Yeap, St. Gallen.

Ah, so your applying for an Austrian passport then?

Close enough ! I live within walking distance to Vaduz, so it's a short 20min. drive to Feldkirch-AT.

But no, I prefer red with white text and cross, instead of purple and golden. Too fancy for my more pedestrian taste.

I finished watching the 4-part SRF DOK series following 4 cases going the the ordinary naturalisation process: a family in Pontresina GR, a family in Lugano TI, a couple in Lausanne VD and single in Freienbach SZ.


This program certainly made me appreciate how pragmatic and straight-forward the process is in Kanton Zürich!

So it may not be a great idea (for us going through it at the moment) to watch it just yet, so as not to get completely freaked out?

Sh1....are we letting everyone in these days?

They lowered the bar with you, now it's free for all.

Can you share the title of the program or the link to it if available online ?

Thank you

https://www.srf.ch/sendungen/dok/dok-serien (German, suggest switching on subtitles )



I think it would be useful for everyone going through the process to watch this. Let's call it: managing expectations ;-) Unless you're in Ticino (where you have to do a 40 hour integration course) there is nothing scary per se.

Hi All,
Here are my timelines (Kanton Zurich)

Feb 2020: Submitted application
May 2020: Letter from Kanton that documents forwarded to Gemeinde
Sep 2020: Received invitation for interview
Oct 2020: Interview
Nov 2020: Approval and invoice from Gemeinde
Dec 2020: Letter from Kanton that documents received back from Gemeinde
Feb 2021: Approval from Kanton Zürich and stating Kanton and SEM bills to follow
Feb 2021: Invoice from Kanton Zürich (1 week after approval letter)

So now I am waiting eagerly for the SEM bill!

How long does the SEM bill normally take to arrive after receiving Kanton approval?

Congrats, pretty good timeline so far!

Based on the anecdotal evidence here, the SEM bill usually arrives between 2-4 weeks after your Kantonal invoice, and around 4-5 months after the SEM bill to get citizenship. But this seems to have slowed down a bit due to COVID.

Bokabil should be next up, I'm confident he/she will hear something this week

Hey everyone

I frequently check this channel to compare my wait times with others. I am very thankful for all the people posting their timelines !
I will also add my timeline now and I hope it helps someone.

Canton Zurich, city of Zurich

End of May 2020: Submission
mid June 2020: Empfangsbestätigung with a note that it might take 2 months for further steps
mid September 2020: Zustellung an Wohngemeinde from Canton
***No interview needed, since I studied at ETH***
end of September 2020: Approval by Gemeinde and bill for 1200 CHF
beginning of November 2020: Returned to Canton with a note that it might take 4 months for further steps. And I am now able to move within Switzerland.
mid February 2021: Erteilung Kantonsbürgerrecht with a note that it might take 8 months for the rest of the process!
one week after Erteilung Kantonsbürgerrecht : Cantonal bill of 500 CHF

Now waiting for SEM bill

Hello, thanks for the information!

Could you explain the part 'No interview needed, since I studied at ETH'. I also studied at ETH so I am curious.

Which part of your studies did you do at ETH exactly?

I think if you read this more carefully it says the SEM may take up to 8 months to provide the Einbürgerungsbewilligung, after which could take up to 4 months for the Canton to issue citizenship. But it never takes anywhere near this long.

But congratulations, Your timeline is pretty quick so far. You have about 4-5 months to go from here :-)

You are right, it says "SEM may take up to 8 months to provide the Einbürgerungsbewilligung", .et's see how long it takes

We are on a similar state and timeline (Kanton bill 500chf received Feb end, waiting SEM bill). Hope we both get this final bill to pay soon!

Bachelors, Masters: ETH
PhD: Uni Zürich

I received an email requesting all my diplomas and received my approval from the city of Zurich a week after. I assume they see you as "integrated enough" if you have done your education here and let you skip the interview.

Happened to me too.

I studied in the days before they brought in masters etc. So I still have the old fashioned Dipl. Ing.

I didn't even bother to tell them I also had a PhD from ETH.

I wonder if a Masters alone at ETH would qualify for the same priviledge. Probably not.

I think you will find it will be, but unless your German language skills and Swiss general knowledge are below the required level you'd struggle to fail...at least in Stadt Zürich.