I will be kicking off my naturalisation process in GE canton in January 2022.
Currently going through the motions of getting all the documents together. The trickiest one seems to be the proof of "single status", which must be issued by the relevant government of your original citizenship, and translated into French by an official translator.
This is in order to obtain the " Attestation de etat civil" from the local authorities.
Once I've done this, I plan to schedule the Test de Connaisance and submit the whole dossier as soon as possible.
Have received the questionaire, which is quite long. A bit nervous about that one, since I am not a member of any clubs ( except a gym) but I do have a Swiss masters degree and I speak French. ( hopefully this is is enough proof of integration)
The main things seem to be that you don't live in an expat ghetto, that you have some contact with the local Swiss populace (events, shopping etc.), that you don't have a criminal record and that you pay your taxes!
Is a subscription to a local newspaper can be really referred to for the purposes of naturalization (as a proof of being well-integrated)? Do they verify it?
I don't know whether they go to that level of investigation, but one example of using the local paper would be in your interview. When asked about something local, mention a recent article in the Tagi (or whatever it is called in Geneva) about such-and-such and they're more likely think you're reading regularly.
Just to allay everyone's fears, the Geneva OCPM interview is not difficult. They do not interrogate, and it is really like a conversation ( as many of the members of EF have previously stated). I was asked a little bit about what I enjoyed doing in the canton, and what I knew about current votes. Otherwise the interviewer was very kind, friendly and helpful.
How long it took for you between paying the first OCPM bill and interview scheduling, how much notice there was before interview? Any comments on level of French being spoken during the interview?
I sent my full dossier on Feb 9th and the bill arrived a week later, which I paid on Feb 25th.
Then silence until the last week of July, I received an email asking if I was available for interview, and the earliest option they gave me was the NEXT day, amazing as it sounds. I asked for some days to study, so I took the interview on the Friday of the last week of July.
The Interview is nothing to worry about. Mine was online via WebEx, which made it easier in a way because i was in my own home. My french isn't flawless, I'm only usually speaking at B2 level, but the interviewer takes that into account.
No hard questions, just why do you want to be swiss, and some questions about what you do in your spare time in Geneva.
I was delighted to get a letter in the mailbox today! From the Ville de Geneve, confirming that all went well and the commune of Geneve has given a favourable recommendation to my candidacy. Apparently they had a council meeting on August 24th.
It says that now my file is being returned to the OCPM for the "execution of the naturalization"
My timeline was (so far)
Applied : 9 Feb
Interview: 29 July
Letter from Ville de Geneve confirming all good: 26 August (I don't check my mailbox every day)
It looks as though things are going well. I keep my fingers crossed