My Zurich city timeline so far
Submission early March 2024
Status switched to Vorprüfung (Pre-Check) - Late June 2024
Application sent to Gemeinde - early September 2024
I expect another 4 months before I receive invite for Grundkenntnisstest.
Once again, I am trying to see how the process has been going here in Zug. Can anyone that has recently been thru it comment? There seems to be now a “E” process,… how is this wokring vs the old process? what is the current framework like? fill out pre-form? wait how long before next step? Is next step in person, or now is eletronically already… etc… any tips appreciated.
Here is my complete timeline, from start to finish…
EU citizen with children included in the application in Bezirk Horgen in Canton Zurich: total c. 16-17 months.
Apr 23: Submitted online application and Application acknowledgement
Jun 23: Status change to Vorprüfung
Sep 23: Status change to Gemeinde Prüfung
Nov 23: Invitation for test and interview in three weeks time
Dec 23: Passed test (Informed on the spot) and sat for interview.
Dec 23: Letter of acceptance from Gemeinde.
Jan 24: Status change to Prüfung Kanton.
Mar 24: Status change to Prüfung Bund
Apr 24: Received and paid SEM bill
Jun 24: Status change to Schlussprüfung (I guess this is silver letter).
Sep 24: Final confirmation, process end.
Now, I am in the process of getting the ID and passport. Overall, it was smooth, with each step around 2-4 months. So it is just a patience exercise, with the exception of the interview.
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Congratulations @DarkOrion !! 
Did the status in the e-portal change as well? From „Schlussprüfung“ to something else?
And may I ask, how many weeks did it take for the last step? 
Mine was done in person so cant comment. Everyone else that I know of also did it in person, so cant help you at the moment with your questions.
Thank you!
Status is now changed to “Abschluss”. It took a bit more than 2 months from “Schlussprüfung” to “Abschluss”.
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Yes I had the Basic Knowledge Test already. The test was on a tablet and took place in the office of the person who is in charge of the test, and the result was announced at the end, without any written confirmation. Therefore, the steps were the same with those mentioned in earlier posts by other members of this forum.
There was no interview and the letter didn’t mention anything about interview, therefore this was also correct based on the answer of other members of this forum. If there is an interview, I suppose that it is mentioned in a clear way.
Before doing the test, there was an introduction of 3-4 minutes about the test, and after the end of the test there were another 3-4 minutes of explaining the next steps of the naturalization process. Quite straightforward process.
Thanks everybody for the helpful feedback!
Hi everyone,
Its great to see people sharing their stories and helping others during this lengthy process, so i’d like to share my journey as well:
Non-EU citizen, studied in Bern for masters, living in Zürich city with no kids and applied for ordinary citizenship process.
28.08.2023: Application submitted
01.09.2023: Application acknowledgement
06.12.2023: Application status changed to “Vorprüfung”
21.02.2024: Application status changed to “Prüfung Gemeinde”
03.05.2024: Invitation for the test and interview
16.07.2024: Test and interview
10.09.2024: Letter of acceptance from Stadtrat.
…
The test was on an ipad with 45 questions, questions were from the LernApp, so i was able to answer all of them correctly. After the test, the discussion was based on the integration within the swiss society e.g. interaction with the swiss people during studies and at work, activities during free time, and one specific question was to describe 3 basic values enshrined in the constitution (freedom of expression etc…).
I’ll keep adding more details as the process moves forward.
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Glad to hear that you’ve cleared the Stadtrat but it looks like it took you 2 months to get your acceptance while for other people in Zurich City, they got theirs a couple of weeks after their test/interview. It almost seems that the process in Zurich City is somewhat random these days. I’m curious because I have my test (in Zurich City) tomorrow.
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It’s random all over the country in similar contexts
Hi, was curious as we’re in the same canton and at a similar part of the process if you had heard more news? I think next for you would be the SEM bill?
Thanks
Look at the calendar. There is a big month of August in-between the dates… everyone knows nothing happens in August in public administration in Switzerland 
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Hello @Touspourununpourtous, I am also in the same canton.
The canton confirmed (over the phone) that they shared my application file to the SEM end of June. I received and paid SEM bill mid-July and haven’t heard anything since.
I have similar timeline to yours but didn’t to go through civil status procedure as I was already registered.
I guess the next step is directly receiving an invitation to the ceremony as the SEM/canton do not confirm (there is no equivalent to the “silver letter” in Vaud).
For @petitsuisse in the same canton, it took 2-3 months after SEM bill to receive the invitation.
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Point taken!
I hear some contradicting info about the city of Zurich regarding the process. Some people claim that they only have the test in tablet/laptop, whereas other have both the test and an interview.
I understand the differences from Gemeinde to Gemeinde, but even within the same city, the process is different from person to person?
hey @Neming thanks for the response.
if it’s not too much trouble and if you have time, would you be able to post your Vaud timeline of events so far? seems your at the last hurdle anyways. Would be good to get a gauge of your process so far… always nice to compare for therapy of this LONG process lol
Thanks
If I am not mistaken, the purpose of the interview is to establish social integration, and it is at their discretion if they think it is necessary to interview you for this purpose.
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My timeline is as follows:
- 08/2023 sent the application to the canton
- 01/2024 acknowledgement from the canton, bills, forwarded to the commune
- 02/2024 commune requested a motivation letter, CV, and other documents, bill
I was quite lucky as they somehow accelerated the communal process due to some staffing constraints. They told me that if I was ready for knowledge test, I could do it in the next couple of weeks (otherwise I should have waited another 4-5 months)
- 03/2024 knowledge test
- 04/2024 interview with the commune
- 05/2024 received the Bourgeoisie from my commune
- 07/2024 SEM bill
- 09/2024 confirmation from canton that they forwarded to SEM end of June and that civil status procedure is not needed as I was already registered. They mentioned it could take another 6-7 months.
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Well, I had my test (Zurich city) today and passed it. There was no interview and they explained where the process would go from here. It looks like it’ll be 6-8 months from here. So I’m hoping today was the halfway mark.
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That’s actually pretty smooth. I applied 3 months before you and I still don’t even have a date for the knowledge test. So you can consider yourself one of the lucky ones
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