Breaking news...we got the official letter from the Bund this week...me and my family are now officially Swiss!! They even reminded us that we should vote this weekend (can't, however, we need some additional paperwork that is too late to get). So, me and my wife now are dual nationals (Swiss/US, and Swiss/UK), and the kids triple...Swiss/UK/US. So, great new job started on 4 May, citizenship officially granted on 7 May, and we move into our new house in October. Things are looking up!

Great news Karl, congratulations....!!

Congratulations, please give some background. Did you just apply, taker the test etc. How long have you been here etc.

Wow Karl, looks like the Gods are really smiling down on you. Congratulations.

The ground rules are you have to have been living in the same Gemeinde for a minimum of 10 years (I've heard rumours they changed it to 12, so better check). So, it is not sufficient to have been in Switzerland for that long, you have to have been in the same Gemeinde (village). Then, you should have a spotless record (you will be asked for signed letters from each Gemeinde you have lived in) stating you have no criminal record or financial misdoings (i.e. you paid your tax honestly and on time, no one is sueing you, etc.). Then you have to provide copies of international birth certificates for each family member applying. If you fulfill the above, you are ready to apply by visiting your local Gemeindeamt and asking for the documents to become naturalized (eingebürgert). They give you a stack of documents about the Swiss political system and history to study (and it's not in English)!, and tell you about which documents you need to provide (the above mentioned letters, birth certificate, copies of passports, etc.). Then they arrange a date for a meeting with the Gemeinderat some months later. It used to be the entire commitee, but our Gemeinde reduced it to just 3 representatives. You then have a verbal interview with them (ours was suprisingly easy, they seemed to be more interested in how well we were integrated into the Gemeinde, how well we spoke German and understood high-German, whether we were active in any of the local Vereins (which we are due to our children's participation in local sport clubs which we invariably end up supporting). Our kids were born here, so they only had to sit there and look cute, they were asked only what they liked best about the Gemeinde (answers: the swimming pool and the library).

Presumably they also do an exhaustive background check and query teachers, the company who rents us our flat, etc., but we are not aware of it if they did.

The meeting lasted about 40 minutes, just some questions about local and kanton political issues (I had to volunteer some information about political issues on the federal level, they seemed less interested that we knew anything about that, ironically). The Swiss democracy is quite young I found out, and was originally modelled on the 2-house US democratic system which is actually older than the Swiss democratic system only with a more decentralised executive branch (although the Swiss federation is 700+ plus years old, it only became a democracy about 200 yrs. ago).

Then some months later we were informed by our local grocer that our acceptance on the Gemeinde level was published in the regional paper (along with many other families from all over the world who were also accepted in the region) ...next phase our application gets referred to the Kanton for approval (they basically just sent us an invoice and rubber stamped it). Then, our application was sent to Bern for the final approval by the Bund. They sent us a letter asking for copies of the payment receipts of the payments we made to the Kanton. After we sent that, we got the final letter from the Bund accepting us as Swiss citizens (and reminding us to vote!).

Total cost for all fees, getting birth certificates, photos etc. for a family of 4: about 3000 CHF total.

Now we are obliged to sign up for yodelling, cheesemaking and alphorn lessons.

Fantastic - Only in Switzerland sounds like the base story for a film. By the way how is your Swiss German?

Just some information for people who are living in the Western Part of Switzerland. Things down here are much more relaxed. While certain communes in the German speaking part require you to live there for 10-12 years, most communes in the Western Part of Switzerland only require you to live in the commune between 1-3 years, but to have lived in Switzerland for the required amount of years. This makes things much easier, as there are not many people I know who live in the same commune for 12 years. In short, Swiss French communes regard years of having lived in a different vilage as valid for Swiss citizenship, whereas Swiss German communes do not and require that the full amount of years are spent within their own commune.

This does not change the requirements on a federal level, which I believe to be 10 or 12 years of residence in Switzerland to become Swiss.

sorry, I mis-spoke..they interviewed us in Swiss-German, and we responded in High German (except the kids who are fluent in dialect).

The whole process from start to finish took about a year.

Congratulations Karl - now please leave this forum in an orderly and noble manner and resign your membership.

Applications for Swiss Forum participation can be found at........

Congrats Karl!

Did you need any locals to provide character references? I've heard that you have to pay a lot more than you did. A few of my colleagues have lived here since they were kids and never applied because of the cost.

Congrats!!!

No, we were never asked to provide references, though I think the community here has it's own informal network where they find out anything they want about us (do we flush toilets after 22.00? Are we chronically return library books late?, are our kids troublemakers at school?, do we pay rent on time?, do we always remember to say Gruezi and Auf wieder sehen when entering and exiting lifts, etc.)

It used to be very expensive, but the price has come down dramatically as of late, in fact for the kids there was no charge. I think they need more foreigner becoming citizens to maintain the viability of the AHV system, as the Swiss themselves are not producing enough kids to support all the retiring baby boomers.

Congratulations

Congratulations, Karl. All the best to you and your family.

Welcome to the club - maybe in one or two generations we can force a vote for English being the next official language Time to make some babies

congrats. can i ask ....

why you thought it necessary for you all to have CH citizenship?

Well, I am here 22 years, my wife 15, the kids are born here. We have no intention of every moving back to the US or the UK (who can blame us), we really like living here, we are about as integrated as you can get here as foreigners, it's a beautiful, safe, wealthy country with great standard of living, we both have good well paying jobs, the safety net and social benefits are 1st-rate, our kids feel more Swiss than British or American and will probably live here as adults and have their kids here, we love to hike and ski and travel in Europe, well, why not becoming a card-carrying member?

Also, if the US gov't decides to stop the 85k USD tax deduction for its citizens abroad (which was discussed under the Bush admin), I would need an escape ticket to avoid paying US tax (yes, US citizens abroad are still obliged to file US tax returns each year). Also in many countries, particularly in the middle-east it is preferrable to travel with a Swiss passport.

So, it only has benefits from my point of view. My son would be liable to do military service, but they now changed it to optional civil service instead. Plus it's a good networking platform, lots of Swiss make great professional contacts via military service.

I am happy that English is NOT an official language here...that way I keep my competitive edge on the job market!

Karl I missed your post about your new job! I had been following your case in the forum and I am absolutely happy for you!!! It is great to see that that everything turned up fine, you really deserve all the best after all the efforts. CONGRATULATIONS for you and your family!

Congrats! Good work, I hope to be in the same posistion as you some day.