Updated 31/12/22 - nice end of year mail to receive...

Early April 2022 - sent email to SEM requesting application forms
Mid April - gathered all documents required
2 May - Sent all documents to SEM
8 June - Received invoice for 900 CHF + letter confirming receipt of documents and outlining process etc. Paid invoice same day.
3 August - Received invitation for interview
6 September - Interview
22 November - received letter asking me to sign two documents: attestation that I am still married and that I am still respecting the rule of law / haven't been in trouble... Sent back same day.
31 December - received 30 day conditional letter from SEM. Hurrah!

This is very interesting that you got the letter today, that means that SEM is actually working during their official closures.

Yep, dated yesterday, so someone is working overtime, I guess...

Happy new year everyone!

This thread has been really useful/interesting- especially the huge variance in the timelines. I've been meaning to apply for facilitated naturalisation, and now I can add in my timeline. I got the first set of application forms in late August; then realised I had to have the german qualification before applying (rather than concurrently, as we endure the radio silence from SEM.

Anyway, had the language tests on 10th/11th November. Received the pass certificate in mid December; sent off all the documentation to SEM on 18th December.

Received first letter on 5th Jan; awaiting the nice 900 CHF invoice this week. The clock is ticking!

Anyone else in Baselland the has gone through the process recently? Any idea of timelines for BL?

Last update on my timeline:
17 January 2023 - final approval from SEM. Officially Swiss as of 4 January uhuuu

I once saw somewhere here a nice list of all organisations that need to be notified of the new citizenship, could someone through it at me please?

Congrats. Oh there is not that many. Driving licence and car documents need changing, employer, bank and health insurance should probably know

Thank you very much!

Many congratulations! Do you know how long you need to wait to apply for passport/ID after receiving the SEM confirmation? I am a few weeks behind you!

Thank you! That’s a good question, I was in touch with my Heimatort today, they told me that they still didn’t get the information. They asked me to send them my old Familienausweis back (SEM returned it to me with the final letter) and that they will send me the new one free of charge(!) as soon as the system is updated. They promised to include Heimatschein as well. I wonder how long it will take.. I am hoping to vote in February

Hi Trellis, Thanks for all your informative posts. As a fellow Ticino resident, I have been following your progress. I hope you get your citizenship in time for the first vote of 2023!

Final update:

Early April 2022 - sent email to SEM requesting application forms
Mid April - gathered all documents required
2 May 2022 - Sent all documents to SEM
8 June - Received invoice for 900 CHF + letter confirming receipt of documents and outlining process etc. Paid invoice same day.
3 August - Received invitation for interview
6 September - Interview
22 November - received letter asking me to sign two documents: attestation that I am still married and that I am still respecting the rule of law / haven't been in trouble... Sent back same day.
31 December - received 30 day conditional letter from SEM. Hurrah!
14 February 2023 - received letter from SEM confirming I am a Swiss citizen since 3 February!

All in, it was 9 months which was much better going than I had assumed. I imagine I'll be able to apply for my documents in the next week or two.

This thread was an invaluable resource so many thanks to all contributors who added their own experience and stories. There is a lot of "dead time" waiting on next steps, and it was always reassuring to know what to expect, and roughly when. As other commentators have mentioned, this really was only the first step in me "becoming" Swiss, the next is what unfolds from here out. Cheers all.

Congrats! Thanks again for sharing your updates. Super helpful!

Today I received my brand new passport - what a disappointment the new design is… I just wish I could have the old version. The old one is brighter than the new model - makes a huge difference when you hold it. The new size is just as every other pass. And the colors that are used oh gosh - have zero associations with Switzerland this greenish-blue. Just one horrible choice. The red pages were beautiful! The cover used to be like a state of art with Swiss cross inside and became green with some type of trash pictured. Font size is much smaller and you really need to concentrate to read it. The Swiss map from the plastic page is gone too, now there is this green ‚something’. And the most tragic thing of all - the edelweiss above the picture is gone 😔 wow

I could not give a damn what my passports look like, it's what they do for me I care about. Brexiteers got all excited about having a blue passport despite the fact it's now less than useless. As long as my Swiss one continues to give me FoM in Europe, they can make it look as ugly as they want!!

We definitely had different reasons for naturalization

I wanted to live more easily in Switzerland and Europe - and you wanted a pretty booklet???

This is a very helpful thread. I am also in the process of applying for facilitated naturalization. Reading the timeline of others, I wonder if there is any wait time differences between Kanton.

Aug 27, 2022 - sent in all application material
Sep 20, 2022 - received a bill to pay 900 CHF application fee

Feb 20, 2022 - I have not heard anything back since


I am in Kanton Zürich. I wonder if that makes any difference because it seems like from the posts here, many people hear back after 3-5 months for the interview invitation.

After procrastinating, I made my IDs and got them under a week.
Ready for WW3 now.

Following along for hopefully some more updated timelines. Plan to send my forms out end of this week for facilitated and hoping it goes relatively quickly.

Hello, many thanks for sharing your experience and timelines. I have a question regarding "27 July 2022 - Dossier sent by canton to SEM" did you receive a letter by post from Kanton ZH informing you about this after your interview? Does everyone get this letter or it varies between Kantons ? I have done my interview on 11.03.2023 but I didn't receive any communication that my dossier is returned to SEM etc.