Did you get any response from the Canton? If not you might want to enquire that is it being acted upon in some way.

It was only 3+ weeks so far, and judging from timelines submitted by others, it takes on average 1.5 months for the Gemeindeamt to respond.

PS: Are you concerned, that I maybe did something not according to the rules? The information that contacting the Gemeinde before submitting paper is only a suggestion is posted in a few places, most notably on this page - https://www.zh.ch/de/migration-integ...uergerung.html

"Es lohnt sich darum, sich vor der Einreichung des Gesuchs bei der Wohngemeinde beraten zu lassen, ob die Voraussetzungen erfüllt sind."

Also the "Kantonale Bürgerrechtsverordnung" doesn't even mentions this initial Gemeinde contact.

B. Einbürgerungsverfahren
..
§ 11. Gesuch 1 Bewerberinnen und Bewerber reichen das Einbürgerungsgesuch beim Gemeindeamt ein.

Apologies, I just realised I misread Gemeindeamt as Gemeinderat. As long as it was addressed correctly you will be fine.

I have an update, my civil status has finally been registered and now my file can move on to the next stage. It took 15 months for this step to be completed. It seems that here the duration of the process really varies from person to person. So this doesn't mean that it will take this long for everyone still waiting.

Anyway I'm just glad that's done now. From what I have read here Cantonal and Federal approval take about 6 months so hopefully I will be done by early spring. I started the process back in August 2018 so 6 more months of waiting seems like nothing now. The patience test is a real thing people!

BTW, a stupid question, but was the communication from the Canton (Gemeindeamt) sent to you by registered or unregistered mail? Asking, cause I'll be for a couple of weeks outside of the country, and when someones sends me a registered mail, I can see it in the post.ch UI, but not when it's an unregistred one.

My correspondence has all been unregistered.

Same with me, all unregistered. Bear in mind that, in general, you are not requested to respond immediately to any query.

My story so far:

- end of September / early October 2019 sent in all paperwork
- about 6 weeks later I received a confirmation that my application had been received.
- mid December 2019, received notification that Gemeinde has approved and that the dossier is being handed over to the Canton.
- early March 2020, received thumbs up from canton, dossier now going to Bern.
- mid April 2020, got bill from SEM.
- early October 2020 got letter from canton that I am now officially Swiss.

I am totally elated.

I am now Swiss.

Just one year.

There was no interview or test. I guess because I am just two weeks short of being in CH for 29 years and did the ETH.

The letter tells me I need to wait about three weeks until my name has been entered into various registers. Only after that can I apply for an ID and passport at the relevant offices.

In the past I have heard there was some sort of a ceremony in the Stadthaus or some place like that where they officially welcome you. There was no word about that. Have they stopped doing that because of COVID maybe?

To continue with my timeline:

- April 2020: received the letter from Kanton ZH that my file has been received, and it may take around 3 months until the related check is finalized. (I dont know what really happened between Nov19-April20.)
- End of June 2020: received the letter that Kanton ZH has granted the cantonal citizenship rights with the invoice for 500 CHF, and also received the invoice for 100 CHF from SEM.
- October 2020: got the letter that I am officially Swiss. I got my appointment at the Passbüro in Zürich for giving fingerprints &pass photo. it took 5 min for that process and now waiting for my passport &identity card to be delivered, I was told that this will happen within 1week-10days.

overall the process took 2 years 8 months in my case, much longer than I expected, but ok, it is over.

Congratulations also to both speedy and amogles for their successful results. However it is unfortunate the timelines vary so much, and it would be interesting to know why this is the case.


Also, all my correspondence has been unregistered, except for the Gemeinderat decision to grant Gemeindebürgerrecht, which was registered.

April 2019: Gathered all documents, cost around 250chf
5.May 2019: Sent all papers to Kt. ZH
July 2019: received letter requesting additional document (son on application)
August 2019: Letter from Kt.ZH saying dossier sent the Gemeinde
September 2019: Letter from Gemeinde requesting one original language certificate.
October 2019: Letter stating knowledge test is prerequisite for interview and they had enrolled me for the exam. Bill for 180chf paid and learning guides /sample test received.
13 December 2019: Knowledge test completed under exam conditions
27 December 2019: Letter stating test passed (92/100), invite to be sent re town interview
13 August 2020:Letter received informing me that, due to COVID, the town to decide based on the documents/application alone.
08 September 2020: Informed that town will grant me "Gemeindebürgerrecht" (30 days after publication), bill for 500chf
21 October 2020: Confirmation from Kt. ZH that they have received my application back from the Gemeinde and processing could take a while. As others have mentioned, the letter explicitly permits moving within CH.

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

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

Sep 20:
Asked the Gemeinde to provide status. Got a reply saying that the case is with Kt ZH and they have a lot of Backlog due to Covid
Oct 20:
Received a letter from Kt ZH referring inquiry from the Gemeinde. Letter says that they have a large number of cases in hand and the processing will take 3 months +. Moving within CH is possible and if C permit is expiring it will need to be renewed

Was hoping for something good to happen in 2020, but doesn't look like

Given that this letter I believe is sent standard once your application arrives back at the Kt, one could draw the conclusion your application wasn't forwarded for 6 months

My naturalization process' new motto We've sent you a response yesterday.

First it was the Zivilstadamt, which when pinged after 2-3 weeks of inactivity said Thanks for asking, we've replied yesterday. Then the Grundkenntnistest provider, which just sent me results, an hour before I asked, and now the Gemeindeamt which said that In response to your inquiry, I'd like to inform that I'd sent you a confirmation of application submission yesterday (which btw, didn't arrive in the following 2 days).

Can you spot the pattern?

Update here.

I received a letter from Stadt Zürich saying I am now in the citizen register and can thus apply for my ID and/or passport. So it took somewhat less than the three weeks they said.

I separately also received a printed certificate of my citizenship, printed on fancy paper and signed by the Stadpräsident, Corinne Mauch. Her signature seems to be printed though, so it's not that she actually signed anything for me.

Thanks for sharing and all the best!

Looking at some of the most recent timelines posted here, the entire process for Kt. Zürich takes on average about 20 months in current times, best case 11 months, worst case 3 years (including document assembly)



As a point, nearly all best or near-best case timelines have been submitted in the city of Zürich. Most worst-case timelines seem to come from Dietikon or surrounding towns.



Action Best Worst Average


Collecting documents/prep app 0.5mo 2mo 1mo


Send docs => Kt confirmation 0.5mo 3mo 1.5mo


Kt confirmation=>Gemeinde 1mo 2mo 1.5mo


Tests/Interviews/publication 4mo 15mo 7mo


Gemeinde =>Kt confirmation 0.5mo 6mo 1mo


Kt confirmation=>Kt Bill/send to SEM 1mo 4mo 2mo


SEM Bill => return to Kt 1mo 3mo 1.5mo


Kt confirm citizenship 2mo 4mo 3mo


Total 11mo 3 years 18.5 mo

This is a rough calculation, happy for anyone to make it more exact.

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

Thank you for doing the calculation and publishing it. This matches with my estimates also based on what I have seen in this very useful thread and in one or another publication.

Thanks, unfortunately the formatting didn't work as intended and my browser isn't allowing me to edit properly. :-(

I understood the idea you wanted to convey.