Received the final confirmation today. Guess “golden letter”?
Anyway, many thanks to everyone especially the forum owners and moderators. This forum is a great place for information and at times therapy.
Wishing everyone in the journey all the very best.
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I also received a confirmation today from the SEM, they approved my application. Mine’s facilitated so decision comes from the SEM. Now I need to wait 30 days more. If no complaint or appeal comes from Kanton or Gemeinde within 30 days, SEM will inform me in writing of the final decision.
I am not sure if this contributes to a Golden letter, Silver or even Bronze letter. This type of categorization or classification I guess has only been introduced by some people on this forum.
My timeline in Zug
Applied online: Aug 2023
First call about the process: Feb 2024
Submitted documents: Apr 2024
Gemeinde Int: Sep 2024
Kanton Int: Nov 2024
Sem conf: Jan 2025
Gemeinde conf: Apr 2025
Kanton Conf: May 2025
Good luck to everyone and hope above helps.
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Congrats KKR007!!! Appreciate the timeline as here in Zug we don’t have so many data points on the forum.
For me, the interesting part is that it took so long from application online to first call about the process. Also, given you have submitted a few months later too, that slows down.
BUT, from docs submitted to final kanton confirmation roughly a year is pretty good!
Do you know if your references were contacted? By whom? Geminde? Kanton? SEM? I keep reading that for Zurich people SEM contacts them… curious on your experience.
Thanks for sharing, and congratulations, cant wait to share mine!
Howdy! wow, that’s a timeline that looks like quickstep… quick quick, slow, slow, quick quick, slow, slow… (quick from your side, slow from theirs’). I started mine in November 2024… still nowhere. Literally 
could you give a hint (PM also OK) on which type of questions you got on the Gemeinde and Kanton interviews? I am soooo ultra bad with numbers, I cannot even remember my own card pins, let alone the years of wars and alliances… :-(. Thanks!
ASCVD, you were right — they just sent back the original documents, which explains why it came by registered mail.
As a non-EU/EFTA national, here’s a summary of my current naturalisation timeline for Lausanne, VD:
- 08/2023: Sent application to the SPOP by registered mail
- 10/2023: Confirmation letter from the canton acknowledging receipt
- 11/2023: Bill CHF 450 from the canton (paid immediately), along with a request for some basic documents — sent everything within the same week
- 12/2023: Letter from that canton, stating that my application had been forwarded to the commune
- 12/2023: Letter from the commune, saying that I didn’t need to take the “test de connaissances élémentaires sur la Suisse”
- 04/2024: Invitation from the commune for an interview in late May to complete the rapport d’enquête; they also asked for additional documents — sent everything the same week by post
- 05/2024: Interview with commune for the rapport d’enquête — nothing difficult, just general questions about my life in Switzerland, my job, etc.
- 07/2024: Received avis de clôture from the commune — free to move anywhere in Switzerland without affecting the process
- 08/2024: Letter from the canton stating that the procedure is paused until I’m officially registered in the civil status register of the canton of Vaud — by far the most time-consuming and exhausting part so far
- 12/2024: Letter from the état civil requesting several apostilled documents from my home country, with a 3-month deadline
- Unable to get the documents through the embassy in time — flew back to my home country, and somehow managed to collect everything within a week
- 01/2025: Sent all documents by registered mail
- 05/2025: Registered mail from the état civil returning all original documents and confirming that I’m now officially registered in the Swiss civil status register
- 06/2025: Letter from the canton informing about the next steps — they estimate it could take up to 8 more months
So, in total, it’s been 22 months, with nearly half of that time spent just on the civil status registration ! If you can somehow manage to get that part done before starting the naturalisation procedure, it could potentially speed things up a lot!
Now just waiting for the SEM bill. Fingers crossed it all wraps up this year!
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25 months and counting for me in VD.
SEM told me 3-4 months it will take them to treat the file after the bill being paid. Canton sent my file to SEM 4 months after their letter. Usually it is faster.
My case was special as I was moving between jobs etc. so that slowed down the initial process.
None of my references were contacted
From what I have heard the interviews have gotten much more stringent so probably worth checking with someone who has done it more recently. Good luck!
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Quick update. Zürich Stadt
Jan 25 (end of) cantonal approval, 3-4 months after gemeinde approval (no online status change from gemeinde to canton, but received one when canton approved.
June 25 (start of) online status switched to schlussprüfung, just shy of 4 months after SEM bill paid.
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Update:
- 15.01.2024 – First meeting (Beratungsgespräch), received the list of required documents.
- 15.02.2024 – Submitted the application for ordinary naturalization (Gesuch um ordentliche Einbürgerung).
- 11.04.2024 – Received a letter requesting additional documents (pay slips, confirmation from the employer).
- 16.07.2024 – Commune interview (Gemeindegespäch) (400 CHF paid).
- 30.09.2024 – Confirmation of Bern city citizenship (Zusicherung des Bürgerrechts der Stadt Bern) and received the invoice for the Canton of Bern fee (1,150 CHF paid).
- 24.10.2024 - Documents received by Canton, processing started (now they are processing the documents received at the beginning of October (asked by email on 14.01.25 and received a reply in 2 days.
- 18.02.2025 - Naturalization approval process started by the federal government (Einbürgerungsbewilligung des Bundes) (100 CHF paid)
- 02.06.2025 - Completion of the naturalization process (Abschluss Einbürgerungsverfahren)
- 09.06.2025 - Appointment scheduled online via schweizerpass.ch to issue my new Swiss ID and passport (earliest available slot was the next day).
- 10.06.2025 - Biometric photo and fingerprints collected; Swiss ID and passport will be delivered within approximately 10 days.
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Congratulations! Interestingly, they skipped the “Schlussprüfung” in your case, saving you at least three more months of waiting before the “Abschluss”!
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Hi @swisstobe , more than 3 months passes since you have been in the Schlussprüfung status. Do you maybe have an update?
97 days to be exact, but unfortunately no updates yet 
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- June 16, 2025: email notification that the online status changed & online status changed to “Abschluss”.
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Congratulations! let us know when you get the letter and how long after you can apply for ID (it says 3 weeks but I guess sooner).
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