For all those expats who are planning on staying here long-term and making this awesome country their home, are you planning on getting (or at least applying for, whether you get it may be another thing) a Swiss passport?

I seem to hear different opinions depending on the home country of the person I am speaking to, for example some countries don't allow dual-nationality whereas other happily do so.

Personally, I am planning on having dual British-Swiss nationality and have around 3.5 years to go until I can do so.

More interested in my young kids (5 and 2) having the option of dual passports.. Just in case it gives them some advantage later when the UK falls apart

Hah, ditto, pretty sure it will be a wise choice in 20 years!

Only if the UK would start doing the US tax thing for people not living there. Otherwise, I just don't see the point.

The point is that you are then unquestionably entitled to live in Switzerland with all of the rights and benefits of a full citizen, and without restrictions on the amount of time you can leave the country and then go back, unlike with a C permit.

If you plan to stay here permanently and/or ultimately raise a family, not to mention feel like a true citizen, then it's simply a no-brainer in my eyes.

I could have one already - but at the point of applying my first marriage was going to hell in a handbasket.

I felt it bad form to apply while that was happening

And now... tempted?

We're undecided for ourselves ( but I think it's highly likely we will apply), and we have a few years before we'd be eligible anyway, but our son has decided he's going to apply next year when he has fulfilled the requirements.

I don't know if it's something he discussed with his schoolmates or if he just worked it out for himself. He realised that if he ever decided to work abroad for a while he would not automatically be able to come back here to live if he wanted to even though we would be living here once he was over 21. He would need a job and a pet it etc and nobody knows what the permit situation will be like in a few years time.
Although he is British he has never lived there and was born in Belgium so he doesn't consider Britain as his home even though we still have family members living there.

I'm Swiss, but I'd like to get Portuguese passport from my husband, in case we decide to move. Dual Swiss-EU nationality could come in handy

Once through 5 years of marriage, probably.

Does he provide passports? No wonder there are so many fake passports on offer here.

I always tell him that the Portuguese community is like the mafia: one can get anything because we know the friend of a cousin or something

If you wish to leave your all assets to you wife, think again.
Your children may not thank you either as they have to do military service.

Overall 'what's in it for me' nothing & my family may be negatively effected, so to me it's also a no-brainer not to bother.

On the face of it, we look like good candidates for naturalization. We can check off the specific requirement on the naturalization list.

We have been here 17 years, I speak German, have made it a point to learn about the history, society and culture of the country and our region. We own our home here, I volunteer in the community, we are as involved in village life as we can be. We are good taxpayers. OH brought jobs and investment to Switzerland. In short, we try to be ‘good Auslanders’.

But we have been told point blank not to apply for naturalization as we will never be approved. We were told this by a person who actually likes and supports us, to save us the embarrassment of a rejected application.

You see, I made the mistake of getting on the wrong side of an influential person in the village. And that is all it takes. No matter if you fulfill the official criteria, anything at all can be deemed ‘fehlende Integration’.

On the bright side: Knowing there is no sense in chasing the red pass, I now feel free to plant my window boxes in any color geranium I choose.

I have enjoyed most of my time here, but will also be happy to finally go home.

The right to vote.
The right to be elected.
Possibility of departure and reentry without having to go through permit application process.
Possibility to apply for jobs only open to Swiss citizens.
The right to purchase property without any sort of restrictions.
Little possibility of deportation.

I'm not sure if there are any other advantages to having Swiss nationality...

Some non-citizens already have some of those advantages.

Possibility to serve in the army - this one will be an advantage for some, but a disadvantage to others, if seen as an unwanted obligation. The disadvantage of course of not serving being the obligation to pay a supplementary tax for many years and spend a lot of time doing the alternative service, something you might not want to do.

Switzerland has among the strictest naturalisation rules in Europe, with foreigners currently having to wait 12 years before they can request naturalisation, although parliament has voted to reduce this to ten, I'm not sure if/when this comes into effect.

The process can take a long time, it can be expensive and embarrassing, especially in the case of rejection.

The fact remains that the vast majority of those who become or already are eligible never even apply for Swiss nationality, keeping the resident foreigner population very high.

Care to explain the assets and wife comment? Making cryptic statements really doesn't add too much to the discussion.

As for the military service experience I actually don't think it's a bad thing and many Swiss I have talked to said they learnt some useful skills and made some good friends.

We took the plunge "en famille" 5 years ago and have never looked back. Mostly for the benefit of our kids, should they wish to study or work abroad, yet have the freedom to come back whenever they want. I could even get the opportunity for a fixed-term placement abroad within my company; having the little red passport just removes one of the possible complications. We plan to stay here for good, so as Richdog says, it was a no-brainer for us.


When asked about our motivations at our interview with the canton, I semi-jokingly said that we would work, retire and probably die here. The interviewer replied with a grin "You don't have to be Swiss to die here" .

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Stealing jokes off the internet and passing them off as my own since 1995

There's one poll option missing: "NO, I don't want to be Swiss"

I like living here warts and all but can never bring myself to say I'm Swiss.

Exactly, I think a lot of it boils down to how you actually feel. I don't feel Swiss now, and I doubt that in 10 years I'll feel Swiss either. That's nothing against them, it's just the way it is.

You missed a poll option - YES, already done so

I swear my little red book has already made our current flat and the Sail YSL premises possible