Hi Everyone,
My mother was born here in New York City in 1946 and is a U.S citizen. My grandfather (her father) was a Swiss citizen his whole life. Does anyone know what the pre 1952 Swiss citizenship laws are that apply to my mother since she was born in 1946?



I can't seem to find any official documents regarding citizenship by descent prior to the Swiss Citizen Act of 1952. Since the 1952 act has no retroactive effect, I am wondering what applies to my mother.



Thank you,
Carl

This is an informative thread and might be useful to you:


https://www.englishforum.ch/permits-...ndparents.html

The law at the time the citizenship might have been acquired or lost does apply.
Your mother might be Swiss, you might not be Swiss.

https://www.englishforum.ch/permits-...alization.html
https://www.englishforum.ch/permits-...ce-needed.html

Some historical overview of acquisition and loss of Swiss citizenship:
https://www.sem.admin.ch/dam/data/se...ueg-anh3-d.pdf

Somewhere I have a link to the very old regulations in the Federal Archive valid as 1946.

General gist: If she was born in wedlock she would have been Swiss at time of birth.
If she married some one of a nationality she did not have she might have lost the Swiss citicenship.
She might have lost it June 30 1988 based on 57 Abs. 9 of the old law (1952 - 2017).
She might get a facilitated naturalization based on strong ties to Switzerland and Art. 51 Abs. 2 of the new law.

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

Thank you for the thorough and knowledgeable response. I am definitely interested in seeing the old regulations if you are able to find and share the link.
“Somewhere I have a link to the very old regulations in the Federal Archive valid as 1946.“
In the meantime, I will further research the other factors presented.
Thank you!

What does the embassy say?

I have not heard back from the embassy yet regarding laws related to the 1940's prior to SCA of 1952.

I have been reading through the material and came up with these questions. I used Google to translate from German to English so I think I have the main ideas but some details are lost.

1) Does anyone know the range of years (after 1952) that Swiss women lost their Swiss citizenship after marrying a man of foreign origin?

"If she married some one of a nationality she did not have she might have lost the Swiss citizenship."


I have read the following from the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
By Leo Schelbert -

"1952 - The citizenship law is changed in that a woman marrying a man of foreign origin does not lose her Swiss citizenship. Some 30,000 women are reinstated as Swiss citizens..."


Also from the doc posted -
Art. 58 BüG - Swiss woman, who had lost Swiss citizenship through marriage prior to 1992, could be naturalized again.

Some historical overview of acquisition and loss of Swiss citizenship:
https://www.sem.admin.ch/dam/data/se...ueg-anh3-d.pdf


2) Is this still valid (see below)? Can a women who lost Swiss citizenship due to marriage with a foreigner still apply for reinstatement or has this option expired?


"The daughter, on the other hand, can apply for reinstatement in accordance with Art. 58 BüG, since there is no time limit for this"


Thank you!

looking at my own circumstances, my sister and I were born of Swiss parents. My mother becoming Swiss through marriage.

My first wife is Dutch. Became Swiss through marriage in the early 80's and she received her Swiss passport the day after the wedding in the Netherlands. (Passports were hand written in those days and the embassy issued them. Consequently our children became Swiss.

My sister married in England to an English man. Two children. The first our father applied and did all the paperwork when the boy was 2. He passed away before he saw the birth of his granddaughter and mys sister never bothered to apply. She is now 23 and not eligible for Swiss nationality as she (the mother) had to apply before she was 18.

So I can imagine that in the OP's case, while his mother may be eligible, but I don't know, even if she were, he would not be eligible as I presume he's over 18.

According to the Art. 27 BüG I think your niece is still eligble for citizenship, due to the fact that the new law says she has to be registed until reaching the age of 25.

https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classifi.../index.html#a7

Art. 7
1. A child born abroad to a Swiss parent who is also a citizen of another country forfeits Swiss citizenship on reaching the age of 25 unless he or she has been reported to a Swiss authority abroad or in Switzerland by that time or has declared in writing that he or she wishes to retain Swiss citizenship.

I think this has been replaced by this Article, Art. 27 BüG. Note: there is a new citizenship law from 1.1.2018

https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classifi...index.html#a27

1 Any person who has lost Swiss citizenship may apply within ten years for that citizenship to be reinstated.

2 On expiry of the period mentioned in paragraph 1, a person may apply for citizenship to be reinstated only if he or she has been resident in Switzerland for three years.

Was 22 years is now 25 years.

This is all really helpful! I am so impressed by the members of this community. I have been doing this research on my own and I feel like I have made more progress in past few days than the last three years. There is still more to learn but I can’t help but think about how to make use of this information. See the following:

Forgive my ignorance, but how do you guys recommend I go about presenting these new useful findings to support my mother’s application for Swiss citizenship? To date, communications with the embassy or the consulate have never revealed such detailed rules and possibilities. Is it wise to hire legal assistance such as a lawyer and if so who is the lawyer presenting to/ what does that look like? $$$? Do people skip hired legal services and have success doing it on their own and if so what approach do you recommend?
Thank you!

I would make an appointment with the Swiss Consul in new York, and go in person - if you can under the present circumstances.

If you take a lawyer, with all the right papers I'd say +- 5 hours of work. You'll need a Swiss lawyer and ours would charge +- CHF400 an hour.

These are one of the best (and the firm we use). They will not BS you or create a problem they can then solve and bill accordingly. If they can help they will and if they can't for whatever reason, they will tell you.

Thanks for this, Ill pass the info on.