Hi guys!

I'm trying to figure out the exact requirements of facilitated naturalisation through marriage (whilst living in Switzerland). There seems to be conflicting info on here. If anyone has been through it recently and could answer these questions I'd be very grateful.

1, The time length requirement is "Foreign spouses of Swiss nationals who have lived in Switzerland for a year may apply for facilitated naturalisation after three years of marriage, provided they have lived in Switzerland for a total of five years."

… I read this to mean a total of 5 years in your life. Is that correct or do you have to have lived in CH for a constant 5 years at time of application?

2, One of the requirements at Federal level is integration. What does this mean? Language test? History of Switzerland test? I wouldn't want to apply until my German is good enough… how good is good enough?

3, The cost? I've heard 750chf is that correct?

4, Do you apply directly to Bern, or do you have to go through your Gemeinde?

5, Do you have to wait until exactly 3 years of marriage before sending in the application? Or can you apply a little earlier?

6, Are there any restrictions on moving Gemeindes/Cantons before or during application (I know there are under non-facilitated).

Thanks

This may help:

I am a foreigner and married to a Swiss citizen. How can I apply for naturalisation?
You must have lived in a stable marriage with your spouse for at least three years, have lived in Switzerland for five years all in all, the last twelve months of which must be without interruption. If you live abroad, you must have lived in a stable marriage for at least six years and must have close connections with Switzerland. Regardless of where you live, you must be integrated in the Swiss way of life at least by analogy, comply with the Swiss rule of law, and you must not endanger Switzerland's internal or external security.

https://www.bfm.admin.ch//content/bfm/en/home/themen/buergerrecht/faq.0006.html#a_0006

https://www.bfm.admin.ch/content/bfm/en/home/themen/buergerrecht/einbuergerung/erleichterte_einbuergerung.html

You can find out the fees here:

https://www.ch.ch/en/simplified-naturalisation/

No test.

Good enough to get through the police interview, and my Italian was total crap at the time.

Tom

I wonder what that means?

I'd found those prices before, but didn't really understand them.

So no questions about the history of Switzerland? What is the interview about?

No. No history questions. Not for facilitated. You apply at the commune you are living in. The questions are standard questions; do you participate in local events? are you a hermit or do you know your neighbors? are you in any clubs? do you work? what is your education? what languages do you speak? that kind of thing. You'll do that in every canton you've lived in.

Do you think "my neighbours are weird and I try to avoid them" is an acceptable answer

So I have an interview in every canton I've ever lived?? Fortunately that is only 2!

In my case it simply came down going over the form I had filled out, just confirming the details once again.

Apart from that there was a bit of small talk because myself the office happen to take the same bus on a regular basis.

All done in about 10 minutes.

Meh, I don't know any of my neighbors. But, the girl at the commune just assumed that I was social enough.

Yup. I had an interview in the two cantons I lived in. The questions were exactly that same. And as Jim said, 10 mins.

You will need to submit tax returns and the paper that says you don't have any debts, CV, language certificates, etc as well. They will send you a letter with what they need/want to see.

You do need to know stuff about your spouse, DOB, canton of origin, where they were born, what they do for work, those types of facts, though not what type of night creams they use, what is their favorite food or anything like that.

__________________

I have no language certs (unless you count GCSE French from 1997)… but I have some time before I can apply, so will work on my German & French and maybe do a test.

The 5 years living in Switzerland must be new? I applied after 6 years of marriage and less than 2 years of living here. There was no real language or other test. But it seems to vary.

Dan

If you've been married 6 years or longer there is no residence requirement if you live abroad, or only one year if you are in Switzerland.

Oddly enough, yes, as the cop was a neighbor, and we chatted about another neighbor.

Tom

Don't know if you really need certs. I did happen to have one for French but the interview was in French so they got the point. I don't have a cert for Italian but they listed all the languages I speak on the forums.

FYI, Canton Bern voted in a requirement last fall that even spouses must have a C permit before they can apply for naturalization, and they also have to meet language requirements. I don't know the exact requirements off the top of my head, as I still have time. But I know to expect more hurdles than I would in a different canton.

What about those applying via article 28? This article is for spouses living outside of Switzerland, i.e. longer than 6 years. This article can also be used to apply when living in Switzerland as well, so non EU applying via article 28 will only ever have a 1 year b permit during this period until naturalized. This is a federal law so not sure how Bern canton can override it.

Please supply a reference to this since I certainly do not recall voting on any such proposal last autumn and probably not surprising since neither the Geminde nor the Kanton get to make the rules in these cases!

Thanks for this, Jim. As I can't find it with a quick Google search, you have me thinking I might have confused an actual vote with a proposed vote (i.e. media hype/fluff). I was fairly certain but I hate to spread misinformation...So for now please disregard what I said until I can find more solid info!

No mention of C permits here,

https://www.bfm.admin.ch//bfm/en/home/themen/buergerrecht/einbuergerung/erleichterte_einbuergerung.html

Regular naturalization https://www.bfm.admin.ch/content/bfm...uergerung.html

further bedtime reading, http://www.migration-population.ch/f...ichman2013.pdf
Five cantons (GR, SG, SZ, UR, VD) have in the last ten years adopted new citizenship legislation and implementing regulations, fourteen cantons have substantially amended their citizenship regime (AI, AR, BE, BS, FR, GE, GL, NW, OW, SH, SO, TI,VS, ZG) and two cantons are currently revising their legislation (AG, BL). Only three cantons have not sought to revise their cantonal citizenship legislation (JU, LU, NE).

It makes me mad that different cantons can have different rules about something so important. Fortunately the cantons have no say in facilitaed naturalisation!