when Mary Braun Met her husband, Sebastian, and they both live in Chicago. But on their second date, Frenchman Sébastien told Braun that he didn’t plan to stay in the United States for long—he had been in the United States for 15 years and wanted to move back to Europe as soon as possible.

“He actually almost moved back, but then decided to stay a little longer and met me, so it was very serendipitous,” Braun told CNBC Make It.

In late 2020, the couple moved into a two-bedroom apartment together on Chicago’s North Side. At the time, Sebastian was head of business units at German technology manufacturing company ZF Friedrichshafen AG, while Marie was working as a social media manager for a hair care company.

Both worked remotely, and the apartment eventually proved too small for them, so the couple moved across the street to a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom duplex, paying $2,585 a month in rent.

“I miss it so much. It was a really lovely building that still had the brickwork and Chicago character, but it had been torn down and renovated,” Braun said.

Braun and Sebastian have lived in the apartment for about a year and have weathered the covid-19 pandemic together. During that time, they began to seriously consider moving to Europe and which country they would soon call home. Switzerland tops the list.

Sébastien studied in the Executive MBA program at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. “He chose it because he was able to do a lot of his work remotely from the United States,” Braun said. “Since the long-term goal is to return to Europe, it makes sense for him to participate in the European project.”

Another mitigating factor for the couple is that Sébastien has been unable to see his family in France for an entire year due to pandemic travel restrictions. He began actively working toward a transfer to the company’s European offices.

ZF offered Sebastian a transfer to an office in Germany, but Braun rejected the idea. She didn’t speak the language, and there were no direct flights to and from Chicago. Sebastian was then offered a move to Belgium, but this ultimately fell through. He was given the opportunity to work in a brand new office in the Swiss capital of Bern.

Although moving to Bern still didn’t appeal to Braun—there were no direct flights from Bern to Chicago—she realized that Zurich was close enough that Sebastian could commute to the office every day.

“He really thought this was the best career opportunity for him, and at the time, the company I was working for offered me to go to Switzerland and work remotely for them,” Braun said. “The stars aligned.”

By December 2021, the couple began the process of moving to Switzerland, which included obtaining a Swiss visa, so they did not actually move until September 2022. Braun and Sebastian married in March of that year and shipped most of their possessions to Switzerland, where they moved in with Braun’s parents while they waited for the paperwork to be completed.

“We still have a long time to get used to it and be with our families,” Braun said. “I think it helps make the transition easier.”

When Braun and Sebastian finally moved to Zurich, they lived in temporary housing—first a furnished 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment for which they paid 3,880 francs or $4,253, and then a 2-bedroom apartment. Bedrooms 1.5 bathrooms, rent for 5,090 francs The product is priced at $5,580, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

“I remember sitting on the bed in our temporary home with our dogs and thinking how could this be true? How were we in Switzerland? How did our dogs get here? How did everything fall into place?” Braun said.

“This is the reality of our lives now and we have to deal with it. It’s so surreal.”

That December, the couple found more permanent living arrangements. This is a 2-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom apartment in Zurich’s Enge neighborhood that rents for 4,120 francs or $4,516.

The couple loved the apartment, but in January 2023, Braun learned she was pregnant. Living on the fourth floor of a building without an elevator became a major problem. The couple also received notice that their rent would be increased. They decided now was the perfect time to look for a place with more space.

Five months later, Braun and Sebastian left their old apartment and moved into a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in Uitikon, a town outside Zurich, where they rented for 3,950 francs or $4,330 a month. Braun said one of the benefits for them is that their taxes go down because they no longer live in the city.

In Switzerland, people pay federal income tax rates between 0 and 11.5%, but this does not include local taxes, according to Statistics Switzerland H&R Block. Similar to states in the United States, states and cities also impose taxes.

shortcoming? Without a car, getting around in their new town wasn’t that easy. When Braun gave birth to the couple’s daughter and went on maternity leave, she was hired as a social media manager for a Swiss company that wasn’t friendly to remote work. “I started worrying about how to balance my life,” she said.

If Braun doesn’t return to the office full-time after the holidays, she risks losing her job.

“If I were in the United States, I would ask my mom or someone I know well to take care of our daughter. We started thinking that we needed to have a plan for a worst-case financial scenario.”

When Braun’s boss confirms the worst-case scenario, Sebastian begins looking for a better-paying job while considering his options. “I’m grateful that (my boss) was very honest with me, but it was disappointing because I had to choose between career and family,” she said.

“I took the loss, but there are other benefits to being home with my daughter. Being a stay-at-home mom is just a different job.”

Last year, the couple and their daughter moved to a small town outside Friborg, less than two hours’ drive from central Zurich, where the family still lives. They pay 2,630 francs (or $2,883) per month for a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment.

“We were able to save a bunch of change and Sebastian made more money. It didn’t really close the gap in my lost income, but it did help from a financial standpoint,” Braun said .

Also, since French is the primary language in the area, Braun is excited to raise her daughter there because she knows she will learn the language and improve her own.

Braun said she has appreciated the security that comes with living in Switzerland since becoming a stay-at-home mother. She often goes on nature walks with her daughter and the family dog.

“The level of safety is so different here, and honestly, as a woman, I feel safer doing things in the U.S. that I might think twice about doing,” Mary said. “It feels very safe and beautiful at the same time.”

Braun and Sébastien have been living in Switzerland for more than two years, and while they miss the celebratory atmosphere in the U.S. and amenities like Amazon delivery and stores open after 6 p.m. The outcome of the 2024 presidential election means that for them, returning home is impossible: “There is too much uncertainty in the United States”

“I never want our daughter to feel like she’s not American, I want her to culturally identify with America, at least the good parts of America,” Braun said. “It was also tempting because for me, with my background in journalism, it was easy to get back into the job market, especially as a freelancer, which is not really a thing in Switzerland.

But, “I think from a social perspective, it doesn’t really make sense for us at the moment,” she added.

The couple thinks they will eventually move again to be closer to Sebastian’s family, but that won’t happen anytime soon. “It’s great to be able to get help and have someone to lean on and take care of our daughter,” Braun said. “I think it would be really cool for us to have her grow up in one of her cultures.”

Until then, Braun will focus on learning French to expand her career opportunities when they move to Sebastian’s home country and she is ready to return to work.

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