So my wife and child are both Swiss Citizens. I am starting the process for facilitated naturalization. A few problems. I started from a place of having zero knowledge of any of the languages. Also I really really bad at languages (in school math was more my subject).

I am planning to learn German. My questions are

1) I heard some people say that in the interview the interviewer talked in German and you could respond in English to some questions. Is that a common thing? Or does it depend on the interviewer?

2) What happens if you fail the interview? Can you take it again? Or does that mean you will never become a citizen?

3) When we move to Switzerland if I don't have citizenship can I get a residency permit? Is there a time period associated with it? Also is there a restriction on starting a business as a non-citizen.

Also to add some more information. My wife and child both have US citizenship as well as Swiss. I only have US citizenship (not EU which I think would be better.). My wife can understand Swiss.

From my studying I am getting along better with reading comprehension than verbal comprehension. Would it help if I took a test for reading comprehension? I don't think its required for facilitated. But I thought it might help if in my interview I am saying the phrase "Can you say that a little slower" too much.

Also I thought it might help if I started reading the local news. Is thelocal.ch a good place or should I look somewhere else. And when I am feeling more confident I was thinking of something in German. I found this https://www.blick.ch. But don't know if there is something better.

Also for my third question about residency. I should give some more information. I have read some posts about getting a residency permit with a job. My wife and I run a business in the US. We have funds to support ourselves. And plan to start a business after moving. I don't know if that is a problem since I won't have a job.

Have you picked German for a reason? I definitely find French easier.

Try duolingo (free so you can try German and French). https://www.duolingo.com

News in Slow German/French is good. The French one has a beginners course (GUTS).

https://www.newsinslowgerman.com/german-podcast
https://www.newsinslowfrench.com/french-podcast
https://www.newsinslowfrench.com/series/guts/1/opening

Here are a few things to note:

- It sounds like you're still in the US. You need to live in Switzerland for five years before you can apply for facilitated naturalization<-- just learned that this is not the case

- You will need a language certificate (A2/B1, I think?) when applying for your citizenship

- Requirements vary from Canton to Canton, so it is better to ask around where you plan to live.

- Swiss residency can "start over" if you leave one Canton for another. Again, this is Canton dependent, so time for more research!


EDIT: regarding your permit: As you are married to a Swiss Citizen, you will automatically get Permit B. This will allow you to work in the country.

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Not entirely true, but you will need to have been married for at least 6 years and be able to demonstrate close ties to Switzerland.

More info here: https://www.eda.admin.ch/countries/c...%20Switzerland.

After 6 years of marriage, you don’t need to have lived in Switzerland at all.

Wow, I had no idea. Thanks for the enlightenment

Thanks for all the information. I am going to check out the slow news. That is great.

We got married almost 20 years ago. And she was Swiss Citizen at the time (I think I heard this matters). Both her parents are Swiss Citizens and born in Switzerland.

For close ties we are planning to visit multiple times (at least 3 but hopefully more). She has relatives. I plan to meet people and join some clubs (already a member of a club here in the states). If anyone knows any entrepreneur clubs that would be great because something I need to do regardless.

Thats great about the Permit B. Is there any chance of getting kicked out or it not renewing. My biggest worry is ending US business. Working to start a business is Switzerland. Moving with our child (I think this is good in the long term for her but could be rough in short term). And then having to leave after 3 years. If I was younger / taking a job I would not be as worried. (Also not worried about getting kicked out over crimes. I don't plan to rob any stores or anything )

I honestly didn't look too closely at the languages. Since I know English (and a small amount of latin) I thought German would be close. I thought since French was a Romance language it would have less overlap. Plus since my wife already knows German and Swiss German we could leave in a canton that speaks Swiss German.

But if I am wrong about this I certainly want to know. The language is going to be a major major thing for me. I think it will take almost full time study for a year to get where I need to be. If Romansh was pretty easy to learn I would do that. Right now I am studying German about 6 hours a day 7 days a week. Mostly using iPad apps with native speakers. And I am playing German over speakers at night while I sleep. I don't know if that is BS. But apparently some studies showed it helped. And I figure it can't hurt.

So for the languages do I need to take a test for facilitated. When I wrote OP post I thought read I don't. But then I saw some posts on the forums you do need the test for facilitated. Or maybe it changed?

My facilitated naturalization was just was granted last November. I was required to include my Language Certification with my application.

Hello!

I just had my facilitated interview in San Francisco, my husband and kids all have Swiss passports and we've been married 6 years. I was not required to have a language certificate, but I did my interview in French. The interviewer spoke in French, but also did repeat some questions in English if I was not understanding her correctly. I think the goal is that you can comprehend and explain your thoughts in the language. My grammar is far from perfect, but we were able to communicate and the interviewer seemed happy with that. That was my experience, but the guidelines seem to be very general when doing the facilitated process from outside Switzerland. Best of luck!