I have a question that crossed my mind this morning, and I couldn't find any specific answer online. Getting the population office to answer phone calls is also pretty much mission impossible these days.
If you read it litterally, it is stated that the "years" (not the time spent) before 18 are counted double when applying for naturalisation. I arrived in switzerland a few months before turning 18, but not an entire year before. Do only full years count double ?
As a border-case example, if someone arrives in switzerland 11,5 months before turning 18, does this time not count double (and would have if the person arrived in CH 2 weeks earlier ?)
Firstly, you can get these questions answered at the local town hall - the regulations vary right down to the local level as a person becomes a 'citizen' of their local town (in German 'Heimatort) and not directly of the whole country.
In the scheme of things, I highly doubt that it will help you by having a few extra 'months' on your application date because you arrived a few months before your 18th birthday. The process takes time, and in my experience you can also talk to them before the time comes, and start to put the paperwork together before the specific date when you are officially 'long enough' in the town. Our local town people are super-helpful about this and very keen to lock in new citizens. So I hope yours is as well (of course, you should be able to communicate with them in the local language easily as you are 'integrated' into the community - a pre-requisite of applying....
So, if the time is close, go-for-it - even if they decide the time calculation is x or y, you can get all the information ahead of time...
Per federal law time only counts double between 8-18 if the time spent in Switzerland as a minor is at least 6 years. This precision is specificed in the SEM ordinary naturalization guidelines in case you want to look it up.
So in your case, no double counting is considered since you only spend a few months as a minor in Switzerland.
I don't think that's correct. Years between 8 and 18 count double but you must have at least 6 years in Switzerland to apply for citizenship (not for years to count double).
In other words there's the normal requirement of 10 years in total, but some years may count double towards that, and then a separate requirement for 6 absolute years no matter the age.
I.e. Let's say someone lives here for five years as a minor, they can't immediately apply after 5 years based on them counting double towards the 10 year mark, they need one more year to reach 6 (whether they are still a minor or not doesn't matter for that 6th year, since making it equivalent to 11 or 12 years both exceed the 10 year mark anyway). But if someone spends 3 years here before becoming major, those years count double and that leaves them with only 4 more years to stay instead of 7.
If the 6 years were required for any time at all to even count double, the rule would make no sense the way it's written.
Besondere Berücksichtigung der Aufenthaltsdauer in der Schweiz
Die Jahre, welche die Bewerberin oder der Bewerber zwischen dem vollendeten 8. und 18. Altersjahr in der Schweiz gelebt hat, werden doppelt gerechnet, sofern der tatsächliche Aufenthalt der minderjährigen Person mindestens sechs Jahre betragen hat (Art. 9 Abs. 2 BüG).
Prise en compte particulière de la durée de séjour en Suisse
Les années durant lesquelles le requérant a séjourné en Suisse entre l’âge de huit et de dix- huit ans comptent double, mais à condition que le séjour effectif du mineur ait duré six ans au minimum (art. 9 al. 2 LN).
Wow that's interesting, and slightly puzzling. The wording in the law itself is different and a bit more ambiguous and doesn't specify when the six years must take place:
(Art. 9, al. 2): Dans le calcul de la durée de séjour prévue à l’al. 1, let. b, le temps que le requérant a passé en Suisse entre l’âge de huit et de 18 ans compte double. Le séjour effectif doit cependant avoir duré six ans au moins.
It's a bit puzzling because why have such language if that's the meaning. If for any years to count double at all you MUST have all 6 years count double (I.e. Have them all while you're still a minor), then why bother with the whole "years count double, under the condition that..." thing and not simply have an exception that says, plainly, "individuals who have stayed at least 6 years in Switzerland as a minor are exempt from the 10 years minimun", which would have the exact same effect, if that's the only situation where it applies anyway...
Also, this would mean that someone who moves to Switzerland as a child and lives here 51⁄2 years before becoming adult has to live here 10 years to be a citizen, but if they were 6 months younger they would only have to wait 6. That seems nonsensical.
I wonder if maybe when they wrote the manual, they figured the typical case would be people applying for their children while they are still minors and didn't realise their wording for the directive is too narrow.
The SEM manual acts as a reference document for cantons when applying federal law. The fact that a clarification had to be made specifically for minors is quite telling as to the intention of double counting.
Without looking into technicalities of wording, the will of the legislator with double counting for youngsters is clearly to favor those that grew up and went to school here and provide them with an easier route towards nationality as it is considered growing up in a certain place, going to school and establishing emotional ties at a young age is an accelerator for integration.
Whether a teenager arriving in Switzerland at the age of 12.5 for example (the extreme case of 5.5 years until 18, thus no double counting) has to wait 10 full calendar years to qualify for naturalization is fair or not is a different debate. In many cantons they would be able to apply for cantonal facilitated naturalization after 5 years of schooling anyway.