Carefully dipping my toe in...
After vacillating for a while, and finally collecting the required civil status documents (this took more than 6 months due to our situation, three countries being involved, and inability to go collect them in person), my husband and I finally started the process. Our teen naturalized last year.

Here is the beginning of our timeline:

Kanton BS

Jan 2023 received civil status document from the civil registry office, tax document from the tax office
Jan 2023 sent the file to the Migrationsamt by registered mail
Jan 2023 bill from the Kanton for 950 Fr, interview to follow in 5-7 months

Fully Swissed ! 🇨🇭🇨🇭🇨🇭

Following a solemn and memorable swearing-in ceremony that is the last stage in canton GE, a nice “Certificate of naturalisation” is now going up on my wall. Officially Swissed now.

Now on to banal matters such as applying for identification documents ...

Of interest to those in canton GE as well as several other cantons — where the ceremony and not the golden letter is the last step (GE golden letter clearly states that the naturalisation is approved but only takes effect from the date of taking the oath) : the invitation for the ceremony arrived one full month after the golden letter, and the ceremony itself was a month after; see my updated timeline below. No preparation needed, you need only show up; but show up, you must.

The ceremony lasted about 2.5h. Dress code formal, presided over by the president of the Conseil d’Etat of canton GE, with an aperitif to conclude. I skip the details of the ceremony here but if you are interested you can find videos of the ceremony and the president's speech from previous sessions.

Couple tips :

1. Get ready to chant the national hymn/anthem. You will probably already know it if you are ready to be Swissed but do practice ahead the first two stanzas you can. But worry not if you forget on the day; you will have assistance with the lyrics.

2. You will be offered an invitation pass to bring one guest along (couples also get only one invitee between them), so if you are in GE, start thinking about who you are going to take along

Of other practical interest to this forum : Asked to wait 20 days before booking appointment for biometrics as they are fully booked until then. Especially helpful: asked to hold on to our permit C and continue using it, and to only turn it in at the biometrics appointment. This was a big relief to me as I have travel scheduled in the interim.

Here is my complete timeline :

Jan 2020 : Requested application form from Canton
Feb 2020 : Pass FIDE exam
March 2020 : Cantonal naturalisation test canceled on account of COVID
July 2020 : Pass Cantonal naturalization test
July 2020 : Validity of birth and marriage certificates run out. These needed to be have been re-issued within 6 months of submitting application to obtain the État Civil document from commune
July 2020 - Feb 2021 : Collect certificates from home country again and all documents. Use time to put together a very very thick and compelling application file
March 2021 : Submit application
March 2021 : Receive and pay cantonal bill
Feb 2022 : Receive invitation for interview
March 2022 : Pass Cantonal interview. Easy and comfortable conversation. Questions I was asked are here
March 2022 : Approval by Commune
May 2022 : Receive and pay SEM bill
Nov 2022 : Receive Golden letter
Dec 2022: Receive invitation to ceremony
Jan 2023: Ceremony formalizing and completing the naturalization

As I reflect back, I realise that the process of becoming Swiss started much earlier, well before I started my application for naturalistion, perhaps as early as when I arrived in Switzerland. I expect though I still have a lot to learn about being Swiss. Certainly the completion of the naturalisation process has been an essential step in the journey of becoming Swiss but it will have been just a step nonetheless.

Once again, thanks to Litespeed and the many others on this thread/forum, who have have built this incredible resource to guide everyone in this journey. If my contributions have helped someone I have only paid forward a fraction of what so many have shared gratuitously. Good luck to everyone who will follow.

Congratulations, voyager!

Well said Voyager. This thread has been invaluable indeed.

Congratulations, Voyager! Thank you for sharing your journey, your insights, and your support with us in this forum. Warmest wishes for this next chapter in your Swiss experience!

Ok, so here is my diary.

Background: Third country national. Worked in CH from ‘05 to ‘09 (35 months) on a B permit. Returned in 2012. Kids (under 18 at the time of application) were naturalised first (2018 and 2019) because of their ages (some years counting double, as you know). They were under the old law, so I’d been through some of this before with them but the sequence and details changed a bit, especially as they did it in our former commune.

My first steps: need to apply for C permit (because of the new law).
2019-09 Pass FIDE exam in French.

2019-11 Request “early” C permit (by then I’d lived a total of 10 years Switzerland, so I probably could have done it via the normal process of requesting a C permit, but since I needed the FIDE certificate anyway, I went via the early / “well integrated” process). Could have done these steps earlier.

2020-02 Received C permit

2020-03 Cleverly, I request an apostilled birth certificate now because I know I will need it (this comes back up).

Formal process, ordinary naturalisation:

2020-03-09 Naturalisation request submitted

2020-11 Etat Civil registry asks for apostilled copies of birth certificates for myself and my wife (who is not included in the application) and our marriage certificate. First apostilled birth certificate will be too old (more than 6 months) when the other two documents arrive so I request a new one of those also.

2020-11-02 Application formally acknowledged by ServPop, request for information (copies of ID, contact info., other information), payment of CHF 450.-

2020-12-14 Part 1 completed by Serv Pop, dossier sent to commune

2021-07-05 Dossier acknowledged by commune (thanks for the delay Covid); study materials sent

2021-11-25 Naturalisation interview and knowledge test on same day (experimental measure: I was asked in the interview what I thought about that innovation. I told them I liked it as it was quicker that way). Passed the knowledge test with full marks (after hours of practice using an online app: SwissMe). Was told that the interview had gone well.

2021-11-29 Municipality approval

2021-11-30 Avis de cloture (notification of closure) from the Commune - free to relocate in CH

2022-02-14 Preavis favorable from commune

2022-02-14 Letter from Etat Civil Registry that my name on my (second) apostilled birth certificate doesn’t match some other documents, so they will go ahead and register me with that name unless I ask to change it now. They explain that the birth certificate is the definitive document for registration in the Etat Civil (I checked the law, they are right, unless I’d formally changed my name of course).

Unnecessary details: a letter in my name has an accent in French, and my home country is not familiar with accents, so they (randomly) put another type of accent on that letter in the second apostilled birth certificate (in spite of having done it correctly in the first one, and not having any accent on my passport or original hand written birth certificate from the 1970s - basically the worst mistake they could have made without adding or dropping a letter). In the interest of time I tell the Etat Civil Registry to go ahead with the error. I will have to fix that later by changing my name legally in Switzerland to the version with the right accent.

2022-03-15 ServPop send letter saying positive pre-advice has been sent to VD Council of State and then after their approval the file will be sent to SEM (now that the Etat Civil Registry have confirmed the completion of the registration). Told process could take 4 to 7 months (not explicit which process they referred to; I think it is the SEM process only that they meant).

2022-06-15 Received SEM bill for CHF 100. Wait anxiously all summer, wondering if my application for an early C permit would make the federal review go faster (since they had to check my background for that also, just 18 months before). It didn’t

2022-07 Change communes (and inform Serv Pop)

2022-11-02 Call Serv Pop to check on process before traveling for first post-COVID long foreign vacation (don't want to miss the response deadline for the golden letter!). Told I have received approval from SEM and thay are just doing the final checks. As there is no space left in the ceremonies for 2022, I will be invited for the naturalisation ceremony in 2023, probably Q1 . I beg for space in December, and he laughs and politely say no, but the time will come soon.

2023-01-18 (Off-screen activity) Golden letter / Invitation to the naturalisation ceremony is sent (but not received due to postal issue)

2023-01-25 Letter referring to the golden letter is received. It clarifies some information that was on the missing letter (I am very confused and start checking my reycling to see if I have thrown away the golden letter by mistake)

2023-01-26 I call Serv Pop and the lady says I am not the only one who received the second letter but not the first. They will send a new letter out today (not sure if I am getting a new letter because I called or if it was already planned: the cynic in me says this is a final test of French reading comprehension and speaking ability)

2023-01-28 After two days of anxiety (plus car drama), I receive the golden letter. The deadline to reply whether I will attend the ceremony on 22 February is next Wednesday, 1 February. I waited so late before checking the mailbox (didn’t want to go down too early and get disappointed that the postman had not yet passed) that I have missed the closing time for the local post office, so I drive a few km to an open post office and post my signed reply slip by registered mail (no messing around with such a tight deadline).

For those of you in Vaud, remember that you have to send back the slip to confirm that you will attend the ceremony so they save your space. Otherwise you get pushed to the next one (or eventually they consider you have abandoned the application). And you have to hand in your residence permit at the start of the ceremony

1'055 days since I submitted the files (thanks Covid for adding about a year)

So in 3.5 weeks I will take my citizenship oath and become Swiss!!!

Oops, that should have been 30 months (end 2020 to mid 2022)

Oh my word! Start 2020!

Congratulations, AGBinCH! I know it was a long process, but I had to chuckle at your humorous account of it.

Is this a normal naturalisation thing? Does every canton do it and do you have to attend? I went through facilitated and all I got was a letter with a bill

Vaud does it and I think Geneva does as well.
Never heard about it for the other cantons.

Very nice ceremony (which my kids did pre-Covid, so I could observe). Just have to raise your hand and say “Je le promets” (I promise it) when they call your name, in response to the question about of you swear to uphold the values and laws, etc.

Naturalisation in VD and GE does not take effect until this is done. Young kids (and those with a medical excuse) can skip this step.

The last mile is definitely the longest and most painful.

123 days since I paid the SEM bill. According to most of the information here, I have at least another month to wait ( for GE times).

Congratulations to the newly Swiss-ed!

1771 replies and this thread is not sticky. I'm raising a petition to EF mods to have this thread sticky.

First sweet benefit of naturalisation already in the pocket :

With only the certificate of naturalisation and not even the identification documents in my hands yet, I have a big saving on my car insurance costs. The invoice is -45% lower than last year. Nice !

If you have a vehicle, hopefully this is encouragement for you to be patient as you go through your naturalisation. Sweet treat ahead !

Hi all,

My 12 year old has to write the "Teilnahme am sozialen und kulturellen Leben der Gesellschaft" . Does anyone have any idea how long this has to be?
He's not very wordy

I am quite confident that I only got my current job (applied last April) because I had Swiss citizenship. The hiring manager (my boss) is from Kanton NW and also involved in the Army, and always seems to make a point of introducing me to new colleagues as a being both native english speaking and Swiss. :-D

Seems it is sticky now! Good job!

My then 12 year old wrote about three sentences, which is what fit in the form provided to us.

Hi All, ( especially those waiting in GE)

I contacted the SEM and they told me that my file was approved and it has been sent back to GE for processing.

I suppose there are some final checks to be done, but what else can they possibly check that hasnt been scrutinized already?

Anyway, looks like the end is near

Yay!

From what I understand, they check that you don't have any new criminal proceedings, you are not newly on social aid etc. Just the final check that you still fulfill the requirements.