I do not have this letter anymore. I would say you are almost there. This step was the longest to wait (4 months) if I remember correctly.
I am pretty sure that as a general rule they can just be added, but you will still need the childâs birth certificate, and addition to the population register etc, so as the end of the process is unknown, I would contact your kanton as soon as possible and ask them. If you are in a âfriendlyâ kanton, I am sure they would delay the process for you if having the child included is a priority over the speed of processing. Would be interested to hear how you get on.
@megapixel Is your application currently at the canton or SEM? Are you in the city of Zurich? Could you please share your timeline? Thanks!
Stadt ZĂźrich
-7.23 applied
-11.23 âVorprĂźfĂźng
-2.24 âPrĂźfung Gemeindeâ
-5.24 Grundkenntnisstest
-6.24 Gemeinde Burger
-7.24 Prufung Kanton
Hi All,
I wonder if you could help me with the question. My son 15 years old is currently in the final stage of the naturalisation (waiting for CEM approval). Due to my loss of a job, we are planning to move out of Switzerland. According to the law you need to de-register within 6 months of being away from Switzerland. I wonder if we de-register (planning to try to put our permit C on hold) now as a family in order not to pay health insurance and taxes, but de-register our son a bit later to hopefully allow him to finish the naturalization?
Never heard of deregistration within 6 months, from what i know it must be done actually in advance and you put the date on the form when you will depart, if you have a rented apartment, the landlord will notify the authorities that you left. If you have your own apartment, then i can see that your son can just stay there registered, but will raise questions how a 15 year old will live on his own, he will need insurance anyway, but donât know laws regarding children, my first guess would be that is not allowed without any family members in the countryâŚ
This is from the Geneva canton site:
âYou have a B or C permit and are leaving the canton of Geneva for a period of more than 6 months. If you are leaving the canton for a period of less than 6 months (e.g. vacation), you do not need to announce your departure.â
I am wondering if I could write to the canton and explain the situation, maybe as an exception, they will allow him to complete the naturalisation.
You can cancel insurance and taxes if you have an official paper from your commune that says you are leaving, otherwise for leaving less than 6 months yes you donât have to announce, but it means you have an address and continue to pay insurance and taxes, every change of address has to be communicated (because landlords are also obliged to submit info to the commune), things are easier if you own a place. Why donât you just apply for RAV and wait a bit, 6 months is not long for your son to have a passport.
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at what stage of the process was it born? which Kanton/Gemeinde?
Is there an official app that has all knowledge test questions for Zurich city? If yes can we download one earlier? Thank you
the official list of questions is available here Grundkenntnistest | Kanton ZĂźrich
you can do random tests or download a pdf of the 350 possible questions.
with the test(and perhaps interview) invitation, you will receive an access code for the official app. if you really want it before then, i think you can pay. all the info is on the site above
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EinbĂźrgerungstest Schweiz is the app. its a paid App. You can download it free but than one can purchase Kantons or city according to your choice. Practivce on app is really helpfull. It helped me. one can practice and revise the questionaire and also do a mock test in it.
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- You can leave, and still be considered as Swiss resident for 6 months but only if you maintain your appartment (pay rent etc), not if you have abandoned it. Note, in that case you will also continue to be considered as resident for Swiss taxes.
- Kids can live on their own from 15 years old in Switzeland (i.e, can have a different registration to a Commune, seperate than their parents). 14 or under they follow their parents. From that angle it is possible for your son to live by himself (ie you deregister and he remains registered). However, to claim that, you have to modify the lease so that it is in the childâs name (yes, 15 years olds can rent by themselves, the parent just needs tou countersign), and of course keep paying rent.
- I doubt they will allow the naturatilsation th continue if you all move abroad. But if you expect to finish the process within 6 months, you are allowed to keep renting your place, move abroad and wait 6 months, then break the lease and announce your departure. After all, you are allowed to go on holidays as a Swiss resident.
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Hi all
I got the final letter of confirmation today . So
My timelines in stadt ZurichâŚ
Applied - Dec 2022
Interview - Dec 2023
Confirmation Gemeinede: Dec 2023
Acknowledgement from Kanton : Jan 2024
Confirmation from Kanton ; May 2024
Bill from SEM : June 2024
Confirmation from Gemenide that they got confirmation from SEM : Sep 2024
Final letter : Oct 24
I have seen that for most people in ZH the last stage took 2-3 months however in my case it was 3 weeks . As my application was opened since Dec-22 , i would assume that they prioritized it higher than others ⌠however this is just a guess
I am glad its over and to others I wish good luck, please be patient there is nothing else you can do. I understand the disappointment of opening the letter box every day and not seeing the letter:)
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Please check the message of TinyK from 6 March 2024.
â⌠but for us an online status change was weeks, even months behind the actual stage of the process. I fact, our case still has a status âPrĂźfung Bundâ, although we got our passports a month ago.â
I asked this question to shadow-walker on 24 September 2024, because I have received approval from the City of Zurich but my status still says PrĂźfung Gemeinde and shadow-walker confirmed having the same experience.
I suppose we can safely assume that the online status is not necessarily correct. In my case, the status changed from VoprĂźfung to PrĂźfung Gemeinde the day the snail mail letter was sent to me, and I was notified by SMS but not by email. In your case, this didnât happen so one more example that confirms we shouldnât not take the online status that seriously.
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@megapixel I think you are the first user here who applied with the new law, and since you are currently at the Cantonal Check, could you please share with us more details about whether the following steps already happened for you or not, and if yes, how many weeks after receiving the approval from the City of Zurich each of them happened?
- Have you received the bill from the Gemeindeamt (the one which is not sent by the municipality anymore)?
- Was the status in the online system changed from âPrĂźfung Gemeindeâ to âPrĂźfung Kantonâ?
- Have you received any letter from the Canton that they received your application?
- Did anything else happen as well?
Thank you!
Hi Silvano,
- No I have not yet received the bill from the Gemeindeamt. They told me that I will receive it together with the one from the Canton.
- Yes, the status in the online system changed to âPrĂźfung Kantonâ 5 weeks after I took the Gemeinde citizenship.
- After the above nothing happened yet (after almost 3 months)
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@Touspourununpourtous I finally received what is referred here as the âGolden Letterâ I think.
I started the whole process beginning of Jan. 2023. So that would make for a total of 1 year and ~10 months.
Feels good 
I thought I would be more excited but after waiting for so long, I would describe the feeling more like relief.
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Hi, this thread was helping me to wait for my process to end, so I would like to add my experience, for others when their patience will be tested.
01/2023 started the process Gemeinde Kriens / canton Luzern
03/2023 sent all the documents. I made a mistake that cost me almost a year by sending an additional document stating that I am not married. Which should be obvious from the âbirth certificateâ. I spent the next 7 months making it official, each time waiting two months for the reply from the municipal official. I have done a lot of beuarocratic things in the beuarocratic heavens of the Balkans, Central and South Asia or South America, but the Swiss are just another level. 
Actually I should just take that paper back the moment we started to discuss it and I saw the void in the eyes of the secretary.
10/23 all my papers were accepted
03/23 invitation for the interview
04/23 interview
before the interview they contacted one of the people I referenced
in next months I was getting different bills and
09/24 at the end of September a letter came stating that a week ago I got the citizenship
I paid the last bills and order the card and passport which were done in few days. Similar as above I am mostly relieved that this is past me. Sometimes I think about weird fact of holding dual nationality, but itâs more intellectual than emotional overthinking.
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Congrats, @nejc74 ! Having had my fill of the bureaucratic heavens of the Balkans (cheers!), South Asia, the US and France, your paragraph made me both shiver and chuckle in recognition.
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