This is the first time, since last year, that I have the feeling we are regaining a bit more freedom. The numbers of corona cases seem to be declining, it is obviously too early to throw caution to the wind and of course we still have to adhere to all the Government rules and regulations. I presume that most of us have had our vaccinations by now. I know that the United Kingdom has been struggling with the new Delta strain of the virus, thus making it quite difficult to get to the UK and back again with all the quarantining and tests involved. Here again we have to listen to the different countries and what their rules and regulations are. Thank you to those of you who returned their voting slips for the postal AGM, the Minutes of the postal AGM will be sent out to you all separately by email or normal post. Hopefully next year we will be holding our AGM and Luncheon together as a National Event. Our National Summer Luncheon for this year will held on the 24 July and will be reported and pictures shown in the next Bulletin and on the BRA Website. […]

Dear All, In our last contribution to the BRA bulletin the British Embassy Berne informed you about the UK’s and Switzerland’s Covid-related travel restrictions. Despite Switzerland’s falling infection numbers and accelerating vaccination campaign, travel between the two countries remains restricted. Please refer to the links in our previous message to stay up to date on travel warnings and entry requirements. For this edition, we would like to shift our focus to two different topics, namely pension and passports. In recent months, we have received numerous written enquiries concerning pension and passport matters from British nationals in Switzerland, which is why we would like to use this opportunity to offer some guidance on these subjects. UK State Pension You can carry on receiving your UK State Pension if you move to live in the EU, EEA or Switzerland and you can still claim your UK State Pension from these countries. Your UK State Pension will be increased each year in the EU in line with the rate paid in the UK. You can also count relevant social security contributions made in EU countries to meet the qualifying conditions for a UK State Pension. This guidance is for UK nationals, however these […]