I waited 6 weeks in total.

Today I received the letter with the confirmation of the citizenship
It takes 3 weeks until they register it and after I can ask for the Swiss passport and ID.

-Feb 2018- all papers sent to Gemeindeamt ZH
-received invoice from Gemeinde : 1450 CHF
-September 2018 - 1st interview with Stadtrat Dübendorf
-February 2019 - 2nd interview with Bürgerrechtskommission Dübendorf
-May 2019 - meeting of Gemeinderat (where they voted with yes or no)
-July 2019 - Gemeinde citizenship received
-end of August 2019 - Kt.ZH citizenship received (paid afterwards 500 CHF)
-September 2019 - invoice from Bund received (100 CHF)
-November 2019 – Swiss citizenship received

Good luck to everyone.

Thank you for sharing! So you only had the police interview and the written questions? I thought there will be another interview from other people’s post. Maybe it is the case for LAUSANNE?

Yes, I only met the Police and took a written test.

I am not sure if this is also the case for Lausanne, which is a separate commune. I only know that some communes in the Ouest Lausannois district decided to do away with the interview.

congrats! Amazing!!

Well, I paid it the day I got it online. So I guess the countdown starts on Nov 10. Well, my bday is in Jan, so if by some rare chance I got it then, that would be a pretty swell bday present for myself. Fingers crossed for that one - will cut down on the shopping bill.

I'd say you'll be attributed a ceremony in february/march since the OCPM (if I remember correctly) isn't organising any ceremonies in january as they organise all the annual ceremonies at the beginning of each year, meaning the next ones are november 26, december 5. They still don't know the dates for next year. And considering Bern takes around 3 months + a few weeks where there is no progress due to holidays, january will be tough.

Quick update from me in Stadt Zürich:

Jan 2018 send all papers to Gemeindeamt
Sep 2019 received citizenship

I’ll provide more details later.

Hello, I have been reading this forum for info on the naturalization process so I thought I would share my experience. Maybe this can help someone too. It's very interesting to see the differences per commune and canton. Congratulations to the people who have already received their citizenship! 👍

I'm an EU national and applied in a small commune in Vaud. Here's my timeline:

End of August 2018: Application submitted to the canton
End of October 2018: Bill arrived for CHF 450 from the canton. Also they requested a notarized birth certificate, plus original, as well as documents regarding civil status
Mid-December 2018: Bill arrived from the commune and I was instructed to collect the documents for the Rapport Enquete
End of January 2019: Rapport Enquete meeting which lasted 1,5 hours. Be prepared for this one! As this is where your level of integration is assessed and I was also asked some general questions about Switzerland.
Early June 2019: Multiple choice knowledge test passed (I was given 3 months notice)
Mid-June 2019: Interview with the commune. This lasted only about 10 minutes and all they asked was my motivation to become Swiss. I was approved by them right there and then!
End of June 2019: Received the bourgeoisie from the commune and my file was transferred to the canton
Early July 2019: Received letter from the canton that they would have to register my civil status first before continuing the process

That's all and it's been 5 months now since I haven't had any news regarding my naturalization process. I didn't know that the registering of the civil status could take so long. So Cheeky I am indeed in the same limbo as you.

From what I have read here I gather that with the new rules the whole process can still take anywhere from 18 months up to 2 years in Vaud. Since I started it has been 15 months. I'm trying to be patient but still expectantly check the mail box every day... 😄

Here my complete timeline in Stadt/City of Zürich:

Early Dec 2017 Civil registration (Zivilstandsregistrierung)
Jan 2018 send all papers to Gemeindeamt
Feb 2019 invitation to the interview in Stadt Zurich
Apr 2019 Interview at Stadthaus in Zurich
Mai 2019 preliminary naturalisation in Stadt Zurich
Aug 2019 preliminary naturalisation in Canton Zurich
Sep 2019 received bill from Bern
Oct 2019 received citizenship - done

-on 20.11 I received the official letter from Dübendorf, for Swiss citizen
-on 29.11 I was at Passbüro in Zürich for the passport and ID
-on 03.12 I received both

In Kt.ZH they don't start the process if you are not registered in Zivilstandsregister; I've done it in 2013, as I'm divorced and I needed for something to register my divorce there.

Good luck to everyone.

I forgot something : I still have my C-permit, as Gemeinde didn't ask me to give it back. At Passbüro they don't ask for it, I only presented my other passport.

You can mail it to the Migrationsamt for cancellation, just let them know you’re a citizen.

Thanks for sharing your experience! Our timelines are quite similar.

I learnt from the Service de Naturalisation last week that there is an administrative delay, which they are trying to resolve. Not sure what is the whole (extra-prolonged) deal about civil status registration - they should already have the required details in the Infostar database. Canton de Vaud is one of the least expensive for the naturalisation process, but it is probably also among the most inefficient

Anyways, hoping Santa will bring THAT letter soon to all those in a limbo!

Thank you Cheeky for sharing the info about the current administrative delay, that's interesting news. I know that the person handling my file works fast. Over the past year they have contacted me within days when I have sent documents or when there was any progress like with the commune. It seems that many people here have had these long periods of waiting, so I guess it's just a part of the process. Since we have already completed all the difficult steps I'm sure we'll become Swiss sometime in 2020. 🤞😊

Thanks for the updated information for the delay. If that is the case, it is easily to exceed 18 months that is considered as the max processing time under the new law....

My story so far

- end of September / early October sent in all paperwork
- about 6 weeks later I received a confirmation that my application had been received.
- yesterday, received notification that Gemeinde has approved and that the dossier is being handed over to the Canton.

Looks like things move much quicker on the other side of the Roestigraben!

The letter also interestingly informed me that I have 30 days to appeal against the decision.

Now I wonder who would appeal against the approval of their own application.

Wow that's fast! Do you live in Zurich city or somewhere else in the canton? And congratulations!