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| Hi, has anybody been asked about their close ties with swiss clubs abroad, I am a member of a swiss social club abroad but I do not participate. is it important to be an active member and does it have influence on the success of the application. | |
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In my experience, there are two levels of filtering:
- First level is at your local Embassy, where they will check (through the interview) whether you can speak one of the languages and what I call your local credentials: local Swiss nationals who know you (and who wrote letters for you), membership in local groups, etc. In my case, I made sure to participate in a couple of events organized by the group I belong to, where I knew the lady from the embassy would be present. That way, I was already in her mind by the time of the interview.
- Second level is at Bern. They re-check everything the local embassy did, but have to trust the local good judgment anyway. Then, if they feel satisfied with that, they will contact the Swiss people living in Switzerland whose names you included in your application. They will basically ask them three questions: 1) do you know this person? 2) does this person have close ties with Switzerland? 3) can this person speak one of the official Swiss languages?
Hope this helps, good luck and best regards.