We are in the middle of this process in Canton ZH... our timeline so far:
Feb 2019 - Knowledge Test (in our Gemeinde, this is the first step)
Feb 20 2020 - Submit application to Canton (docs took a long time because of birth certificate "authentication")
Apr 09 2020 - Application sent by Canton to Gemeinde
Apr 21 2020 - Invoice from Gemeinde
Jun 09 2020 - Interview with Gemeinderat
Jun 19 2020 - Approval from Gemeinde
Jun 24 2020 - Our names got posted in the local paper (public has 30 days to file a complain)

May-Jun Bund - I assume it was nearer 2 months than one?

I paid the SEM bill in March BC (Before COVID). No news yet, it's only been 4 months though

And EU, EFTA, Serbia, Bosnia, UK, and many more European non-Schengen countries. Exemptions in Europa are Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Outside of Europe the Swiss ID is valid for Turkey and for package tourists only also in Tunesia. Or in other words: It is valid in Europe, Asia, and Africa

A colleague of mine and I both had our interviews in the Stadthaus on the same day beginning of October 2019, received approval from Zurich end of October and then Kanton on same dates beginning of March and our bills from SEM on the same day end of March. He already has the passport in hand after receiving final approval exactly 2 months later end of May. I'm still waiting...

Seems the final stage duration can vary quite a bit. Perhaps a difference between non-EU and EU states and all the checks the SEM runs? My colleague is EU and I'm American.

Do you know what is done / checked by SEM?

SEM checks that you do not pose a threat to the inner or outer security of Switzerland, basically that you're not a wanted international criminal and that you don't have ties to organizations they deem terrorist. It has to be done at the federal level because they ask the federal secret service (NDB) for any files they may have on you, the canton doesn't have that level of access.

Ah. Thanks for clarification.

Couple of questions from folks who have completed the naturalisation process:

Did you need to know Swiss German or was High German sufficient (I know SD would be an advantage but is not knowing it a deal breaker?).
Someone said that they would want 03 references from the Canton. Was this standard in your case as well?
What happens if you lose your job once you start the process? Does it continue and you have to be employed by the time the decision comes or does it stop immediately?
I heard about the 'suspension' option - has that happened to anyone and if yes, why?
Finally, what are the things the Gemeinde will look for to demonstrate integration besides following all the rules, law abiding stuff and language proficiency.
Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

__________________
Logotherapy
That which gives reason for being.

I haven't finished my process yet so won't count my chickens before they hatch, but my own SG is pretty sketchy whereas my HG is so good that many Swiss think I am German. This was never an issue.

A friend of mine who is German and is also applying said she spoke the dialect from her home town in Bavaria and the guy in the interview said, be proud of your dialect and don't lose it.

Never heard of this.

My German friend who I mentioned above had to stop work due to an accident and is now on IV. This wasn't an issue.

Things I listed:
- a list of my hobbies, especially the ones that involve doing things with other people or being part of a team, as this clearly shows I am regularly exposed to and cooperate with Swiss people.
- voluntary work I have done.
- Vereine I am a member of, especially the ones where I was also on the committee, and thus got to know the nuts and bolts of how these things work in Switzerland, as well as showing I care about issues.

My German friend didn't have any such activities she could use to her advantage, but in her job she deals with people from all walks of life every day and she mentioned this.

My application went through quicker than hers at the Gemeinde level. So maybe these things do make a difference.

I went through facilitated (easier) and here's my experience:
1 - High German is fine, I can't imagine they'd expect a foreigner to become fluent in Swiss German since it's a dialect. If you know a few words, bonus!
2 - I needed 3 references
3 - Should be no problem if you're on RAV, as long as you're not on social help
4 - Link to another thread about suspension: https://www.englishforum.ch/permits-...on-common.html
5 - Do you belong to any clubs, can you name any local council members, can you say a little about the history of the town, etc. It varies widely but they basically want to know you don't stay shut up in your house and ignore the country (notwithstanding Coronavirus)

Many thanks for the quick response.
03 references from Switzerland or the Kanton or the Gemeinde :-)

B1 German certificate from TELC is fine. I was told they might ask for refs, but they didn’t. (So far, thumbs crossed )

My son had to give the names of three Swiss citizens who know him well whom they could contact for references.

Having said that none of them were ever contacted and be received his citizenship last month.

Congrats to your son!

Same here, just 3 Swiss references, none of whom were ever contacted.

On the language front, I can say that my age-old O level German did not cut it in Zurich (I think they look for A1 competency) and so I had to do the test.

Which consisted IIRC of:
- listening to an audio CD of 4 passages of conversation, one of which was dialect, and answering a multiple choice question (which of course if you read the possible answers, made the process even easier)
- there were some text in the form of adverts on a newspaper page, again with multiple choice answers.
- finally, a free-text question to write a short note to a neighbour who had just had a baby

The second part of the test is where you have a conversation with 2/3 "officials" and possibly another candidate where you give a little bit of life story.

I actually laughed during the audio stuff which made the invigilator also laugh.

A1?

https://www.thelocal.ch/20180813/are...ss-citizenship

Hi everyone. Here’s my story of normal naturalisation in the city of Zurich, as a citizen of an EU country:

June-July 2019: getting added to the Personenstandsregister
August 2019: eligible for citizenship (10 years in CH)
September 2019: submitted my papers to the Canton of Zurich
October 2019: letter from the Canton confirming that they forwarded my application to the City of Zurich
November 2019: got accepted for the citizenship of the City of Zurich + paid 1200 CHF

(I didn’t have to do the interview thanks to having a Swiss uni diploma - it was discussed before in this thread)
February 2020: got accepted for the citizenship of the Kanton of Zurich + paid 500 CHF
March 2020: paid the bill of 100 CHF for the processing at the federal level
July 2020: got the confirmation from the Kanton that I’m Swiss (3 week wait until I can apply for the passport and the ID).

Question: for men between 25 and 40 who got the citizenship in the recent year or so, how quickly did the Swiss Army get in touch with you? Did they immediately ask you to pay the 3% of your salary or do they make some checks before?

Under 12 months...that would have to be a record for the non-facilitated process.

We were also under 12 months with the standard process. 9 or 10 months, can't remember exact duration. Did not need "Swiss" test though as had degrees from CH, for language submitted recent B2 with close to max grade. A friend also had similar timeline to ours with a similar background.