Ha.. from the rjagger's equation for bureaucratic backlogs (soon to be found on wikipedia).

150 * (5.5 mo (mid-June - end-of-Jan) / 12 mo (Year)) = 68.75

I do remain convinced that things have slowed down at the Kanton / SEM level since mid-February. This would coincide with the mandatory home-office requirements. So it would be realistic to add 50% to each administrative stage that many pre-February have reported. (eg 6 months from SEM invoice=> citizenship instead of 4 months).

I have a colleague (non-EF) who is experiencing a delay in the process, more than 5 months waiting for the final evaluation at SEM. He was just 1 month after me, my naturalization process was completed in november and he is still waiting.

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

Mar21: Received letter of approval from Kt ZH
End Mar21: SEM Bill : Came surprisingly fast

Wow, congrats, you are officially in the home stretch!



I think my SEM bill also came around 2 weeks after the Kt. invoice (it was actually dated 1 day after it arrived). Good news is you're only around 6 weeks behind me. Bad news is I know people over 3 months ahead of me who still haven't got "the" letter.

I am thinking another 8 months (by end of 2021)
If it happens earlier it would be a pleasant surprise, else at least I will not get anxious or disappointed

True...but we'll still be checking mail on Sundays.

Checking the mail on Sundays (and greeting the postman with a hopeful grin) is the integral part of this experience.
I'm still hoping for April to hear something (SEM bill on January 18th), even though despite litespeed's continuously clear and concise analysis, with clear conclusions and a lot of experimental data backing them, common sense and logic may have abandoned us all and may no longer apply to the timeline of this process. All in all, it will probably conclude at some point in the future, either sooner, or later, or both.

Indeed, my deductions maybe a result of a mix of overthinking and thumb-twiddling, but I'd rather see posts disputing or ridiculing these than have the thread fill with the darkness and cobwebs of inactivity

(As I look out the window and mumble "postman should have been here by now...")

Once this is over we will all live to tell tales of waiting for snail mail in 2021 and many would simply refuse to believe it

We are history in the making

My letter clearly said it will be 5-7 months to the first interview. I keep hoping to get a letter every single day; it's been a month and a week.

Hi all, I fulfilled 10 years in January 2019, and after spending few months getting all paperwork I applied in May 2019 in Horgen/ZH

They told me that I was the only person who had all papers in order in the envelope when I brought them in.

In August 2019 I got paper from Kanton that all is well and now Gemeinde will deal with it...

I called them in summer of 2020, and they said they are busy and my turn will be around Xmas 2020.

In November I got invitation to Grundkenntnisse test in January 2021 at BZZ Horgen, so I signed up for preparation test (Waste of 300 CHF) during December.

In February 2021 I got letter that I passed the test and got invitation for the Gemeinde interview.

Which is TOMORROW. I'm so stressed. 22 months since applying with 'perfect application'

What questions were you asked in addition to "Why do you want to become Swiss?"

Just be calm an natural, it's not a trap...they just want to make sure you are genuine and integrated.

Unfortunately you are the second Horgen applicant I am aware of, and it seems they are extremely slow at processing applications compared to other Zurich towns. So it's not you, i's them.

indeed don't worry about the interview, if you can communicate and if you have a presence in the community, that will stand you in good stead.

I had the luck to speak locally in public just before my interview with the Gemeidepräsident in the audience. The irony in English but it was a significant community event

They are just people and you will find they are interested in YOU. Be yourself, be clear, enjoy the experience.

MISCHIEF MANAGED.

Wow. It literally took 7 minutes.
They seem to have appointments every 10 minutes, as with me there was another lady with termin 10 minutes earlier, and as I was leaving there were 2 additional people waiting.

1. They spoke in Schweizerdeutsch, I apologized that I can speak only Hochdeutsch, but they never switched. Fair, I haven't asked them to switch
2. WHY DO YOU WANT TO BECOME SWISS?
3. What do you think about the Grundkentnisstest you did in January?
4. So you work as XXX for firma YYY....

For 2 I started the prepared monologue about feeling at home and wanting to decide on future of my town and place to raise kids...
For 3 I said that I feel the preparation course was a bit worthless as I already knew 90% beforehand. They laughed and said I scored 98 points
For 4 I told them about the company and what we do (Swiss startup)

Next step: They vote in 3 weeks and will let me know. I left with very optimistic mood.

Vidis, ze to ide, ked sa chce

For me the interview was rather "dismissive", so to say. I started to elaborate my activities with local Swiss fauna, but he wasn't interested too much in the details. "Do you do stuff with Swiss people?" "Yes, for examp....." "ok, good enough, next question ...."

Fellow Slavic speakers, I see.

In our case, it's our fully Swissified daughter who's naturalizing, but as she's 12, I have a wholly different set of concerns (such as, will she be too shy to speak above a whisper in her perfect Mundart).

Don't be worried. I looked at the manual from ZH kanton to all Gemeinde authorities and there are full pages of text about interviewing children, and making sure they are comfortable and telling them about importance of pauses and how stressed they can be. They know how to do that It also mentioned that children from age of 16 can have a discussion at the adult level, and children from age of 12 have option to request interview without the parent present

"For 2 I started the prepared monologue about feeling at home and wanting to decide on future of my town and place to raise kids..."

Did they cut you off a bit, only wanting short answers? Did they literally only ask 4 questions?

I was rambling for few minutes, and when I was almost over and got stuck on a word I forgot in German they thanked me for the answer and moved on. They were really interested in what I was saying, and laughed at some tiny joke I said in the middle.

And yeah, they really asked only 3 questions. 2 big ones and one as a filler.