Forgot to mention this little detail, but I’m finally Swiss!!
After receiving my 765CHF letter in October stating that there was a positive decision, I needed to wait for all the final formalities where the Heimatort is given one last right to object. In the craziness leading up to our Australia trip, I received the official letter from the Heimatort confirming and congratulating me that I am now Swiss.
It was a little anticlimactic though, because although I was now Swiss, I didn’t know what the next steps were to get that little booklet up there. I thought there would be some sort of “How to” leaflet included. Not knowing what to do, I figured I would sort it out after our Australia trip. Anyway, my B-permit was still valid until August 2015, so no problems there… or so I thought.
When we got to passport control on the way out of Switzerland, my permit wouldn’t scan. I wondered out loud that maybe it has something to do with my naturalization. The lady asked where I was naturalized, because with my American passport and Swiss foreign permit in hand, it wasn’t really clear to her that I was talking about Swiss naturalization. I think she just assumed I am a foreigner with little to no right to be in Switzerland and was about to give me a telling-off.
Of course when I told her I am Swiss, she wanted to know where my Swiss passport was and I had to explain that I JUST became Swiss a week or so previously and wasn’t even sure it was totally finalized. Maybe the Heimatort is busy updating the town hall before I could apply for my passport?
They let me leave, but it was clear that my foreign permit was no longer valid because I was Swiss (why doesn’t it say that on their control screens??) so I was traveling without valid Swiss residence identification. Woohoo.
When we returned, I had to play the game again and they were a little more suspicious about letting me back into the country. They asked where is my letter confirming my citizenship and I told them that I didn’t think I had to bring that because my foreign permit was valid until August 2015, and nobody explained that it would automatically terminate!
We arrived home on a Monday morning and headed straight to work. In the evening at home, I realized that the town hall had been informed about the final decision and they did send me a helpful little leaflet about how to get the passport. The kicker was that they said they don’t have anything to do with it and I could have done it all on my own in December if I had known the steps!
On Tuesday I made an appointment to go to the Travel Office. The appointment slots fill up very quickly in the evening, but I managed to get one for the next day on Wednesday and after a 15 minute stop in the morning, I was done. By Friday morning, I received my shiny new passport in the post and the following Monday, a week after arriving home, I already had the Swiss identification card as well. How is that for efficiency??
We’re a bit late, but Kay and I are throwing a party this week to celebrate my citizenship. We don’t have parties that often, but this definitely seems worth celebrating!
Missed something?
Congrats on becoming official!!!
Congratulations! Way faster to get the passport in Switzerland than it is here…
Congratulations !!
Hi Katie. Congrats. 🙂 Your articles are really helpful. I am just wondering, it seems that the article for ‘another Swiss test’ preparing for Einbürgerung has been removed. If you don’t mind, could you please repost it? I am trying to prepare a bit for me til the end of the year. Thanks in advance. 🙂
Han.
Whoops, sorry about the broken link! It is updated now. Thanks for pointing it out. 🙂
Thanks a lot, Katie for your quick response and for the article. You have been through a lot with all the process, time to relax now, isn’t it? 🙂 I totally agree with you, we truly need patience here 🙂
Sorry to trouble you again, in the article about the conversation with the police, you mentioned 1 PDF file with information prepared for the interview. The page is not available anymore. Maybe you have an idea where I can find it then? I am really sorry for taking your time like this, but I was really happy when coming across your page, it is very helpful and exactly the information I was looking for.
I deeply appreciate your help, Katie. 🙂
All the best.
Han
Hi Han, sure. That is probably because I was reading the 2014 copy and it has been archived now. Just do a Google search for “Der Bund, kurz erklärt” and it will lead you to the most current version, which should be 2015 at the moment.