I received all the following in one mail: the Kantonbürgerrecht approval, the 1200 CHF Gemeindebürgerrecht bill, the 500 CHF Kantonbürgerrecht bill, the notification that my file was with SEM, and that SEM requires its own fee before reviewing applications. The SEM bill itself arrived after about 20 days.
I dunno how that all correlates with the online status change, as mine hasn’t been updated in ~6 months and is still stuck at “Prüfung Kanton”
A question: Do Gemeindes no longer have to publish the names locally? I haven’t seen any in my local rag for the last 2 years, even though I know people who have gone through the process.
No, I think the cantonal law in ZH changed a while ago making those decisions non-piblic by default. I vaguely remember that the justification was that the only party allowed to contest a positive decision about municipal citizenship was the new citizen alone (which is ridiculous per se, but you apparently are allowed to contest it, so it doesn’t take effect until 30 days after you get notified to allow for that), so there was no reason for the public to know.
Anyone with a recent experience with the federal approval from a french speaking canton ?
Would help to understand how long I need to wait for the bill as I am approaching the two year mark for the entire process.
Does anyone know whether Stadt Zürich has consistently stopped asking for references in the naturalization process? I’ve seen people mention it but not sure if it’s a case-by-case basis or policy.
Did they ever ask for them? I’ve seen what every version of the application forms in Stadt Zürich looked like since 2015 or so, I don’t think they ever mentioned any references.
So my status is online just changed to Abschluss! I guess this means a decision has been made?!?
Yes, it means you should get the “golden letter” (the definitive cantonal Einbürgerungsentscheid) in the next few days. Congratulations!
Thanks! The paper letter with the cantonal decision just arrived today 6 days after the online status change and the e-bill.
Crossing my fingers for the Bund not to take too long now…
When did you pay the SEM bill? I paid 22nd August and have not heard anything yet. I wrote an email to the canton last week just to check what next steps was i.e would I hear from Bund directly or did I have to wait for news from the canton and they confirmed they still had not heard from the Bund and it could take up to 8 months plus then another 3 months for final checks. They confirmed that the next time I would hear from them would be the “golden letter”. I think I have been relatively patient till now, but I hope its not too long to wait now…
I paid the SEM bill in July and the approval was issued in early Nov 24. I wasn’t notified though. I only found out last week by asking them.
Some questions about the military exemption tax that needs to be paid by men who are naturalized and are still less than 37 years old.
As far as I know, paying the military tax is mandatory even if one has already done military service in another country. The only exceptions are a small group of countries like France, Italy, Germany, Austria, which have a special agreement with Switzerland and give the option to dual citizens to choose if they want to do the military service in Switzerland or in the other country. Thus any prior service in the other country implies no obligation for military service in Switzerland.
Has anybody heard someone who was less than 37 years old when he became Swiss and didn’t have to pay military exemption tax although his other nationality is not of the countries listed above?
When do the authorities inform the person about the military tax? I suppose in the next calendar year and after the tax return is processed? Because the tax is 3% of the taxable income, which is known only once the tax return is finalized.
I think the law is quite clear, but I am curious about anyone who has a personal experience.
The authority on this topic: Wehrpflichtersatzabgabe erklärt
So since the ‘Abschluss’ notification on Monday, I called the Kanton and asked them if they could give me any info. The lady on phone confirmed that I would receive a letter confirming info on the ID and passport. Then wished me good day and hung up. 
So now I’ve been stalking my mailbox since then. No golden letter as yet… I feel like I can’t fully celebrate until I see it in writing. Let’s hope it’s in my mailbox tomorrow!
I bet they send it by B Post like all the other letters… The cantonal citizenship decision that they sent meTuesday last week only turned up in my mailbox this Monday. So don’t worry, it’s coming, might be tomorrow or on Friday 
Thank you! I’m trying to be calm and just wait it out but as you can imagine it’s hard not to be anxious and to believe it until I have it in my hand. Have waited almost 2 years so I guess I can do a few more days! 
Congrats, do you know why you didn’t need to do the interview? I have a degree from CH (PhD from ETHZ, if it matters), and I was wondering whether that would help me skip the interview, as I don’t feel very confident with my German (~B1/B2), ZH City. Thanks
As of July 2023, university studies no longer qualify as an exemption from the Grundkenntnistest and the interview. I also completed my PhD at ETH (2015) and had to take both the test and the interview since we applied after July 2023.
It’s somewhat random. I know of some people in Stadt Zurich who had to do an interview whereas I didn’t. Take comfort in the fact that interviewers are not German professors. They probably just want to know who you are, your motivation for becoming Swiss and whether you know a few details about the city and country. I think if you can express yourself to that extent, then you’ll be fine.
B1/ B2 is sufficient for the interview, they don’t expect you to be fluent. Remember, the process of naturalisation is to empirically assess if your are sufficiently integrated, and local language competency is a requirement. Just be yourself and you’ll be fine.