I was almost getting a heart attack after seeing the 3% extra tax
Thanks goodness though:
Swiss nationals with dual citizenship who have fulfilled military obligations in their other home country are, according to Swiss law, exempt from the obligation to perform military service.

Quoted from here.

This is true if you've served in another country. However, those who didn't serve in Switzerland or aboard, must pay so called Wehrpflichtersatz for 11 years, or until they are 37, whatever comes first. This impacts men who got the Swiss citizenship and are born between 1980 and 1987. Here's the official source in German (Point 3).


So, has anyone any experience with that, post-naturalization?

Isn't it an alternative to actually do military service.

If you are a stretch older than the regular recruits, you may well end up failing the medical (failure rate is pretty high even for the regular recruits), or they may consider it not worth training you in view of the limited number of years you have left to serve, meaning they either inform you they don't want you, or can give you some special task with a reduced set of responsibilities. Listening to my Swiss friends, most of the time on WK is spent hanging around in a relaxed atmosphere while waiting for their superiors to decide what to do next.

Either scenario letting you off the hook for paying, oder?

The city of Zurich certainly seems to have a much more accelerated process than outlying towns. I am now a year and still awaiting my local interview...

For me as well, it was under 12 months for standard process in Geneva

We are in the middle of this process in Canton ZH... our timeline so far:
Feb 20 2020 - Submit application to Canton
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)
Aug 06 2020 - Application received by Canton back from Gemeinde (For those interested, the letter I received has this "Ein Umzug innerhalb der Schweiz ist nun möglich)

Yes, once the Gemeinde approves, you are allowed to move away from them!

Eight months to the day since completing my knowledge test, my Gemeinde has finally decided to dispense with interviews (due to Covid-19) and base their decision on the paperwork alone (they will contact if there are any questions).

The Gemeinderat meet again at the end of this month, hopefully then I'll get the publication.

Hi,

I'm in the same Bezirke as you (though not in the Dietikon itself), so maybe there's a chance this decision will affect my (future - in 2-3 weeks) application (hoping they'll introduce similar thing in my Gemeinde as well).

How did you get to know about this? Some official letter, or maybe you just called them?

Hi
Can anyone share their experience of the process in Canton Aargau? I have lived in both Rheinfelden as well as Moehlin and would be curious to understand how that process experience was. Many Thanks.

Good luck, but every Gemeinde will act differently.



They communicate almost exclusively by snail mail. But coincidentally I rang the responsible clerk at the very moment she was signing the letter to inform me.

Thanks.

Well... it happened to me once or twice that I were expecting a letter from Gemeinde or Bezirke or from something like that, and a bit annoyed I messaged them asking for the status update, and they were telling me that they've just (like literally in the last hour) sent me a letter .

Hello,

Can anyone who has been through the ordinary naturalization process in Lausanne (VD) since 01.01.2018 (new law) kindly post a timeline?

Wanted to gauge how long it takes from sending the dossier to the naturalization ceremony.

Also, is there still a personal interview with the police now that there is a knowledge test in place? If so, what do they ask and do they appear at your home unannounced or is it conducted at the police station?

Thank you very much for your insights!

Hello,

Anyone been through the ordinary naturalization process in Lausanne (VD) through the new law?

If so, how long did it take from start to finish?

Does the police conduct interviews unannounced at home or scheduled at the station?

Asking for my girlfriend who is also an Austrian citizen.

Thank you very much for any insight!

I chased at reception last year, and they said they’d posted my reply that week!

I kickstarted the process in Lausanne early January 2019. Nothing happened until June 2019 when they requested some additional documents, then again radio silence until January this year when more documents were requested. I had my interview (rapport d'enquête) mid-June this year, and knowledge test is due next week. So for me, it has taken a little over 1.5 years so far, and the official estimation is that it may take an additional year for the process to be completed. So about 2.5 years from start to finish, if all goes well.

*EDIT* no visits from anyone at home, the rapport d'enquête was done at Place de la Palud but by the commune, not by police.

Short reply: too long!!!
The canton is really slow in the file management and it can take easily (especially during this COVID-19 era) more than 18 months just for them to do their job... Count about 6 months average at the municipality level and around 6 months at the confederation level, so approximately 2 and a half years...

My timeline so far (Suburbs, Kanton Zurich)
- Applied Jan 2018
- Jan to June 18: Silence
- June 18 received a letter saying some issue with civil documents, latest original civil documents from home country requested
-Aug 18 Submitted everything
- Nov 18, Received a letter from Kanton saying all good. Case moved to Gemeinde
- Nov 18- July 19: Silence
- July 19: Invitation for test on Political knowledge (we already had B1 German, so language test was exempted)
- Sept 19: Geography/ political knowledge test
- Dec 19: test results: Pass
- Jan 20: Invitation for interview in the Gemeinde
- Feb 20: Interview, told at the end that we will be recommended
- Mar 20: Confirmation that Gemeinderat approved us, notices published in official publications. The letter said it takes another 6-8 months to complete the process

Mar 20 until today: Silence

Its almost been 6 months now and I am wondering what is happening. We should have received cantonal confirmation by now.

I went to the Gemeinde the other day and was told that there is a backlog due to Coronavirus

Not sure when this is going to end. Anyone in the same boat (ep Kt ZH) please share your experience

I feel your pain as I am almost 18 months in and still have yet to get past the Gemeinde stage.

What I know from my local/kantonal government dealings in my 19 years here is the relevance of individual civil servants, and the autonomy/demarcation that applies. In Kanton Zurich, around a dozen civil servants process citizenship applications, each responsible for a alphabet range.

So if your case is assigned to someone who is slow, on holidays or extended leave, it is not certain your application will be reassigned.

The website does mention that it's okay to ring if you haven't heard anything for 6 months, so can recommend you do that.

What I don't understand is how applicants in the city of Zurich seem to get expedited processing times at a Kantonal level, but "suburban" applications seem to go forever.

__________________
So sayeth the 'Speed
* I do look like my avatar

Also in the suburbs of Zurich: I had my interview with the municipality end of January, and was approved and published mid-late February: in this sense, I'm about 1 month ahead of you.

I've also had a long wait and last Thursday I got an invoice from the Kanton to pay fee for cantonal citizenship. So, if things go according to similar timeline, you might get your notification in about 3-4 weeks.

If that matters, I'm in Kreis Dietikon.