I'm assuming they'll ask why I want to become Swiss and what's my job situation - what else should I prepare for? I already passed the written Grundkentnisstest last year, so not sure if the general knowledge of Winterthur will be brought up again. I'm a little stressed to be honest, as I really don't know what to expect.
Does anyone have a somewhat recent experience with the interview for the naturalization process in Winterthur? What topics did you talk about?
Don't worry much. Usualy it's discussion around a bit of daily life , something that is in news , what you do in free time , where you spend holidays ... all these are to see
- you live here and are part of the daily life of Swiss
- you know a bit of politics and interested in country well being
- you speak german to the level you understand question
I been in few of these (on the other side of the table) and there isn't anything specific other than "we never seen that guy before - perhaps knowing him wouldn't be worst idea - and maybe we can get/learn something from him in future' type of the thing.
So good skiing spot may be good idea to share, nice place for a dinner in the mountains , a recent car experience or what you like in Swiss TV the most - best replay I got was " I love SRF Classic"- and there was no more questions on Swiss TV/Radio as nobody had anything to say about classical music
Do not worry at all...one of the reasons they have now Grundtest is that they cannot trick you anymore at the interview...some Gemeinde were just too strict but once you passed this test it means you have the necessary knowledge. We have also done this year, and even though it is different from Gemeinde to Gemeinde, it was not longer than 10 minutes...together with my wife. A lot of people have told us that by the time you get to the interview step they have already made up their minds...if everything is ok...model citizen paid your taxes and so on.
I see that in Winterthur the KDE and Grundkenntnisse tests have to be done before the application.
https://www.zh.ch/content/dam/zhweb/...ispruefung.pdf
Can we do these tests before we are 10 years in Switzerland?
For example, if in my year 8.5 (a year and a half before my 10th year) I feel able to pass the KDE, would I be allowed to take the test?
And the Grundkenntnisse?
You probably can but who knows what the requirements will be in 1,5 years to come?
The interview objective seems to be "are you integrated"
I found out which bars the local GemeindeRat visited after meetings and visited them at the appropriate time.
At my interview, it was like "Oh we know you".
in case we fail any of the two tests (KDE or Grundkenntnisse) or the personal interview, are we allowed to apply again? i guess so, do you know after how long we can apply again?
As I understand it, the KDE is not tested by the municipality, nor the immigration authorities, but by authorised schools. Therefore, it will be their rules that apply to re-writing. So choose any of the schools and check with them.
For the language requirement you can do KDE, SDS, Telc, Goethe, ÖSD, or fide as you like. SDS is the cheapest and often fastest option to get the needed certificate. Usually a language certificate which was acquired in the last 6 years will be accepted w/o any issue.
Are you sure that in canton of Zurich all these Germany certificates are valid?
Because in the following link in the "Deutschkenntnisse" they have a link to KDE specs only.
https://www.zh.ch/de/migration-integ...ml#-1915075497
"Der Deutsch-Test im Kanton Zürich heisst KDE (Kantonaler Deutschtest für die Einbürgerung)."
Not true, from your link: Ich habe schon einen Deutsch-Test (zum Beispiel telc, Goethe, ösd oder fide ) auf Niveau B1 gemacht.
So at least telc, Goethe, ösd or fide test results are accepted.
Yes, of course. The international language certificates are valid. We did telc and used the same certificate for Permit C and for citizenship 5 years later.
About the Grundkenntnistest: we have access to a 65 pages PDF "Alle Fragen als Download" with 300/400 questions.
https://www.zh.ch/content/dam/zhweb/...on_zuerich.pdf
Does it mean that the actual Grundkenntnistest will be a subset of exactly these 300/400 questions?
Always check with your canton and municipality, but we have found that, with the exception of language certificates, all other documents and processes related to naturalization could not be obtained until the 10 years were up.
An example: we have not given birth/gotten married/gotten divorced in Switzerland so were not entered in the civil registry. We could not start the civil registry registration procedure until we handed in a copy of our main naturalization application form, which specified >10 years in Switzerland, etc, etc. The civil registry status form needs to be obtained before you can hand in the naturalization packet in our canton (some other cantons do it concomitantly).
On the website of our Gemeinde it's written that you can have the Grundkenntnissetest once more if you fail.
The Grundkenntnistest comes before civil registry registration, so prob that test too can be done before 10y.
https://stadt.winterthur.ch/themen/l...7.pdf/download (2nd page diagram)
it seems to me that now with this Grundkenntnistest the process is quite straightforward. I was a bit afraid after hearing many stories about guys living in CH for 30y went to the naturalization process, were asked about very picky Swiss knowledge and failed the process cos they did not the answer
The questions don't seem too bad. The UK one is more like doing a pub quiz.
We are talking about canton Zurich. In other cantons, specially canton SZ your experience might be a different one. And even in canton ZH, the Grundkenntnistest is only an option provided by the canton administration. The communes can still do their own interview/test if they wish.
Isn't it obligatory for all the applicants in ZH now? My Gemeinde didn't require this test before July 2023, but now it does. Probably it is a requirement from the canton.