I have multiple questions.

1.Mon père applied for naturalization under article 58b because his grammy was a Swissie before marriage, and the Consulat Général in Atlanta said that since all his documents were in order and that he checked off for most of the requirements for having "close ties to Switzerland" that the application would go through in 3-4 years!?!?! But then when I spoke to the Immigration office in Berne, they told me 1-2 years. Which is more accurate?

2. If mon père is approved for le citoyenneté, does that mean that I will be a Swissie also? (keep in mind I will be under the age of 22 when the projected 4 year waiting period is over)

3. Just out of curiosity, if you are not a Swiss citizen, is there any sort of deal where you can join the army in exchange for Swiss citizenship? My brother, who is 23 and just out of college wanted to know because he would rather do that then apply and wait another 2 or 3 years.

No. However naturalised men under I believe 26 years might be required to serve in the military anyway.

I don't know about the other questions but you can find an abstract of the relevant laws here.

Stickboy

1 to 2 years sounds about right. My application took 18 months (same process = "Renaturalisation"), but then again, I applied whilst living here. Applying from outside CH may mean that 3 to 4 years sounds more reasonable.

Split the difference and bank on 2 to 3 years!

I would be exempt unless I movie into the country, but I might just join anyway for the six months. It seems like it present some good opportunities.

Oh, and I talked to the Consular today, he said it might take 3-4 WEEKS before it reaches overseas, and that it will take about 1-2 years. It was a big relief when I heard that.

Does anyone else have any other answers to my questions.

Before you get all warm and fuzzy about the army, bear in mind you can't join "just for the six months" - you have to go the whole hog. And while some postings can be a sinecure, such as air force crash readiness details, some others like fortress troops can be a real PITA. Or so I'm told.

Its 4-5 months for initial training, then two weeks out of every year till the age of 32, unless you are a single term soldier, who does 300 days of initial training and then is done. So yeah, staying for six months at first would be over doing the stick