The declaration and the required accompanying documents are submitted electronically. This requires registration of a personal user account in the online portal. It is important that all steps of the guideline below are carried out to the end.
Once the data relating to the provision of services in Switzerland have been registered and all the required documents have been uploaded, the declaration must finally be submitted electronically to the SERI Declaration Center, which verifies its integrity.
In addition, in order to verify the authenticity of the documents , some of them may need to be sent in original by post to the following address:
State Secretariat for Education,
Research and Innovation SERI
Declaration center, unit IBQ
Einsteinstrasse 2
CH-3003 Bern
A one-month processing deadline will begin as soon as SERI receives the original documents by post. The Declaration center forwards it immediately to the competent authority responsible for the verification of the professional qualifications.
If a declaration file is incomplete, the declaration will be deemed as not having been submitted. This means that the processing deadline does not begin to run.
Verification of foreign qualifications is based on the requirements set forth in Directive 2005/36/EC. The competent authority must communicate the results of verification of professional qualifications within one month of receipt of the online declaration.
If the submitted foreign qualification does not meet Swiss requirements for the corresponding regulated professional activity, then the competent authority will order that an aptitude test be taken.
Persons who have submitted a declaration form will be contacted within one month if any difficulties have been encountered that could cause a delay in processing the application file. Difficulties may arise, for example, if there is a lack of information on the content of foreign training or if there are doubts concerning the validity of important documents. The competent authority may suspend the procedure until the documents needed for the decision are submitted.
Service providers may work in Switzerland as soon as the competent authority responsible for the given professional activity informs them that they are authorised to provide services relating to the given professional activity.
The declaration must be renewed for each calendar year. The renewal must also be carried out via the new online portal. This requires registration of a new personal user account in the online portal. It is important that all steps of the guideline below are carried out to the end.
Under «Type of Declaration», «Renewal» has to be selected. Once the data relating to the provision of services in Switzerland have been registered and all the required documents have been uploaded, the declaration must finally be submitted electronically to the SERI Declaration Center, which verifies its integrity.
The renewal can be submitted at the earliest as of October for the following calendar year.
Important: There is a legal obligation to disclose any changes to reported data and to submit the necessary documents confirming these changes.
