I’m in the process of preparing my application for naturalization. All documents and certificates are ready and I’m hoping to apply in the coming week.
My question is, after applying through the Gemeinde, how long do I have to wait if I want to move and/or change Canton.
I currently live in Schlieren, Zürich. I am certain if I change Gemeinde, let alone Canton, I have to wait a minimum of 2-3 years again in order to be eligible to apply.
Any thoughts on when or how long I have to wait till I can change Gemeinde or Canton after applying to naturalization?
you will have to live there for at least another 12-18 months if you begin your application. At some point in the process you get an approval letter than includes the fact that you can now move if you want to (close to the end).
If you move out of Schlieren now, you in theory have to wait 2 years to apply, I believe (unless you move Kanton too and then it could be longer).
In my understanding, once you apply, you can freely change the commune (at least in VD). Once the communal part is closed, you can change canton as well.
Can hardly believe that as the case. It would be against the federal law. This can only apply if you have also the citizenship of another Swiss commune.
In canton Zurich it is after the commune has decided that you fulfil all of the the criteria but before the commune has actually granted the citizenship. In small communes the time gap between those two parts might be some minutes, in bigger cities a few days. See §12 and 15 of the Kantonale Bürgerrechtsverordnung
A five year period in the commune applies in many places as a prerequisite for getting the citizenship, and I can well imagine that you wouldn't be able to leave the commune of your application while the application is still in progress; but like you I don't think they can tell you where to live once you've been granted citizenship.
In our case (Kanton ZH), after we received the Gemeinde approval, our application was sent back to the Kanton.
We then received a letter from the Kanton confirming that they have our application AND a note in the letter exactly this "Ein Umzug innerhalb der Schweiz ist nun möglich"
No. As I say, I may be misremembering - or I didn't understand the German!
But... I've asked my daughters, who got naturalised a few years ago, and they remember the same. It's under the new process as well. It doesn't affect us or them, because we've no plans to move - the chances we got it wrong seem high!
Funny thing though - one of the first things they voted on was to make the local rules even easier regarding documentation, which really benefits my wife and I, as we've recently applied ourselves.
Once you become a Swiss citizen you can live anywhere in the country you want. You do need to notify departure and arrival but you don’t need permission from either.
While you are in the process of applying for nationality the rules are different. Check with your local commune and Canton.
I guess there is some sort of 'remote naturalisation' and you could request to be naturalised by the place you fulfil all the requirements even so you moved out - should that be the case . Somewhat I may be wrong as can't find anything about that ... was it just for adult children of Swiss citizens from abroad ?
I assume bowlie is referring to de-registering in the old municipality and registering in the new one.
If we think about ordinary naturalization, it sort of makes sense that a person shouldn't move until at least a certain stage of the naturalization process is completed. After all, the person is applying first to be a citizen of a municipality. The municipality becomes the place of origin.
Why would municipality A (where the initial application is filed) want to continue the application for someone who de-registers and leaves? Similarly, why should municipality B suddenly grant citizenship to someone who started the process elsewhere and wasn't "known" to the locals?
Based on some of the posts above, it sounds like OP needs to wait until municipality and canton have approved and the canton has sent a letter that explicitly says it's okay to move.
As I mentioned above, this is exactly what happened in my case but it may be canton specific; I submitted my application in Lausanne, moved away half a year after that, and Lausanne commune continued to handle my case (and closed it successfully a couple of months ago). Immediately after the application is submitted you can move the commune within Vaud, and once the municipal part is over, you can change the canton as well.
That wouldn't surprise me. Based on EF stories, the French-speaking cantons seem to be a tad more relaxed about naturalization than the German-speaking ones. If you want to naturalize in a tiny Swiss German village, good luck. Not sure about Ticino's rules...Tom??