We were chatting about this today and can't find the answer in the facilitated naturalisation conditions, maybe somebody knows.

Father is EU, mother not EU, child born in Switzerland holding passport and nationality of EU father. Dad has C permit, child does too, mother has a B permit as a result of marriage to Dad. (with me so far?)

Ok, if Dad dies....what is the situation with regard to residence here?

In my mind, baby has right to stay as a C permit holder, and under family reunification policy, Mum therefore has a right to stay with baby. Then after five years, baby can apply for citizenship here under facilitated naturalisation regs (as he doesnt have the nationality of Mum), and then Mum can continue to stay.

Is that correct?

I would imagine that Mum getting a C permit or a citizenship of Dad's country would be added security...

Agreed......but.......wasn't really the question

I don't think the mother could use the C permit of the child, which was granted only tied to and based on the fathers'. If the father would lose his permit (say because of moving out of CH more than 4 years), then the child would lose it, too, could it posibly be the same in....that hypotetical case? Plus, a child cannot apply for citizenship, as far as I know - of course till they are 18.

But the father will NOT die, the mother will get her own C permit, etc. etc.. End of story.

On another thread Tom said he was legally married to 2 women in CH as his first wife had died.
It's therefore possible that even if the husband dies, she is still married !

Sure - it was more of a scenario "what if" kind of thing than a planning session!

The complication is of course that baby can't technically go to Mums country as there is no citizenship, Mum can't go to baby's country as the same applies....so one would hope that common sense would prevail somewhere

why does baby not get mom's citizenship as well? And are you sure of the second part about mom not going to baby's country? I am American and my kids are dual German/American citizens. I know when we moved to Germany in 2009 my residence permit and all was done for me via my kids rather than my husband/marriage as being a parent to a citizen was a closer tie than being married to one.

A surprising number of countries refuse to give citizenship based on the mother's citizenship if the parents are married.

I find that very surprising...can you give an example ?

There was a discussion on stateless children a while back. I think Algeria is one such country that will not allow the child have Algerian citizenship if born abroad to an Algerian mother married to a foreigner.

Please remember many countries don't allow dual citizenship. Since the child already holds a passport of dad's nationality, he may not be eligible for mom's citizenship.

odd - one would think the passport of default would be the mom's and not the dad's. But I guess if the dad is a citizen of a more "desirable" country then they might decide to choose the father's nationality. But, as a mother, I cannot imagine that in a worst case scenario I could not bring my child with me to my own country? Surely, they could come, just maybe not be a citizen? Or they would have to give up the father's citizenship and then would be able to obtain the other? Weird...

We have chosen not to have dual citizenship as there are far fewer advantages than disadvantages. Apart from national service in country B (in an army which isn't renowed for its cuddly mentality) there is no protection from country A when in country B - ie he wouldn't be protected by the EU Embassy when in Mum's country.

Of course, if the worst happened, that could be done.....but its not the point of the question really, its more about Swiss situation

Look, all EU countries don’t cancel residence if non EU spouse reside for a year minimum. Reside, not being married. The other thing is if divorce initiated by EU citizen side and residence is over 3 years, then it also not canceled unless of asocial behavior. Even if a person is not integrated by meaning of work and self sufficiency child of a certain age is very important point on decision making. I mean if child is not too small for easy integration in other country, school age, then there is a matter of protecting child interests.

I strongly believe that Switzerland must keep mainstream regarding EU spouse rights.

Italy, until not so long ago (2009) - children of Italian women living abroad and married to a foreigner were not eligible for Italian citizenship. This had interesting effects if the husband came from a country where citizenship was acquired in the maternal line and where the country of residence had no ius soli: These children were stateless. This is the situation that the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness deals with (e.g. in Luxembourg, which has implemented the convention, children born in Luxembourg to Luxembourg residents acquire Luxembourg citizenship even if neither parent is a Luxembourg citizen, if they would otherwise be stateless).