I qualify for facilitated naturalization after being married to Swiss national for 6 years. I am in the preparation, I have been trying to learn French, I guess I can make myself understood, I took a couple of courses, personally, I guess I am "advanced beginner" to lower intermediate.
I am working hard on the history part, I am reading about it every day, hoping that I will know enough by the time I decide to call them to schedule an interview. I don’t know how far I should know, from Gonzus’s comments (thank you) I noticed that I will need to speak about history but I don’t know how detailed? Is it just basic or in details? I can talk about Swiss history briefly so far.
Geography, I think I am good at it, I spoke to a Swiss person, it seemed to me that I knew more about Swiss Geography more than him.
I have managed to get around 10 people to write letters recommending me to obtain citizenship which I will submit with my application, I hope that will be of help. I have visited Switzerland around 7 times which I think is enough; I found all tickets and car rental in my email so I will print them out and submit them.
I am member of a Swiss club in London, I am just a member, I don’t really participate, but I am planning to go to an event or two before I make the application, The fact that I am a full time employee and full time student is preventing me from socializing in “a Swiss club”.
When we called the Swiss embassy in London to ask about facilitated citizenship, the lady was helpful and sent us a package that included information and an application form, I think that was a good sign of cooperation.
From your experience, do you think I have a chance of having a successful interview from the mentioned above if I schedule one soon?
Thank you.
From your description, I would say you are ready: I would also call myself "advanced beginner - lower intermediate" as far a my French fluency is concerned. History should not be too difficult, just go over it several times until you get the general gist of it, it should not be necessary to go into any details. For your illustration: the lady at the Embassy here in Santiago told me she has received people at their interviews, who did not know what the capital of Switzerland is... This means that anybody who is capable of going over the main history line for Switzerland should do fine. Same with geography, you should know the big cities, significant places (mountains, waterfalls, rivers), etc. Ten letters of recommendation should be more than enough, but remember you also need the names and addresses (no letters) of Swiss people currently residing in Switzerland who are willing to give references about you later in the process. Seven visits to Switzerland is plenty, but were they during the last ten years? Be prepared to show evidence about these visits, but only upon request. Your membership in the Swiss club is good, you should be prepared to prove it upon request. It is good the lady at the Embassy is cooperative; she will be your first filter out of (hopefully) several, you should really strive to make a good impression on her. I believe you are in good shape. Please keep us appraised of your progress, and arm yourself with lots of patience. And do get in touch should you need anything else. Good luck!
What (in German) is the actual document that should be used for this purpose?
Where should it be requested — from the Gemeinde? from the Canton? Thanks in advance for any assistance in clarifying this.
In my case, the Embassy itself did all the paperwork to obtain this document. It was all very quick for me because I have an aunt who had just gone through the interview one year before, so the Embassy actually had the document in their local files. The document's title is Familienschein , from Kanton Schwyz, but I assume it would be the same everywhere else.
Hope that helps and best regards.
Regarding certification of documents, it might be a case of the country where you were born; it is possible that the Embassy at one country (such as Chile) trusts the local official papers more than the Embassy at other countries, where corruption might be higher. This is simply my guess though; the fact is that I just presented local birth- and marriage-certificates (with no extra certification) and paid the 700 CHF; the Embassy accepted them as-is and translated everything into German.
In fact, I have had dealings with the Spanish Embassy here as well, and they asked for three certifications (not kidding) for all documents presented to them. I guess the only correct conclusion here is that there are no standards as far as this is concerned.
I'll take a second look at my instructions to be certain, but I'm 99% sure they specified certified copies of everything. And as I've said, it makes more sense (to me) to just give them exactly what they asked for than to take a chance on not following their instructions (which would be rather un-Swiss ).
I made an effort on my side to have exactly what they requested and in response they always delivered promptly and without any hiccup. Hopefully you will have the same experience in Atlanta.
Good luck in your quest. It is very exciting.
Mind you, this list has at the top " Swiss Embassy, Santiago Chile ". It is possible this is only requested down here.