Does anyone know what the official guidance on Heimatort is for foreign citizens?

Another thread here about residence made me think about this...

I know in some forms I put the country I was born in, on others my nationality, and in others, the Swiss town I am resident in (B permit). None of these has ever been questioned.

That said, I've curious as to the official guidance for non-Swiss on what their Heimatort is meant to be on forms...

M.

It is a bit of a loose definition, basically you can fill in whatever you please as long as you or your ancestors ever have lived or been born there.

I always fill in my place of birth.

To begin with, I think heimatort is only for Swiss citizens .

I just saw the back of my Aufenthalstitel and it says two things: geburtsort (birthplace) and Staatsangehörigkeit (citizenship).

For people with only 1 citizenship it's easy, just put that citizenship. For people with multiple citizenship, no idea. The last country where they resided and have citizenship before registering in Switzerland?

The only thing clear is that with a B permit you are ausländer in CH (as most of us around here ) and therefore the Swiss town where you reside is not your heimatort.

It may be possible that this never matters at all for many things, but for civil registry, car insurance, taxes or any legal dispute it matters.

Heimatort is for Swiss. As a foreigner you can leave it blank unless instructed otherwise. If you enter a Swiss town name it would indicate that you are Swiss.

If there is no place to enter your nationality you might enter it there instead.

I was born in the UK but am now also Swiss and on my ID card it shows the Swiss town I lived in (and still live in) at the time I received my citizenship as my Heimatort.

If you don't have Swiss citizenship, leave it blank or put your town of birth as is in your passport.

And I and my wife have never lived in our Heimatorts.

Tom

That's the case if you became Swiss "on your own" for lack of a better word.
Those who become Swiss due to marriage take over the "Heimatort" of their partner. Children take on the "Heimatort" of their parents. Used to be their fathers but 21st century and stuff ..... so I don't know. Maybe it's both parents now. Considering I have two "Heimatorte", thinking the father of my child would also have two - LOL.

I've never lived in my Heimatorte either.
In the old days it meant that if you impoverished and needed to be financially supported, you got back there and they have to support you. They changed that and one gets social security in their habitual invornement, which is a lot more social than shifting - often old - people somewhere they know nobody.
Nowadays I have no idea why often I need to mention it.

__________________
be inventive!

My wife also has two, acquiring mine upon marriage, her first one in Zuri Oberland is inherited. Her kids must have hers, as their father wasn't yet Swiss when they were born.

Tom

Heimatort is often translated as Place of Origin. More accurate woul actually be Town of Citizenship. As a Swiss you have the citizenship of a commune, the citizenship of the canton the commune is located, and finally, and only because the canton is part of the Swiss federation, also the Swiss citizenship.

Hypothetically, if the canton where your Heimatort is located secedes from the federation you would lose your Swiss citizenship.

Wasn't there a proposal to abolish this specific piece of data as it only causes confusion for foreign authorities when Swiss citizens are travelling abroad?
I think its one of only a handful of countries that (still) use this.

True and if you are the first person of that family name to register, you get the honour of being the founding member of the Swiss branch of the family - my place in history secured

I've never even been to my Heimatort, never mind lived there...

Axa: For people with only 1 citizenship it's easy, just put that citizenship. For people with multiple citizenship, no idea. The last country where they resided and have citizenship before registering in Switzerland?

(for some odd reason I can't quote on this machine)


My understanding is that heimatort is a city/town or canton, not a country. This town is also responsible for your maintenance if you go bankrupt (or in the case a town near Rapperswill, gives you a free Christmas tree every year)



One of my Swiss colleagues is of the opinion that the heimatort is where you last name (surname) originates from... That kind of makes sense in a historical sense - but must get so confusing with marriages and people moving...

If you have no Swiss citicenship you have no Heimatort and leave it empty.

I did explain further up that the Heimatort being responsible for you when you impoverish is outdated/no longer valid.

Your Swiss celleagues could be right but that was long before our time and all messed up by now.

What exactly is your question? Why we have "Heimatorte" here? ASitUS has explained that as well, should a canton leave the confederation you will stay "Basler" for example yet you're no longer Swiss.

In the past that had been true and to some extent it still is.

The Heimatort was passed down the paternal line. In addition if a woman married she got the name of the husband and also his Heimatort.

In these days the husband can take the woman's name or both can keep their own name.

Also in those days the woman keeps her Heimatort and does not take the one from the Husband. (If the husband had no Heimatort, because he is not Swiss, the woman kept her Heimatort and Swiss citizenship.)

How about the children? If only one parent is Swiss it will logically take the Heimatort of the Swiss parent. If both parents are Swiss the child will take the Heimatort of the parent it got the surname/family name from.

__________________
"Okay, I just hope we don't wake up on Mars or something surrounded by millions of little squashy guys."

I've been to mine, and perhaps also my wife's, but she's been to neither.

Her father of course was, as it is is the subject of a number of his works.

Tom

I have 2, because my husband has 2... so I also got both. We have no idea how he ended up with 2

I'm sorry but I have to disagree.... my husband's ID card says Dietikon ZH and mine says Spreitenbach AG. I have only ever lived in Spreiti and this is where I received my facilitated naturalisation.......

Sounds strange to me, unless you lived in Spreitenbach for a long time before you decided to become Swiss. Like by then you would have received it anyway, married or not.
My husband got mine (he even applied for my second one, which I thought was funny as I had actually forgotten I was citizen of that community too) but not the one of where we actually lived in.

I have Swiss friends with more than one, so it's possible. One from Uri, one from ZH.

Tom