Normal Naturalisation Switzerland - applicant diary

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
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In about 5 months time I will be eligible for to apply for normal.Swiss citizenship. As there seems to be a lot of threads on the subject, and a lot of changes and confusion, I am beginning this thread now to fully document my experience as it continues, step-or-step, issue for issue. I welcome any comment or help of course.

My Gemeinde is Dietikon. The most recent information on their website requires the following residential qualifications:

12 years in Switzerland + 5 years uninterrupted* in Dietikon; ( I will satisfy this requirement) 15 years in Switzerland + 2 years uninterrupted* in Dietikon *Uninterrupted mean continuously registered and paying tax here, and this must continue to be my place of residency until the process is complete.

Also required is the following:

Good speaking and understanding of German (Level B1) Good character (clean criminal and financial record) Stable employment/income No tax debt* No claiming of social welfare benefits * Iā€™m assuming this means all payments for definite tax assessmentsā€¦and that provisional payments are not included.
Successful passing of ā€œStandortbestimmung Deutsch und Gesellschaftā€ Basically, this means that a citizenship test (knowledge of country, laws, geography, etc). and a language test (the later can be excused on production of a B1 or higher language certificate, according to the website).

So at the moment my question is: do I have to pass the citizenship knowledge test PRIOR to the application, or during the application?

The website continues to give a rough ā€œroad mapā€ of the process, but states the duration is completely dependent upon the ā€œcandidateā€™s situationā€. It also goes on to point out the costs, which combined with Federal/Kanton/Canton, come to around 5000chf per applicant (you also have to pay if you are refused!!).

At this stage, Iā€™ll be taking any suggestions for preparation.

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To my knowledge you will have to attend a course on ā€œHow to be Swissā€ lasting several evenings and then there is a test.

Paddy in Fribourg documented his way to citizenship quite thoroughly, but as you no doubt realise every Gemeinde and Commune have their own rules.
Commune naturalisation interviewā€¦done

http://www.englishforum.ch/search2.php?q=naturalization

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I too think you'll have to talk to your Gemeinde directly about that. I became Swiss in Feb of this year and I didn't have to take a formal citizenship exam. I was given a booklet with the basic information and my Gemeinde interview was primarily an oral exam on that, along with the usual questions of why do you want to become Swiss.

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I just started the process for ordinary naturalisation in Canton de Vaud albeit as a registered partner of a swiss citizen, which reduces my waiting time to 5 years instead of the usual 12 years , and the requirements are basically the same as the OP, except in Vaud there is no official citizenship test and language skills are assessed by the person in charge of naturalisation at the commune when asking for the naturalisation application form. I'd say my level in French is about B1.

I know in Neuchatel and Berne the level required is A2 for naturalisation and in Valais and Geneva it's B1.

Documents needed to be send off with my application which is written on the application form, is basically:

1 passport size photograph

Copy of my B permit

Copy of my passport

Attestation of residence for all the time in switzerland

Police clearance (extrait de casier judiciaire)

Declaration from the cantonal tax office stating the last 5 years taxes have been paid, and if not that there is an arrangement in place with them, to pay if off.

Extract from the office de poursuite, stating that i am not in debt.

Attestation from one's employer if working

Attestation from school or university for children and students.

For self employed persons:

An Attestation that you are affiliated to the AVS which indicates your annual income as well

Copy of the commercial registry

Attestation of no debt

Cost for one applicant: communal (maximum the commune can charge is 400chf) + cantonal + federal = 750chf

However in Canton Vaud, before one can get the application form, one has to get the green light from the Cantonal Civil status section by having one's civil status registered in the Infostar if it is not there already.

The commune will give you an application form to fill in which you need to send off to the civil status section of the canton.

For this i needed my Partnership certificate(marriage certificate), birth certificate and certificates of all your family members such as your children whether included in the naturalisation application or not, and it needs to be apostilled and translated if not in a swiss official language.

Once all this is sorted the canton sends you a document, BON POUR ACCORD, which is valid for 6 months. With this in hand you go back to the commune and the person in charge of naturalisation will only then give you the naturalisation application form to fill in .

People doing a facilitated naturalisation don't have to do this registering of their civil details i just mentioned in Canton Vaud.

As explained to me by the person in charge of naturalisation in my commune, once i hand in my application form, the commune will check that everything is in order. Then there will be a police report or an adminstrative one done by the commune. Since my commune is small, it will be an administrative one, which will be followed by a letter from my commune inviting me for the interview.

Luckily in my commune there's no naturalisation committee, and either the municipality or the person in charge of naturalisation will conduct the interview.

If all goes well, the municipality will accord me the bourgeoisie of the commune, and then send the file onto the canton, which is basically just a mere formality, unless they have serious doubts about the candidates integration, to accord me the droit de citeĢ, and then off to Berne for the federal agreement and then the citizenship ceremony in Lausanne.

But as Sbrinz and ENG_CH mentioned, each commune/gemeinde has their own way of doing things.

But this is more or less the process in Canton Vaud and the documents needed.

Hope this might be of some use to anyone out there in Canton Vaud.

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I know already that I have to do a formal citizenship test in my Gemeinde; it is done at the local tech college (80 francs) and if you fail once your application is delayed 6-12 months, fail a second time and they refuse your application.

I'll be somewhat annoyed if they ask for my birth certificate again (translated and apostled), as I needed that for my original B permit and nothing has changed since!!

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I too was annoyed as they had a copy of my birth certificate and the original in Lausanne for when i first arrived in switzerland.

The kind lady at the commune told me that all documents needed to be less than 6 months old.

So it seems i get reborn every 6 months. What a real pain to go through, not to mention for my mother.

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I think you probably do not pay all the processing costs if for any reason your application is refused. It is also not as high as stated now it is much lower.

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I doubt this.

Stated where?

True that it's not linked anymore to an income,

however, imho in many cantons it's about twice/ 3 times of this:

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This is what I thought, so it is probably a good thing that I will be going home for a couple of weeks before I submit my application. This will give me a chance to get all the required documents that I might need whilst I'm there.

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Please allow me to give a bit of info here... The Gemeinde or wherever you are applying for your Swiss citizenship (btw, congrats on taking the first steps!)... The official offices are not allowed to transfer information between each other. Yes, the right hand does not talk to the left in these buildings

The reason is personal data protection. This has happened to me a couple times in the last few years. Please don't think twice about this, just go with the flow and submit the (same) documents again

Good luck to the both of you and to all the others applying!

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About how long did the take to get the Bon Pour Accord once your papers were in for the EĢtat-Civil ?

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Just for info, British citizens can order BMD certificates online and get them posted to here, no need to wait until youā€™re in the UK. Linky here:

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/ceā€¦es/default.asp

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A useful link explaining ā€œla ProceĢdure dā€™enregistrement de donneĢes dā€™eĢtat civilā€, which as Flyboy writes is the first step in Canton Vaud:

http://www.vd.ch/themes/vie-privee/pā€¦s-detat-civil/

On the same site you can find this chart:

http://www.vd.ch/themes/vie-privee/pā€¦ape-par-etape/

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I would like to know whether anyone has naturalized (ordentliche EinbuĢˆrgerung) in Ct. Aargau and, if so, how long it took.

My story:

a. Applied for CH citizenship in July 2012

b. Approved by Gemeinde in June 2013 (Gemeindeversammlung)

c. Received letter from Ct. Aargau in July 2013, with invoice for CHF 850 for Aargau and Bund fees, stating that the next steps could take up to one year.

Does anyone have recent experience on how long the Aargau and Bund naturalization step took?

Thank you.

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It took less than a week to get it, as all my details were already registered when i entered into a registered partnership with my swiss partner.

Just to update, i had my commune interview last week. It lasted about 35 minutes. The mayor of the commune and the communal secretary conducted the interview. My swiss partner was allowed to be in the room with me. Started off with verifying everything that was on my application form. Then questions regarding the swiss political structure, the name of the members of the municipality and what they were in charge of , local geography - names of lakes and mountains, a bit of history, important dates for the country, as well as important dates for the canton.

They asked me why i wanted to become swiss, as well as if someone stopped me and asked me what's your nationality , where do you come from, how i would respond. Secretary asked me if i had any connections with local swiss people ,(mind you, she is new, started her job in august) which was rather bizarre, considering that i am partnered with a local and the mayor being one of his good friends, at which moment the mayor interjected and said how he find it strange that registered partners of swiss citizens could not do a facilitated naturalisation.

In all it was relaxed and friendly. Overall the decision seems favourable and i should get an official letter from the commune within the next 2 weeks.

Will post back with updates.

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What you describe is exactly what I was told earlier today - my wife and I made the inquiry this morning and we will start to collect the documents.

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Well, I went to the commune on the 24th and got my form for the etat civil, and sent it in the next day.

Only now theyā€™ve put up an announcement that thereā€™s a 4 month delay in processing these things.

http://www.vd.ch/themes/vie-privee/pā€¦s-detat-civil/

Apparently theyā€™ve moved office as well.

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Good news, at least for my case. It works out that because our daughters were born in canton GeneĢ€ve we're all in the system already. So I just got my "Bon pour Accord". Wow. I thought I'd have to wait until January.

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Thanks again, Flyboy, for helping me prepare for the procedure.

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Excellent news . Now to remplir your application form and getting the date for your audition. Do keep us inform.