It tales 6 months +- a week for Geneva as per the timelines quoted by others in Geneva and from my own experience. You should get it by end of Feb.

Today my process comes to an end - I just received my Golden letter. :-)

It is 1 year and 4 months since I submitted my application for regular naturalisation. Overall it has been a good experience. I liked learning about Switzerland, the Kanton and Gemeinde for the integration test. The process is definitely not as difficult as the stories you read about where "man is denied citizenship for not knowing the name of the bear in the zoo". Maybe indeed my experience was more fair than some of the more conservative Kantons/Gemeindes. I was also lucky to have had a straightforward application where it was relatively easy to collect the documents. It was more patience that I needed - 10 parts patience for every part effort.

This thread kept me going when my patience gave in. Thanks to everyone who has posted here. And to those just starting out or still waiting - you will make it - hang in there! Maybe the letter will be in the mail today!.... or maybe not....but then you will have something to look forward to tomorrow ....and the next day...! Good luck all!!

Congratulations, jlb398! Thank you for posting about your experiences, it is so helpful to those of us still going through it.

Dear All,

First of all, thank you ever so much for this amazing resource. It was a great reference point and a check point for me throughout the process, and I am very thankful to those who contributed and shared their timeline and insights.

My post will be slightly longer than most, but hopefully you will find it useful and also motivating.

I have to say that the wait was excruciating, indeed, and the process became nothing but a waiting game, especially during the stages when it is all out of your hands.

So, stay patient stay positive and let me take your through my process step by step, including preparation to submission.

Naturalisation process for a non-EU family in Kanton ZH. Family with 2 young children.

As we are a non-EU citizens, we need to fetch and to notarise/ legalise our birth certificates. We know how the process worked back home, so this was done well in advance and without any delays.

February 2021 - celebrated 10 year milestone and applied for a Family Certificate with the local responsible office due to intention to naturalise.
February 2021 - got the Family Certificate
April 2021 - got the rest of the papers together
The residence confirmation from Geneva, where we used to live in the past becomes a real pain, and took ~3 weeks to obtain. Happy to give more details and colour on this, but at the end of the day it was sorted out without any issues, just lost some time on this step.
May 2021 - I decided that I did not feel like taking KDE, and opted out for Telc exam instead to prove my knowledge of German. Realised that all the effort/ money spent on all other documents/ excerpts were a waste. Lesson was learned, but also the process was now mastered for the actual submission later.
June 2021 - took Telc exam
September 2021 - passed Telc, ready to apply
October 2021 - begin to gather all the documents again
October 2021 - visit my Gemeinde to discuss my file and process. A member of staff suggests that I attach my Swiss Master's degree diploma as well as my transcript; confirms that the application is good to go otherwise. As a result of this, I was exempt from the Grundkenntnistest.
November 2021 - official application sent to Kanton ZH.
November 2021 - confirmation from Kanton ZH. Your file is well received. The next step will take around 4 months, while the overall process could take up to 2 years.
January 2022 - Kanton informed us that my partner does not have enough years, and hence does not qualify for naturalisation. We were somewhat delusional about it, thinking that it may work, since we were applying as a family. The advice given was very sound: "You may try this in any case, and you will most likely fail OR withdraw your partner from the application voluntarily. You have 1 month to decide". We took the advice.
January 2022 - we get the confirmation that my partner is now off the application and that everything is in proper order and the file now passes to the Gemeinde.
February 2022 - Gemeinde confirmed safe receipt of the file, informed us about backlog for the interview
March 2022 - Gemeinde interview is scheduled in 2 weeks
March 2022 - Gemeinde interview. Super pleasant and straightforward. No curve ball questions and a great experience from A to Z.
April - May 2022 - no news from Gemeinde, so I call and politely ask about the status of my application. Apparently, our file did not make it to the Gemeinde meeting during the meeting that took place immediately after the interview, and we now have to wait for the next Gemeinde meeting
May 2022 - received the interview protocol from Gemeinde together with the bill for naturalisation. Paid it on the spot
June 2022 - Gemeinde informed us about their decision to naturalise us. The decision is published on the Gemeinde website
June 2022 - Gemeinde informed us that the file will now be returned to Kanton
June 2022 - Kanton informed us that the file is back with them and that we need to wait. They also remind us to keep them posted on any changes and so on
September 2022 - Kantonal citizenship granted and the file will now be sent to SEM. The notification comes with the attached invoice that is settled on the spot
October 2022 - SEM bill arrived and was settled on the spot
December 2022 - Silver letter notification from Kanton that the file was cleared by SEM and we will have to wait for up to 3 months for the final confirmation
February 2023 - Golden letter (dated end of January 2023) - you are officially Swiss, but, please, wait for 3 weeks before applying for your passports and IDs
February 2023 - found the appointment for the same day and apply for passport ID/ combo
February 2023 - passports arrived by recorded mail 2 days later; IDs arrive 2 days after in a separate batch.

All in all it took us 13 months, and I believe that it could have taken a bit less, given that not much happened throughout summer and December breaks.

NGL, it feels great to be done! And I wish you all the best of patience in the process.

Looking back, the most important piece of advice that I can give those who are still waiting: do not overthink it and stop reading into things, do not second guess things that happen, and, please, stop checking your mailbox multiple times a day

On a more serious note, do prepare your file well. it was my own fault that I had to prepare all the documents twice, but having said that, once I was ready for submission - I knew exactly what I was doing. I went ahead and numbered and printed cover pages for every section, numbered every document, and grouped all the files submitted in such manner, so that the person going through the document would have no problem to find what he/ she was looking for. I somewhat think that it helped my process a lot.

All the very best to my fellow Swiss and those who will soon become Swiss!🇨🇭🇨🇭

Pay it forward!

Congratulations jib398!! And thanks a lot for sharing your timeline.

One question, have you already applied for Swiss passport? How long does it take to get the Swiss passport after the golden letter? I am now waiting for the Golden letter while I have to travel back home next month, and my country of origin doesn’t allow dual nationality. In fact I will now need to apply for visa to travel back home in case I get golden letter just a day earlier..

Thank you!

Congratulations SpinningPear!! and thank you for providing the detailed timeline.

It seems it was rather quick for you after getting Golden letter you got Swiss passport quite soon. To get the Swiss passport and ID, does it matter from which Gemeinde you applied or is it the same for the whole Kanton Zurich?

My pleasure!

I do not think that it matters for the Passbüro which Gemeinde one applies from as it is a centralised process.

Congratulations!

Indeed, the passport office is on the distribution list of your golden letter (sent by the Kanton), as is the Gemeinde, so that is the same for the whole of Zürich.

This was somewhat of an own goal, as the requirements are very specific and the Swiss don't budge an inch on them. For family applications, everyone on the application needs to meet all the requirements, or risk delay/rejection. You definitely solved it the correct way in the end.

Indeed, that is what we learned during the process As the calculation for my partner's stay in Switzerland were precise to the day

It would have helped if Gemeinde noticed this when the file was presented to them, by at the end of the day it was our responsibility. So, all is well that ends well

Thanks. So for all Kanton Zurich residents, you need to come to Shilquai to provide your biometrics and apply for the printing of the Swiss passport?

By the end of my process I must admit I questioned the integrity of my Gemeinde. For example, my second son was born during the process and if I needed to collect additional documents for him they said no, they had taken care of it. 2 months later the Kanton rang requesting two additional documents. I should have got it in writing.

Yes, that is correct. In addition, emergency passports (and only emergency passports) can be printed at the airport passport office.

Well, my assumption is that most of these folks have never gone through the naturalisation process themselves, so they may not necessarily have all the answers

Kanton ZH and the person responsible for our file, on the other hand, were very precise and swift to respond. I think that they were by far the fastest link in the whole process when compared to Gemeinde and SEM. At least, that is how it felt.

I experienced the same. Although the person responsible for my file at Kt. ZH changed 3 times during the process, they were definitely the quickest and most helpful.

Oh no.. 3 times is a bit too much Glad that it all worked out at the end!

Congratulations, SpinningPear! A bit of an Odyssey, but quite quick nevertheless. You were on top of it!

Thank you very much! Appreciate all your and litespeed's insights and updates shared in this post! 🙌🏼🙌🏼

And just as we received the new IDs, fedpol announced the new ID design from March 2023. Hence, consider this as a bonus, if you are in your final stretch

I like the new passport but not the new ID...you need a magnifying glass to work out its from Switzerland.

Good question - I find this funny that we all receive the golden letter that explicitly says “wait 3 weeks before applying for the passport” and we all ignore it and apply immediately �� It’s like we have no more patience left in us! Well I applied immediately too and the application was accepted - I have my biometric appointment this week and hope to receive the passport straight after. Part of me wondered what if this question about waiting 3 weeks was the last part of the test - we would all fail and get a rejection letter saying “you have failed to show ability to follow the rules, application rejected” ��