My husband and I are expecting our first child in November. We are both US citizens. I understand that babies born in Switzerland to foreign nationals are not automatically granted Swiss citizenship.

Is there a way to apply for citizenship or nationalization for the baby?

Thanks in advance for any info/insight you can provide!

Fortunately not.

Search the forum. Naturalisation is one of the popular topics that is explained in details.

I'd have to say unfortunately personally -- my kids were born here and have lived here for their whole life (ok 5yrs so far for the oldest) and they're more Swiss than Australian!

I understand if you move away when the kid is 6months then yeah you shouldn't get the passport

but i wouldn't say it's fortunate not to get the passport

depends on your point of view and if you are a CH'er or not!

It only opens up more opportunities for the child when they grow up if they have another passport, so why not?

However, the reverse of the OP's situation can be both a blessing and a curse - children born in America automatically are US citizens and have the lifelong obligation to file taxes, even if they never live there past being a few months old.

They are what is known as "secondos". The crazy thing is that if your child marries another "secondo" here their children wouldn't automatically qualify for Swiss citizenship either.

On the upside (if my sister-in-law's Swiss-born Italian boyfriend is anything to go by), the secondos aren't required to do military service which must be a bonus.

If the vertically-challenged one makes it through schooling here, applying for and getting a red passport should be easily achieved. That is assuming the rules don't change before then.

It's not something I'd be worrying about before, during or even after the birth. In fact, there are many teenagers now who still have not bothered to get the Swiss passport but lived here since infancy.

No rights are automatically conferred by birth here. You will need to register your child with the US embassy or consulate.
Our child was born here but has both of our nationalities (neither of us are Swiss) but no more.
A child that lives here X years can later apply for naturalisation.
There are threads about this on the forum, I don't really know much about it myself, sorry.

except for the additional taxes they must pay because he cannot 'defend' the country they have grown up in!

Another point is that we're not EU citizens and a passport would give the kids the opportunity to return any time should we in the future move away from Switzerland.

I agree that not everyone should get it automatically...

and I can understand when they may not want to have it - e.g. to avoid military service if they don't agree with it

but it has to be more than a blanket statement and yeah it is very much a personal decision which you have to make for your kids

hehe, juicy one! Made me wonder why you would want to nationalize a baby?

even if your kids are naturalised i'm pretty sure that they won't have t do military service. and even if they do, they can opt for a longer time doing civil service. or take the financial hit in their taxes.

US is one of the very few countries which gives the right of citizenship if born there. Most countries do not give the automatic right.

I can't for the life of me think of a single reason why any child born in a foreign country to foreign parents should have the right to citizenship just because their non-naturalised parents happened to live in the country when they were born. Even more so when the family are only temporary residents. Only justification I could see is if their home country refused to confer citizenship and they would otherwise be left stateless but that must be rare, if at all. My daughter was born here. As far as I recall we were told we had to register her birth at the british consulate within a certain of number of days so there was no doubt. I personally would ease the process of naturalization for those foreign kids who have spent all their lives here and see this as their home.

I thought secondo were those who are born to parents who immigrated here but are naturalized.

no?

Infact, that is my case, and I am often called that "jokingly" by my swiss friends

But my daugther did get her Swiss passport... infact, funnily enough, out of the 3 she has, the Swiss were the only ones happy to hand it over without father consensus so I could have kidnapped her...

Not that I would want to... rather leave him handling the baby

Anyway... going OT here...

Bottom line: you can get the nationality, you just have to go through the procedure.

Ciao
K

No. It's the term used for children born to non-naturalised immigrant parents.

It's a bit rough because they are often citizens of a country they might never have visited and yet aren't Swiss. They are fully integrated, speak the local language, etc., but are still regarded as "foreigners."

Ah ok, so difference is born "here" whilst I was born still in my country... and my daugther is not a secondo as I have the nationality in the meantime

Will tell my friends that... if you wanna call me names at least do it right

I think before many countries gave the right to nationality just by being born there, but with increased immigration around the world it has been curtailed.
Partly because nationality for the baby sometimes gives the baby rights to remain in that country... so indirectly the parents can get rights to raise their child in that country etc. and so on.
Unfortunately that led to mothers-to-be in an advanced stage in their pregnancy to travel, risking their health and that of their baby.

Yes, I think the Republic of Ireland was the last place to stop this in Europe (a few years ago) because they had an increase of heavily pregnant women arriving on their shores, giving birth then applying for an Irish passport for the baby, which then gave them EU citizenship.

Sure there is - in about 20 years when your child has grown up he/she will be able to apply.....