has become a major concern. The couple were also informed that their rent would be increased. They thought it was a good time to find somewhere more spacious.
Five months later, Braun and Sébastien left their old apartment and moved into a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment in Uitikon, a town just outside Zurich, for 3,950 francs or $4,330 a month. . Braun said one benefit for them was that their taxes went down because they no longer lived in the city.
In Switzerland, people pay a federal income tax ranging from 0 to 11.5%, but this does not include local taxes, according to H&R block. Cantons, similar to American states, and municipalities also levy taxes.
The couple lived in this apartment in Uitikon for around eight months.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
A disadvantage? It wasn’t so easy to get around their new city without a car. When Braun gave birth to the couple’s daughter and went on maternity leave, she was employed as a social media manager for a Swiss company that was not supportive of remote work. “I started worrying about just balancing life,” she says.
There was a possibility that Braun would lose her job if she did not return to her office full time when her leave ended.
“If I were in the United States, my mother or someone I know well would be taking care of our daughter. We started thinking we needed to have a financial plan for the worst case scenario.”
The couple and their daughter currently live in a town just outside of Fribourg, Switzerland.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
Eventually, Braun’s boss confirmed the worst and she considered her options. “I enjoyed that [my boss] was very honest with me, but it was disappointing because I kind of had to choose between my career and my family,” she says.
“I’ve suffered this loss, but there are other benefits to being home with our daughter. Being a stay-at-home mom is just a different job.”
Last year, the couple and their daughter moved to a town outside of Freiburg, just under two hours from downtown Zurich, where the family still resides. They pay 2,630 francs, or $2,883, per month for their 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment.
“We were able to save a lot of the change and Sebastien was making more money. It didn’t really close the gap in my loss of income, but it really helped me from a financial point of view” , explains Braun.
The family has panoramic views of the city from almost every window in their apartment.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
Additionally, since French is the primary language in this area, Braun was excited to raise her daughter there, knowing she would learn the language and be able to improve her own.
Since becoming a stay-at-home mom, Braun says she really enjoys the feeling of security that comes with living in Switzerland. She does a lot of nature walks alone with her daughter and the family dog.
“The level of security is so different here that honestly, as a woman, I feel safer doing things that I would probably think twice about doing it in the States,” Mary says. “It feels very safe while remaining beautiful at the same time.”
Braun and Sebastien have lived in Switzerland for over two years now, and while they miss America’s sense of celebration and having so much more at their disposal, the results of the 2024 presidential election mean that a step backwards could be ruled out – at least for the next four years: “There is too much uncertainty in the United States”
“I never want our daughter to feel like she’s not American and I want her to identify culturally with the United States, at least in the good ways,” Braun said. “It’s also tempting because for me, it would be easy to re-enter the job market thanks to my training as a journalist, especially as a freelancer, which is not really a reality in Switzerland.”
The apartment has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
However, “I think socially it doesn’t really make sense for us at the moment,” she adds.
The couple think they will eventually move again to be closer to Sébastien’s family, but that is not going to happen tomorrow. “Having help and someone to rely on and watch over our daughter is amazing,” Braun said. “Having her grow up in one of her cultures, I think, would be really cool for us.”
Mary doesn’t think the family will return to the United States anytime soon.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
In the meantime, Braun is focused on learning French to expand her career opportunities if and when they move to Sébastien’s home country and she is ready to return to work.
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