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| There's lots of great advice here about references and I can't add anything, however the language requirement is important. You say you're A2 ish - there is a lot of discussion on here about the minimum requirements and it's written that for facilitated you need A2 written and B1 spoken.
I (with my German-speaking wife's help!) studied all the docs and as far as I'm aware (and please don't ask me to find the references as I can't remember) there's a subtle difference in the rules for facilitated naturalisation from overseas and from within Switzerland. The language requirement within is fixed, but from outside you need to communicate on a day to day level and be understood. That's what I took away from it. Despite that, I sat and passed a B1 exam in French prior to the application, so at least if I wasn't too good on the day I had a piece of paper that said I'd met the required standard.
The Swiss are very big (quite rightly) on people integrating, so even if you don't have that many references, you can at least prove your willingness to integrate in other ways. | |
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Thank you all for the thoughts. Very helpful.
To clarify a few points - I should have been more clear above. I have no problem meeting people. I can sit and talk to anyone. It's transitioning from casual to a longer term relationship. I'm only there a few times a year, and always miss the people I HAVE connected with in the past, and/or then asking them for a reference. I've had at least one outright offer, however, I want more time with them there so it's real...but that's proving tough. It would be a LOT easier if I still had relatives there.
For language, I've been talking to my local consulate and it sounds like as long as I can do the interview in a language (and the forms of course), that's the main requirement. I plan to get to B1 to be safe, I'm only at A2-ish right now though.