I did, and that was three to four years ago. My wife didn't, and that was less than a year ago — possibly because she was applying as a spouse (rather than from Swiss descent).

Ah. Good point. My friend just had an interview and she did not have any questions like that. Also, she asked and they said that she wouldn't have those questions. She is also a spouse.

I am a spouse as well, but reading through all these pages I couldn't differentiate between facilitated inside and outside of Switzerland. I think my husband just likes making me nervous, asking me to sing the national anthem etc (even he doesn't know all the words!)

Based on your being in Lausanne and (I presume) your husband is Swiss, based on our experience, you shouldn't be quizzed on knowledge, although a probing question or two might surface. The purpose of the police encounter is to establish that you're not trying to play the system — i.e., that your marriage gives compelling evidence of being real and durable.

This morning, just as I had stepped out of the shower and lathered my face for a shave, the Pöstler rang the bell. Mrs Texaner went down and came back reporting that there was a letter from Bern for her with a CHF 765.- COD charge.

I wiped off my face, threw on some clothes, and went down to pay the fee: It was (of course) notification that her facilitated naturalization application was approved.

Texaner, I am sure you feel as I did: a circle is finally closing. Congratulations to both of you, and welcome to the club!

Been searching the site quite hard and then I came across this post, from this I understand it is perfectly OK to use references which are relatives of my wife? If so, can it actually be my in-laws? Don't have an issue if this is not allowed, but it does make life easier if it is.

Once I did my papers I was told from the Embassy it was even very important to put the in-laws and relatives. Also you should include friends in the application. Between Family (6) and friends who were also (4-5) ... it ended up with good reference lists. ODM will eventually pick 3 persons who will reference your language, knowledge of Switzerland and times spent.

Good Luck!

From what I recall, you can use friends and relatives as character witnesses, and may even be supposed to do so. One thing that was frowned upon, though, was to use your husband / wife in this capacity. It kind of makes sense, I guess...

Good luck.

Thanks gonzus and Qublacan, the form states a minimum of 3, so I guess it doesn't hurt to offer more references with a mix between in-laws, friends and work colleagues.

The more, the merrier.

Ohh I wish I asked them this specifically. My husband demanded I put him on the list because he thought it made total sense, whereas I thought the spouse does not qualify as a reference because if it is a sham marriage of course they would lie. And he warned me not to put too many references so I only used 4 including him. If they don't even count him, I've only got 3.

I received my 765 franc letter from the post today! Now I can say that I'm "mostly" swiss, apparently this was only for federal approval. I need to wait another 2 months for commune and cantonal approval Then I can get my red book!

Took about 11 months for my entire application.

That seems the correct timing .... Cngrds! the red book is now a few steps away...

Congratulations! Welcome to the club.

What he said!

Ohhh I hope I'm on the way to waiting for that! I just turned in all the materials from my Gemeindesamt request that I received about 3 months after turning the initial application in. I suppose I have several more months waiting before I get that expensive letter.

Hi everyone,

I am a French citizen and my great grandfather was Swiss.
Some years ago i contacted the Federal Office of migration in Bern and they told me I could ask for facilitated naturalization based on article 58a of the nationality law. I was pretty busy with my studies but still wanted to do it anytime soon and as I just got offered a job in Geneva I want to complete this process now. So for the whole part the process will be fine for me but i have a problem with the main Swiss birth certificate.

My great grandfather was born in France from a Swiss father born in Kanton Basel Landschaft. The problem I have now is that I would like to find this Swiss birth certificate but the birth date is 1860, a time at which birth records where held by churches when baptisms of newborns occured.
Somebody in my family made some research and it seems that my ancestor was an unwanted child from a single mother and thus it is possible that he was not baptised because it was a shameful situation.

I have many documents from France though, saying that my great grandfather was Swiss. He was born in 1891 and living for most of his life in the Alsace area which became German from 1870 to 1918 and he was never sure if France considered him only Swiss, or German or French util a court order of 1957 declared him also French.

I didn't find any Swiss passport or birth certificate yet but i have the following documents: a French birth certificate where it is written that his father was Swiss and born in Basel Kanton in 1860, a French court order of 1957 saying that even if my grandfather was Swiss he was also French, a letter from french authorities from 1947 discussing if he was Swiss only or also French, a French residency card mentioning that my great grandfather was Swiss. For now I have only one Swiss document, a 1917 letter from the Swiss embassy in Berlin acknowledging that his Swiss passport was sent.

Do you think these documents will be enough to prove that my great grandfather was Swiss and his father was born in Switzerland ?

Honestly, I'm not sure that it is enough to have a great-grandfather as a Swiss and to apply for citizenship so late. How old are you?

I just know with my MIL, her grandparents were Swiss and so were her parents, although I'm not sure if her parents claimed their citizenship. MIL and one sister both applied for Swiss citizenship before it was too late, but they had 7 other siblings who were too old and had passed the deadline for applying in time. None of that part of the family is Swiss now.

The Swiss authorities will likely want to see official Swiss records, if at all possible. These should exist and be accessible from whichever office (Zivilstandamt in German, sorry I don't know the French equivalent) maintains family records wherever the person was born (Gemeinde or Bezirk in German).

Knowing the date and location where the person was born, you can contact the authorities in that location, and they will be able to direct you to the correct office for requesting the appropriate documents. You'll have to give that office the name and birthdate and ask them to verify that they have the person's birth recorded. Then you will have to order official verification from them in the form of a Familienschein, Familienausweis or Heimatschein (again, German obviously), which they will print, stamp as certified and send you for a fee.

These documents can then be supplied to whichever Swiss authorities with whom you are starting the facilitated naturalization process.

Two things, however:

• I'm not 100% familiar with your background story, so it's not fully clear to me that you still qualify, but the Swiss authorities responsible for this process for applicants where you live (the Swiss embassy?) will be able to tell you after discussing it with you.
  
  
• The process takes several months (i.e., well over a year usually) to run its course. It isn't clear whether you expect it to happen quickly, or whether the job offer is contingent on your being (or becoming) Swiss, but as far as I know, there's no such thing as fast track facilitated naturalization.

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