We received the Einbürgerungsbewilliging from the SEM for our daughter today, with a note that it takes up to 4 months at the canton. Is this the final step?

I assume you have been notified by the Kanton that they have received the Einbürgerungsbewilligung from the SEM. The next letter you receive should inform you regarding the issuing of citizenship for your daughter, and it should be in the next month or so.(including information on how to apply for a passport).

I hope that this will the case for me also. I still have a few years to wait, giving me enough time to fill in the gaps in my language skills and the general knowledge.

This may be relevant for people, who are living in Zürich (esp. Stadt Zürich) and want their Swiss degree (ETH, Uni, FH) recognised towards the Grundkenntnisse/Basic knowledge.

They have to submit their application while the current Kantonale Bürgerrechtsverordnung from 2017 is in force. The proposed new Kantonales Bürgerrechtsgesetz has some changes regarding the Basic Knowledge test: one major change is that a Swiss university degree/tertiary degree is not recognised towards Basic Knowledge anymore.

Link to the proposed law by the Regierungsrat Kt. Zürich

§ 9. 1 Bewerberinnen und Bewerber müssen über Grundkenntnisse der geografischen, historischen, politischen und gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse im Bund und Kanton sowie über Grundkenntnisse der politischen Verhältnisse im Zürcher Gemeindewesen verfügen.
2 Der Nachweis nach Abs. 1 gilt als erbracht, wenn die Bewerberin oder der Bewerber
a. während mindestens fünf Jahren die obligatorische Schule in der Schweiz besucht hat, wovon drei Jahre auf der Sekundarstufe I,
b. eine Ausbildung in der Schweiz auf Sekundarstufe II abgeschlossen hat,
c. im Zeitpunkt der Einreichung des Gesuchs die obligatorische Schule oder die Sekundarstufe II in der Schweiz besucht oder
d. einen Grundkenntnistest erfolgreich absolviert hat.
3 Der Grundkenntnistest muss anerkannten Kriterien für Testverfahren genügen. Er kann mündlich oder schriftlich absolviert werden.
4 Der Regierungsrat regelt die Einzelheiten.

The reasoning for the changes can be read on p.43, on tertiary level there is not sufficient knowledge taught about politics and society:

Lit. b: Der Nachweis der Grundkenntnisse gilt zudem als erbracht, wenn die Bewerberin oder der Bewerber eine Ausbildung auf Sekundarstufe II abgeschlossen hat. In den allgemeinbildenden Fächern der Berufsschule, Fachmittelschule oder des Gymnasiums werden die verlangten Grundkenntnisse vermittelt. Nicht anerkannt werden Ausbildungen auf der Tertiärstufe, weil auf dieser Stufe zu wenig Allgemeinwissen über Politik und Gesellschaft vermittelt wird.

I assume there will be a vote on cantonal level about this law in the future (fakultatives Referendum).

Damn. There goes my cunning plan to go and get a MSc at ETH to take a break from boring work and at the same time skip the interview in three years' time. :c The new KBüG will almost certainly be in force by then.
They do make a good point about general politics/society knowledge, but it was a nice loophole.

Personally I believe this is going in the wrong direction. Foreign students who have survived the Swiss uni system (and stayed on to pay taxes) should at least be shown a minor token of appreciation and not be thrown in the same boat as everyone else.

Ok, this is my turn now. I hope this will helps to other people to determinate waiting time.

Applied in Geneva City.

Nov 2019 Bring the folder to the OCPM
Dec 2019 Paid a bill, in Geneva the whole payment is in advance
March 2020 My interview was postponed due to COVID-19
July 2020 Completed an interview online
Nov 2020 Letter form City of Geneva that everything is ok for them and whey sent my application to SEM
Jan 2021 100 CHF bill from SEM

I hope there is 4-5 month of waiting now.

Seriously? Switzerland owes you something for studying here? I've worked and paid taxes here for 20 years, so that still puts you above us plebians?

Sorry, but such a comment smacks of elitism.

Not sure why you are referring to me directly as I am neither foreign nor a student...

Nothing to do with elitism, my point about the taxes was that foreign graduates could perfectly start working elsewhere following their low tuition education (which would ultimately be a net loss for the canton/Bund).

I sincerely apologise for the assumption. Interesting use of present tense though..

However my point still stands:

*ALL applicants going through the ordinary citizenship process need to prove their integration and relevant general knowledge, and graduating a Swiss University in itself isn't proof of this. This is the reason cited for removing the exemption.

*The quality of life, career opportunities and should be sufficient to encourage those people to stay, and usually does.

*How is it fair to "everyone else" if foreign students don't have to prove their general knowledge?

Maybe things have changed but in my day at ETH it was a real turbo for fast integration because as a foreign student you were thrown in at the deep end and had to make friends and deal with the language etc. Making friends was the easy bit because there was a whole year of fresh students and nobody had any friends to begin with so you soon got to know people, whether you were trying or not. The tuition was entirely in German (and many of the non curricular stuff in dialect, including sports etc) and you just had to understand because people just assumed you did. I think it was only my second weekend when I found myself on a two-day mountain hike, thus having a free geography lesson as well, and chatting to people who were keen to give me my first primer in Swiss politics, sports, music etc, and taught me the basics of differentiating different dialects. All while just assuming my German to be perfect.

That's a much tougher baptism by fire than any expats get who move into comfortable jobs where they can continue speaking English. So yes, I would say some recognition is due.

I don't think the purpose of welcoming foreign students is primarily about expecting they will stay.

I think, on the contrary, that the assumption is that they will go back to their respective countries where their knowledge of Switzerland will make them ambassadors of friendship towards Switzerland.

I don't know if this is still the case, but when I was at ETH there was a huge delegation of students from Luxembourg. Presumably because there was no comparable course on offer in Luxembourg. I was friends with quite a few of them back then and am still in touch with some today. I don't know of one in the whole year who stayed on in Switzerland. But they didn't all go back to Luxembourg either. Some moved to Germany or the USA and one is even now in Kenya - where he is the only European guy in a Chinese company.

That honestly sounds very enjoyable. Not a sacrifice or some difficult time. I think there are people who don't get exposed yet still have to seek out opportunities to blend in: trailing spouses, and kids, in general. I think it is tough for them. Young single adults will find their way to mingle. Busy moms and lonely kids have it tough, so there goes a lot of my recognition, I dare to say.

I never said it wasn't fun.

I said it was effective.

Enjoyable baptism by fire.

You are now assuming everyone who is not a student fits into the category highlighted in bold? Hardly Many people, like myself, also land in the deep end and have to sink-or-swim, in non-English speaking jobs or schools, and often for a miserable salary. Where is their recognition?

It's a simple knowledge test and/or interview. I think if you've survived tertiary education here as you describe, then this would be at worst an inconvenience.

@amogles, this is for Bachelors right? I guess you really get thrown to the deep end real fast. Can the same be said for Masters and PhD, I guess not but I could be wrong.

still waiting for the golden letter!

This was in the 1990s before they called it Bachelors. But I guess it was the equivalent thing.

I think on the level of Masters and even more of PhD the number of foreign students increased massively. I think especially PhD as most of the Swiss didn't see the point of doing a PhD when you could be making much more money in industry.

Hmm, is this letter something new? Only in the last month or so have people mentioned it. Could it be there are delays somewhere in this part of the process and this letter is designed to keep impatient applicants from calling?