I am a British national with a B-permit (6 years) since the start of the year, currently in canton VD working as an IT consultant. I used to live in CH from 2003 until 2013 then in 2016 and had a C-permit which I gave back when I left CH. Now that I am back and I plan to remain for good, I was wondering which canton would be easier and quicker for me to become eligible to apply for Swiss citizenship once I get my C-permit again (after 5 years). I have possibilities to work in other cantons next month and I was wondering which option is best for me.
It’s not the canton, it’s the commune. If you know your neighbours, and your postie, and participate in village/town activities, and shop in the local shops it greases the process immense.
So a small village, rather than a big town.
When we had our interview we knew everyone at the table, and they knew us.
Edited to add: As pointed out in that wiki link one holds three citizenships; of the municipality, the canton and the confederation. If you get the first right, the other two are a walk in the park. That is if you have the language and pass the test.
Depends where you live. In BL it's the canton who do the integration interview - and all they really check is your German certificate (B1), that you don't have a criminal record, pay your taxes and you have some Swiss friends.
The Gemeinde interview you about your knowledge of Switzerland and have a public vote on whether to admit you as a citizen. But no one to my knowledge has in recent years ever been rejected.
Yes it is - Article 14(1) of the UK-CH bilateral agreement clearly states both countries must offer permanent residence after a period of no more than 5 years to nationals of the other country who migrated prior to the end of free movement.
If anything existing Brits are in a better position than EU nationals as you guys don't have an agreement in place should the referendum pass!
If you have the choice between GE and VD for example, GE is very easy, even a joke I'd say from a number of people that I know who went through it there.
Completely false. Settlement agreements for C permits have nothing to do with EU membership. May I remind readers UK nationals (along with other western European countries and USA/Canada) do not benefit from an agreement but merely a reciprocity treaty (or memorandum of understanding for USA/Canada) which was in place even before Brexit. As such UK nationals must produce language certificates and demonstrate integration if they aspire to obtain a C.
The following countries (mostly EU, only Liechtenstein non EU) have binding settelement agreements and a right to C permits after 5 years, even without producing language certificates:
All the Brexit agreement provides UK migrants is same treatment as an EU for those who have immigrated to Switzerland prior to 31.12.2020 (and vice versa).
From 01.01.2021, UK nationals wishing to migrate to Switzerland will very much have the same rights as somebody wishing to move from, let’s say, Somalia (with the disadvantage of not being able to claim asylum, contrary of a Somalian national).
From what I understood Geneva is the easiest one because the Canton has de facto eliminated any role of the Commune in the process (all population-related issues in GE are handled by the Cantonal office and not by the Commune office like in the other places).
The interview where they check if you are integrated bla bla is scrapped if you live in the Commune of Geneva and in other communes is still done but has no effect on the process (on the contrary from other cantons).
Furthermore if you look at the other thread where people describe their "naturalisation" journeys, the average time to get the citizenship in GE is one year from the day you present the papers to the Canton.
The only two "hurdles" are the language and the knowledge test. The latter is really easy, they have a simulation on the Canton website and I got the 40/45 score at the first attempt without even reading a line of the booklet (if you have lived one year in Geneva you probably know everything like the Escalade, the Neptune, etc). The former depends but I think French is easier to pass at B1/A2 level rather than German.
I believe Zürich (city) is one of the easiest communes to get citizenship. First it's huge with over 400000 people so there won't be any absurdly specific questions like they like to ask in many small villages, they issue a brochure containing answers to everything that can be asked regarding "local knowledge", and finally the city has an efficient bureaucracy apparatus dedicated to naturalisation so the time it takes to process the application is somewhat predictable.
I was always told that Neuchâtel was the easiest canton to get citizenship in, it’s probably not the quickest however it is ridiculously easy, but a friend recently told me that Jura now takes that crown.