Switzerland to Thailand: what it takes to move a family across the globe

Ready for adventure: the Karrer family in Lausen before their move. Vera Leysinger/SWI swissinfo.ch

Four months after leaving Switzerland for a temporary stint as emigrants, the Karrer family takes stock in Bangkok.

From fruit trees to palm trees, and from life in the suburbs to life in the big city: in mid-July, the Karrer family from Lausen in canton Basel Country emigrated to Thailand’s capital Bangkok.

“We presented our children with a fait accompli,” says Stephanie Karrer about their decision to emigrate. “My husband and I made that decision.” Even though some people did not agree with the way the Karrers went about it, she knows how to defend the move. At five and seven, the children are simply not old enough to make such decisions.

“They would have been out of their depth,” says Stephanie.

Role reversal

The temporary emigration is a change of scene for the family of four. “We wanted to switch roles for a while,” says 41-year-old Marius Karrer. In Switzerland, Stephanie worked part-time as a teacher and was mainly in charge of family life. She found the balancing act between family and career exhausting.

Trading places: Stephanie Karrer will work full-time in Bangkok, while her husband will take over family management at home. Vera Leysinger/SWI swissinfo.ch

“We are reversing our roles for three years,” says 40-year-old Stephanie. She is teaching full-time at the Swiss school in Bangkok where she worked as an intern more than 20 years ago. She has a three-year contract with the school where Louis and Luc also attend classes. With the boys are at school all day, Marius can do a distance-learning programme while looking after the household. “The children usually come home in the afternoon,” Stephanie says.

The decision to emigrate did not come as a complete surprise to the Karrer kids as their parents made the final call after a holiday in Thailand in 2022. “I wanted to make sure that all of us would like it,” explains Stephanie. During this holiday, the family visited the Swiss school, checked out various houses and explored the surroundings.

Bureaucratic joys

Packing was like playing a game of Tetris, the Karrers said. zVg

Even so, the two sons were initially not impressed by their parents’ plan. “We had to promise that we would return home after our time here,” Stephanie says.

Meanwhile, one of the biggest challenges for an emigrating family is to decide what to do with the family home. The Karrers found a temporary solution by renting it out to friends.

“Organising such a move takes a lot of time, and the bureaucracy shouldn’t be underestimated,” says Stephanie. Original copies of papers needed for visa and work permits have to be translated and notarised. You cannot afford to forget anything. On top of it all, health and accident insurance companies have to be notified, pension fund assets have to be transferred and tax returns have to be filled in.

As the Karrers opted not to ship their belongings to Thailand in a container, packing also caused Stephanie a headache. “Fortunately, my mother joined us for the first few weeks, so she could take some of our stuff.”

What if one of us doesn’t like it?

Before the move, Louis and Luc were excited about the drum kit that was waiting for them in Thailand. The whole family plays the drums. However, the prospect of Thai food was a lot less exciting, especially for the elder of the two sons. “Louis is not keen on rice,” explains Stephanie.

This has changed in the meantime. Both boys like the food in the school canteen. “This is a great advantage,” says Marius. “And what they like most is that they have time to play football between meals and school.”

Stephanie was also worried that they would get homesick or wouldn’t be able to cope with the heat in Thailand, something Marius was relaxed about. “We are going as a family, which means we can support each other,” he says. And he says he is “sure [his wife and children] will integrate pretty quickly.”

For him, the main challenge was to fit into his new role as a stay-at-home husband. That’s why he planned carefully and signed up for the local football club in their new neighbourhood before they moved to Bangkok.

In the expat bubble

It all worked out. The children made friends very quickly and integrated well which is partly due to Thai boxing classes and playing football. “Homesickness has never been an issue,” the family agrees.

At the Swiss school, Stephanie has a great group of colleagues with whom she also spends some of her free time, while at the football club, Marius did not only meet people from all over the world but also made friends with two fathers, who are house husbands just like him.

Even though the Karrers expected to live in the expat bubble, they were keen to learn a bit of Thai. But have they? “We exclusively move around in German or English-speaking circles,” says Marius.

In their day-to-day lives, however, the family comes into contact with locals, most of whom do not speak English, which means they constantly learn new words and phrases. The two boys can now count in Thai and are learning individual words at school, while Stephanie takes Thai classes. The Karrers have clearly arrived.

Edited by Balz Rigendinger; translated from German by Billi Bierling