How's the application going medfordgirl? Hope you've got your application in or can do so soon because the law changes at the end of the year.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/naturali...ship-/43211068

Does this mean you can still claim if you have a grand or great-grandfather? If so, seems discriminatory to me.

Hi there! The application is going well! I am waiting on one more document and then I am ready to submit I have all the other certificates, the forms filled out, my FBI background check, and everything in place. I just talked to the Swiss consulate a few days ago and they say as long as I submit by the end of the year, I'll be okay. Luckily I don't need to translate any documents or get apostilles put on anything.

They also said that while they don't think that they have time to schedule my interview before I move to Amsterdam, it is possible for the NYC branch to process the application and for me to hold the interview at the Dutch branch of the consulate in the Hague.

I moved slower than intended but life got in the way for a little while- but I am getting there! And I am aware of the law change.

Oh, and I'm not sure about the gender of the great grandparent- but technically the great grandparent/grandparent aspect is not applicable as technically under swiss law my own mother was a citizen until age 22, so I am applying through her, not my grandfather.

If you have a Swiss grandfather, then your mother or father was Swiss, and you claim though them.

It is only the Swiss (great and) grandmother who could not pass on automatically her citizenship due to the laws at the time.

Tom

But this is the new law coming in in January 2018 and it's discriminating against grand and great-grandmas.

Actually, no.

The current law is to make up for the fact that until 1985, women could not pass on their citizenship, since then, yes, so it's viewed as no longer necessary.

Tom

I know you've done your homework—extensively!—but are you certain you don't need any apostilles? It's very unlike the Swiss to accept foreign documents at face value. Could you double-check? Another strategy would be to have all your US documents apostilled anyway before you ship them off to Switzerland, if it's not too difficult and/or expensive.

I don't hear them, or their great-granddaughters, complaining about not being conscripted. Seems only fair, then!

We did not have any of our US, Northern Irish, Scottish, British or French documents translated or apostilled. The relevant consular sections for different members of our family submitted them as originally issued to the New York, San Francisco or London consular sections where they were living at the time and these documents were then transmitted to the consular section covering the place of issue for translation (except the French) and verification. The process has become more formal and stricter over time: i don't recall getting an FBI clearance: i applied in NY 20 years ago, where my (Swiss) mother lived although I was attending university in Belgium at the time and my spouse and children lived in London (where I then had no right of abode). My (then) minor daughter was naturalised automatically with me. She was born in Belfast, stayed in London, never visited NY. Her siblings applied in recent years; the last one is doing so now.

When my youngest daughter approached age 22 (I think it was; it could have been younger) the NY Consulate sent her a registration form which I then submitted in London. They wrinkled their noses over my not having changed purvregistration earlier but no problems since and her 2 children born in Oxford have been registered as Swiss from birth. (They are also British and presumably Irish but not US (Hello #FATCA!) as their Mum has never lived, and hardly ever been, to the USA.