Thank you @Izzy. May i ask any tips or clues, as you seem to have been in that spot.
Hey
Have you received the golden letter by now?
Quick question: did you send the documents of your newborn via post or email (digital)?
Hi, not I did not get the golden letter yet.
The documents for the new born were sent via email. It was only two documents: birth certificate and consent letter signed by both parents.
Thanks for info, when I done that, I never got a response and I still dont see my sonâs info on the portal as of today). Did they ever take that long and how they confirmed adding your baby, email or letter? I wonder if my email went to spam (for having an attachment).
anyone know why some communes in vaud take ages? Iâm 3.5 years in now, waiting for SEM billâŠ
For me it took 8 months between receiving the SEM bill (paid within days) and receiving the invitation to the ceremony⊠Also Vaud. But Iâve heard wildely differing timelines. Your timeline seems to be in the longer ones - usually most people in Vaud are done within 3 years. On average it is 2.5.
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You donât provide crucial details (justifiably so, privacy and all that jazz).
So people lack even the most fundamental info to comment.
Yes I had a delay on the civil registry part of which took me 6-8 months to get all
The documentation thatâs why Iâm longer. But non the less I see Geneva and zurich posts where it took them a year only! So Vaud clearly has some processing issues.
But then Iâve seen people who get the call for the ceremony in Vaud just a month after SEM
They have started doing the SEM process digitally as of last
Month so that might speed things up I donât know
anyone knows when can I expect the interview with Gemeinde? I paid the 2000 CHF bill yesterday
Hi everyone,
Iâm currently going through the ordinary naturalisation process in Canton Vaud and would be interested to hear some recent timelines.
Mine so far is roughly:
May 2025: application submitted
Late 2025 / early 2026: additional documents requested
March 2026:civil-status registration completed
Spring 2026: dossier transferred to the commune
August 2026: communal interview / rapport dâenquĂȘte
Early September 2026: knowledge test passed (48/48)
Now: waiting
Iâve completed everything requested from my side, so Iâm mainly curious about how long the remaining stages have taken for other people.
For anyone who has completed ordinary naturalisation in Vaud recently, how long did it take from your knowledge test/interview to the oath?
And if you remember, roughly how long did the stages in between take - avis de clĂŽture, communal approval/bourgeoisie, SEM, and then the oath invitation/ceremony?
Mostly interested in recent Vaud cases.
Thanks!
In Vaud the initiation ceremony is held fairly infrequently. They appear to wait until they will have a full house. We waited some months before we were invited to our ceremony.
Vaud is not uniform, it depends if you live in a commune where the town interviews you (after the rapport dâenquete and the test) or not.
The extra interview is commune-dependent, but if the commune has chosen to have an interview panel they must to it for everyone. In any case, they seem to do everything in batches, eg 4 rounds a year, meaning eg âif you pass the test in Sept, you will be in the interview of eg Nov, then decision will be in Decâ, with dates more-or-less known already.
(Did you ask at the knowledge test about the next steps-timescales?)
For a certain Commune : knowledge test passed until getting the passport in your hands = 12 months.
I donât think there is a shortage of candidates, eg last year about 5500 naturalizations in Vaud, if you estimate the size of the venue at 400 persons, this requires 14 full-house ceremonies, meaning more than once a month. If you waited a long time, it could be the opposite, there were too many people booked already waiting before you.
Vaud resident here. It Depends on your commune. The fastest Iâve ever heard is about a year after the
Test to be naturalised. The vast majority of people, I know personally, from beginning to the end in Vaud is 2-3 years totally. Iâm afraid itâs one of the slowest cantons for naturalizations and I think itâs just down to resources. Geneva and Zurich Iâve seen people from start to finish in Zurich in a year. Iâm already passed my 3rd year but thatâs because I had a person delay of about 7 months to get the etat civil documents together. Indeed the etat civil part is what catches people the most regarding time.
Although interestingly you say it came before your interview and test.. was the opposite for me.. After the test I got the acceptance from the commune but THEN the etat civil gave me a review and asked for a lot More documents. Then the canton does a review and sends it federal..
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SEM to oath shouldnât be more than 8 months max.Can be much less. BUt depends on the commune. Theyâve just digitized the process and I think Vaud is involved in the new digitization process.
When I had done that, they responded fairly quickly saying that they would look into it. I think within a week, they confirmed by email that they have added the newborn.
The newbornâs name never showed up in the online portal. The only thing I had was the confirmation email from GAZ.
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Hello everyone,
Finally, I received the golden letter and have now become Swiss.
Here is my full timeline:
Dec 2024: Application submitted
Feb 2025: Vorprufung
May 2025: Prufung Gemeinde
Oct 2025: Gemeinde BĂŒrgerrecht
Nov 2025: Prufung Kanton
Feb 2026: Prufung Bund, Kanton+Gemeinde invoice
Mar 2026: Received SEM Invoice.
May 2026: Status change to SchlussprĂŒfung
Sep 2026: Status change to Abschluss. Letter 2 days later saying that we have now become Swiss.
All in all, it took ~22 months, excluding the initial registration in the Zivilstandregister.
The letter also states In bold that I must wait 3 weeks until all systems are updated or until I know that the Zivilstandregister has updated my records.
I went ahead anyway, thinking that I could schedule an appointment with PassbĂŒro three weeks away. But thatâs not how it works - the first step is the actual application. I got a stern email the next day asking me to âat least wait for the period mentioned in my naturalization letterâ
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Sent them a reminder and they said they would soon add the baby (but no confirmation of addition and also no name on the online portal).. in anyway In still long way through so I would wait until application moves to another stage.
Vaud as well, Iâm somewhere in the later stages. Hereâs what my timeline looks like relative to taking the test:
0: day of test.
2 months later: prĂ©avis positif dâoctroi de bourgoise, back to the canton.
3.5 months later: lâĂ©tat civil here, weâre stopping everything until you give us a birth certificate (they will want a recent certified copy, so you canât really prepare for this much in advance or it may not be âvalidâ when they read it). They will want marriage certificates and whatever else for civil status if that applies to you, plus registering children etc.
6 months later: due to your nationality, come in and swear your status is correct.
7 months later: weâre happy, weâre sending your docs to the SEM.
11 months and a half later: actual bill from the SEM.
16 months later: still waiting.
I think the total time will very much take the advertised 2.5 years at a minimum.
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Here we go, PrĂŒfung Bund 
06.10.2025: Submitted
20.01.2026: VorprĂŒfung
30.04.2026: PrĂŒfung Gemeinde
27.05.2026: PrĂŒfung Kanton
30.09.2026: PrĂŒfung Bund
Everything happily uneventful. It has taken exactly the 4 months they claim on the auto-reply message. Now for the final stretch, Iâm gessing finished by spring 27.
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I see a pattern - people mostly apply for naturalisation in Q4 