Tag Archives: facilitated naturalization

Switzerland

Another “Swissness” Test

Leave a comment

May 2013:
I was feeling all chuffed when my police visit was over, because I was sure that would be one of the last things I had to do before I would receive my much-awaited 765CHF post bill confirming that I would receive my citizenship. I was wrong!

Just a couple weeks after my police visit, I received a letter from the very man from the town hall who told me I couldn’t apply for citizenship until I had lived here a whole year. In his letter, he told me that he has been informed by Canton Zürich that I am applying for citizenship, so he wanted to meet with me and to please call him for an appointment. Unlike the nice policemen, I would have to go visit him.

This was both good and bad. The good part was that his letter signaled that my citizenship must have been approved on the federal level and now they were giving the canton and town the right to hear and appeal. That last bit means that the canton and the townspeople have no authority over the decision of my citizenship, so I was a bit irked that this guy was requiring me to meet him for an extra integration test.

I checked around with some others and it seems that this is indeed a very uncommon, if not, totally unheard of practice. Whatever… lets make this process even longer, why not! Bureaucracy FTW!

Kay was sweet enough to come with me to the town hall so that I wouldn’t have to meet with the guy alone, although the man assured me that my husband really didn’t need to come and he promised it would be quick. We met at 7am one morning and our meeting lasted around thirty minutes, mostly because the guy was chatting with Kay about local schools and his army service.

I was asked the same basic questions that the Fremdenpolizei asked previously, but he also asked why I want to be Swiss. I explained that it was important to me to be Swiss before we would have a family and also because I would like to be able to vote. Awkwardly enough, our town had recently had some very local elections that not even Kay was aware about (cough apathetic voter cough cough).

It’s true… voter apathy is a problem in Switzerland, especially with how often they have elections. I told the townsman that I read about some things and talk to Kay about them, but I don’t go out of my way to learn about politics because it’s always been something that I cannot take part in here. I explained that if I would become Swiss I would like to vote, but only on things that I am well informed about.

At the end, the man explained how nice it was to meet with these mystery faces before he signs off on the integration papers. He feels much more secure recommending that my application go forward when he knows that I am really trying to integrate.

The day before my appointment, he had a woman in who only spoke English and the townsman’s English is almost non-existent. He told her she would have to come back later with a translator, but that it didn’t look optimistic for her. How can he recommend her integration in good faith when she cannot even speak some basic German in the city where she is living?

He said it happens all the time. International couples speaking English with each other and working in English, only socializing with expats. That’s not what the Swiss want becoming Swiss, or they would start to lose their culture slowly.

I was happy that I “passed” this portion of his test. He said he would write me a nice recommendation and then explained that the next part of the process would include sending the write to hear and appeal to Kay’s Heimatort. He said it is unheard of to not be accepted by the Heimatort, but the whole process means waiting several more months before getting the 765chf letter.

Well, if there is anything I have been learning, it is that the Swiss want you to learn patience. 😉

Missed something?

Switzerland

Facilitated Swiss Naturalisation Part I

4 Comments

Facilitated naturalization, or erleichterte Einbürgerung, is most commonly sought by spouses of Swiss nationals. Children are also eligible for facilitated naturalization if their Swiss citizenship was not claimed at birth. There are lots of different rules if you are living abroad or if you are married or have a Swiss parent, so I am only going to talk about facilitated naturalization for married people living in Switzerland.

Basic requirements:

  • Lived in Switzerland for a total of five years, including the last twelve months
  • Three years married

You also need to demonstrate basic integration and prove that you don’t pose a risk to others. That means speak the local language and no criminals, please.

I originally came to Switzerland in 2007, but as I was only here for less than three months on a travel visa, I did not need to register with the local authorities, thus that time period does not count towards my five years. I “officially” moved to Switzerland with a permit on November 6, 2008… but my five years in the country was delayed because during the summer of 2009, I needed to remain outside of the country for 2.5 months while I waited for a new visa and permit to process.

Soo… with all that time traveling across the pond, my five years on paper would have been some time in December 2013. By then, Kay and I would have already been married for over three years and of course have spent the last twelve months here.

But I was a little worried because last July we were changing residences and sometimes changing towns can affect your naturalization requirements. With regular naturalization, people need to live in their town or village usually for at least 2-5 of the last years, so I made sure to check when we registered  our new address at our local Gemeindehaus.

Anything to do with bureaucracy (or should I say bureaucrazy) is wrought with confusion here. My local town’s contact person  told me that I would need to wait an entire year in my new town before applying. He told me to call him again in a year to make an appointment about our next steps. I was disheartened. That would delay my application by almost a year. It didn’t sound right either… I knew I would have to apply for facilitated naturalization directly at the federal level, so I was confused why this local man was telling me there were cantonal requirements about how long I had lived somewhere. It contradicted everything I’d read about facilitated naturalization online.

Seriously, when in doubt here, call someone else. I went to the federal level directly and the nice man from the Bundesamt für Migration told me the local guy was off his rocker and that I had it right. Five years in Switzerland, three years married, apply directly to the BfM. Do not pass go, do not collect 200, do not call the local guy again.

I asked the federal guy to send me the application form so I could prepare to send it in as soon as I had reached my accumulation of five years in Switzerland. Hoorah for not listening to bureaucrats!

Up next… I take on the application auf Deutsch.