There are 2 Cantons involved. Strangely my Heimat Canton also asked for Betreitbungsauszug, That was August Last year.
I will try to contact the cantons and see what they say but I am sure SEM has better overview. Atleast they were quick in replying.

Have you ever lived in the Heimat canton? Otherwise, it seems pretty strange that they would ask for a Betreibungsauszug. And you did provide already Betreibungsauszüge from every city you lived in? I had to collect four to cover my five-year waiting period.

Good luck with your efforts! It does sound like you are stuck somewhere in the system unfortunately.

Thank you diamondscan, Yes, I did live in Heimat canton for initial 2 years.

I just received my final letter saying that I was approved.

Does anybody know if that's the end of it? Can I request a passport and Swiss ID card now?

Is there something else I should be aware of this process?

Thanks!

Congratulations!

Yes, you are a Swiss citizen now, you can request your documents when you see fit .

Cheers!

After going through this thread I'm realizing there are quite a few differences between Facilitated Naturalization for a current Swiss resident vs the same process for someone who resides in another country. The OP seems to be a non-resident, and most of the info in this thread comes from that perspective. Perhaps since this is a sticky the thread title should be changed to make that clear?

Or maybe since it's a mix of info, it should be left as is. But it could still be confusing for someone wading through the 30 pages, not realizing there are different procedures and requirements for the different residency scenarios.

__________________

My facilitated naturalization application was just approved! Here is my background and timeline...hopefully it might be helpful for those that apply in the future, or are currently in the process.

I was born in the USA in the early 1980's. My mother is Swiss but my father is not. When I was born, a Swiss woman living abroad and married to a non-Swiss could not pass on citizenship to her children. This law was changed shortly after I was born, but too late for me and I was not able to be naturalized.

There were several reasons why I wanted to become an official Swiss citizen, and the desire to be naturalized grew as I reconnected with our family’s homeland and our relatives there. I also thought it could open doors for my children, who are very young, since they would also become citizens.

I applied for facilitated naturalization through article 58a of the previous citizenship law. Here is my timeline:

• November 2015 - Sent completed application to the consulate in San Francisco
• February 2016 - After several months I still hadn’t heard back about an interview. I didn't want to pester the consulate but also thought they would schedule an interview by now. I finally emailed them, and received an invitation for the personal interview the next day!
• April 2016 - Interview completed at the consulate
• May 2016 - Informed that the birth certificates of two of my children never made it to the SEM in Switzerland, so I needed to send in new ones
• September 2017 - We had a baby, and the consulate said that were not sure the baby could be added to my application, since it was already in process. We later received confirmation from the SEM that the baby could be added.
• October 2017 - Received a letter requesting to sign a form that I hadn’t committed any crimes since my application was submitted. I also needed to send in a new FBI background check (!)
• March 2018 - Received confirmation that my application was approved, along with all my children.

The whole application process was a good experience for me and my family. I was able to really reconnect to our homeland and my relatives - I’m not sure that would have happened if I didn’t apply. I learned so much more about Switzerland and met some wonderful people along the way. Even if my application wasn’t accepted, I would still do it again.

Thanks everyone in the forum for your help and advice. I don’t think I would have even applied if it wasn’t for the encouragement and insight of this forum. If I can be of help to anyone else, just let me know.

Congratulations!

Congratulations, cgr, and thanks for taking the time to set it out for others.

hello a updated on my naturalization process in December the 3 people i put for reference get a letter on all sent the answer to berna in january.my question is what is the next step an oh much more time until the final decision.at the end of april whit be one year i started my naturalization facilitated

Both C/Kantons always get involved. I was not born, nor ever lived in my HeimatsK or Commune d'Origine in French- and only went once for 1 hr or so a few years after OH got his facilitated naturalisation.

For the Betreibung- I am surprised they ask nowadays. Until not so long ago, your Heimatsgemeinde would be responsible for your care if your fell onto bad times and needed financial assistance, etc- but this is no longer so- but where you reside.

BTW- any K/C will be very keen to ensure that you will not become a financial liability now or in the future. That means that anyone with a history of repeated unemployment, is unlikely to succeed. That may not be the official reason stated.

Just an update here on my wife's application so far.
Interview on 21st December, 2017.
Received notification from referees in Switzerland that they have received a letter from Bern.
So contacts were contacted in less than 4 months since application.

Hello!

I had just written out an extremely long, detailed account of my entire history of applying for naturalization in Switzerland, only to be logged out and lose my progress! I've had to type out an abridged version in a text editor just to be safe now.

I thought it would be nice to start with some personal background information:

I’m a 27 year old fashion producer, archivist and artist living in New York. My paternal grandfather was Swiss, but would never speak about his family history when I questioned him about our history as a child. Attempts to learn about why he left Ticino, or who our other family members were - were met with a stern, cold dismissal. My Grandmother didn’t even know much about his past life, just that he had run away from his family due to family disputes. My grandfather made it clear that the only thing he would mention about Svizzera, was that he wouldn’t talk about Svizzera. Naturally, this forbidden history got my curiosity very active as a young boy - so oftentimes I would surreptitiously search through his belongings, reading civil service documents and dare I say it… pretending to be a soldier with his rifle until my Brother and I were caught meddling with it (which of course, was always kept completely unloaded - in fact recently I learned that there was never any magazine or ammunition in the house, it was just a nostalgia item).

Fast forward to my early 20’s - My Grandfather died without mentioning a single name of a Swiss relative to me, not a drop of information. His death didn’t bring much by way of discovery either, just his civil service documents and American belongings. A bit of dark humor - his second wife recently said to me “…he wanted nothing to do with the taxes there, thats why he never told you anything.”.

Despite this, I have kept up to date on Swiss affairs out of my own interest, and have done large amounts of self-directed research on Swiss history, culture and so forth. I feel quite confident about my ability to speak about my connection to Switzerland despite not having much contact with anyone in the country - much like an informal academic who has yet to travel to the place he’s been studying.

At 23, a cousin contacted me through social media and we established some family ties at last!

At 25 - I finally visited Ticino, Geneva, Bern and many other bits of Switzerland.

Last year I travelled to Geneva again, and made it down to Vaud and then up and over to Zurich. I have been in frequent contact with my Cousin and Uncle and plan on visiting many, many more times.

While on my last visit to see my uncle in Geneva during Escalade, he urged me to consider applying for naturalization and told me I had nothing to lose and could still be a decent candidate despite my apprehension about the bureaucratic process and my inability to speak a national language. In short, our cinematic walk around the old town in Geneva during Escalade convinced me to try it.

And now, my timeline of work on my naturalization process:

Friday, September 08, 2017 - I make contact with the Consulate in New York, asking to apply for facilitated naturalization.

Monday, October 02, 2017 - They reply with an initial set of questions and requests for documents that were quite difficult to procure given almost all of my family is deceased (and my family was very small here in the states to begin with).

Thursday, November 09, 2017 - I reply with all of the questions and initial forms sent with registered mail.

Thursday, November 16, 2017 - The Consulate replies and states "From the information provided I assume that your father lost his Swiss citizenship as he was a foreign-born child holding another citizenship in addition to Swiss citizenship and whose birth was not registered with the Swiss authorities before the age of 22.

Enclosed hereto please find the documents for simplified naturalization of a foreign child who could not become a Swiss citizen because of parental loss of Swiss citizenship prior to the child’s birth (Art. 31b BüG):

Important: Please note that your application can only be considered if received in 2017 as the law will change in 2018 and you will not be able to apply for Swiss citizenship anymore." Additionally, I am given an extremely short deadline to provide the Consulate with an extraordinary amount of documents while I am traveling abroad.

I silently thank my Uncle for the push... this is my only chance to obtain naturalization.

Monday, December 11, 2017 - Somehow I am able to get all of the documents in registered mail, before the deadline.

April 04, 2018 - I am asked to procure my two final documents, an FBI background check and a family certificate. I had long been pursuing the latter - but some kind of confusion developed between Locarno and Lugano disputing who held the certificate.

May 2018 - I received a call yesterday stating that my interview is set for June 11th... I'm totally taken aback. I didn't even think my application would get this far and now I am in a state of anxiety! I feel confident in my knowledge, but can barely speak Italian - I can read a lot, but my speaking is rubbish. I was sure that I would have more time to learn a national language given how long the Consulate was taking to get back to me on most occasions.

In short, I'm quite concerned about this and am considering being very up front (in Italian) about my inability to speak, but providing receipts of my language lessons and telling the honest truth that I do plan on speaking a national language and becoming truly integrated.

My Uncle is planning on writing me a very extensive letter proving my deep interest in becoming a citizen and I'm hoping that my efforts over the last year, my knowledge of the country and my professional life will work in my favor despite my glaring issue of language. Does anyone have any thoughts they'd like to share with my case?

I have found this forum to be a great resource in the last year, and have been excited about the prospect of sharing my story for quite some time.

Any thoughts or questions are welcome, thank you!

Hello!

As you can see from all the posts in this thread, they will definitely check your knowledge of current events, history, politics and geography of Switzerland; that includes, I must say, the ability to communicate in one of the official languages.

When I went through this process, there was no objective scale of proficiency for the language requirement (or, for that matter, for any of them). It seemed to be totally up to the person at the Embassy who conducted the interview. It might be the case that this has recently changed, but it is hard to ascertain.

I believe the absolute best policy is to be totally forthcoming about everything. Just as you stated in your post that time caught up with you, and you have been forced to go through the interview at your current level of Italian skills, I would declare that, as well as your honest intentions of improving your language skills in the (near) future.

I wish you the best for the interview. If you see fit, please keep us posted. Good luck!

There is update on my case endlich
Apr 2016: Application
+10 Days: Application Confirmation
Sep 2016: Zurich Kanton Asking for usual Tax, Betreibung, CV
Oct 2016: Police Visit and an informal interview
Jun 2017: Letter Declaring if we are not criminals and and still married
March 2018:Letter Declaring if I am not criminal and and still married (again)
March 2018: Preliminary approval (CHF 765)
May 2018 Final approval (25 Months still waiting for more documents)

A fascinating account. Thank you.

I was naturalised some 20 years ago, after having lived in Geneva for a few years and then moved away. My grandfather had given my mother (who left Switzerland during WW I) a genealogy, and one of my grandmother's nephews had provided a family tree for her side of the family. I had a brief interview in NYC; I went to college in Belgium but the consul didn't want to speak French; I suspect he didn't speak it very well. My son applied a few years ago and, typically for him, did no preparation at all but at least speaks French because I sent him to French primary school. Five minutes into the meeting the consul was called away by the Consul General: no cultural or historical questions asked, interview over. The kind of luck my son has had all his life. A daughter applied just last year. She is married to a Frenchman, speaks French at home and studied for the exam, as she would do. But Bern keeps coming back for more: my mother's Familienschein (got that, had it sent to my Swiss address so it came quickly), now something wrong with her husband's Acte de naissance. Guess it's only a matter of time now. A younger daughter, then a minor, got her citizenship automatically with me.

I have collateral relatives: my aunt's husband was from the Grisons (he spoke Romansh). He was the 12th child of a mountain farmer who told him, when he left school, to go to NYC with his brother to look for work. He started out as a waiter. By the 1960s when he died he'd achieved an executive position with a major NYC hotel; his daughter was a local civil servant, his granddaughters (1) an opera singer, (2) an MIT grad and U.S. Air Force officer. Only in America. And maybe not possibly anymore.

I had my interview in december 2017 and handled my documents at the consulate in Brazil, since then no news for me . Anyone who started the process by end 2017 already has had any answer?

My daughter handed in her documents in San Francisco in mid-2017 and had her interview later that year. Since then there have been demands for further documentation: the grandmother's Familienschein, and lately an error on her husband's French Acte de naissance (his middle name misspelled so it doesn't agree with his passport). Next step is to get the birth certificate fixed, which may or may not be easy or quick: https://www.service-public.fr/partic...osdroits/F1177

Consul told her it could take up to two years to complete the process given the last-minute crush. On the other hand, letters went out long ago to the Swiss references. My other children had completed the process within year, but that wa then and this is now.

Thanks Caryl , I also think there was a rush before the change of law in january 2018, so the procedure is taking more time than usual. I was also told it could take up to 18 month, by your answer I can see a pattern for this year.
Thanks so much for the answer, and good luck for us.

I will keep everyone posted if there s any news for me.

Hi GONZUS, I am in the same process than you. My mother is swiss, I was born in CH, but some difficultis in writting in german. I only speak swiss-german, which is a non-writable language... Any news from your process? thanks