Hi Everybody,

I am a EU citizen (UK) with B permit. I am looking at a kanton/city to be my permanent base in Switzerland. I have been advised to look at Zurich and Geneva (the obvious places).

But since I would like to have the option of taking up naturalised swiss citizenship later on when I qualify the residence period and if I so desire, I would appreciate advice on which kantons are to be considered purely on ease of acquiring naturalised swiss citizenship. Thank you.

JC

P.S. I am sorry if this topic has previously been covered as I am a newbie.

you're very close to another thread which discusses [mainly facilitated] naturalisation at some length.

• Are you aware of the requirements for citizenship?
• Do you qualify for Facilitated Naturalisation?
• How long have you been living in your present Kanton?
• Do you speak anything but English?
• As an EU citizen, why do you want dual-citizenship?

Just a few questions....

Thanks Lob for the feedback. I have indeed read the thread on facilitated naturalisation but that does not apply to me.

From the link on citizenship requirements, it seems that one aspect to consider is the length of residence of the Kanton and commune. But I can't see any commune residence requirement info when I click on the relevant link on the webpage. It shows the same info as that for the Kantons!

Also I am a bit confused by the federal requirement of 12 years which are much longer than the residence requirement of most kantons. How do they relate?

Some Kanton's residence requirement specify uninterrupted stay whereas others have not specified. So how I can find out whether interrupted stay is ok or not?

Furthermore, the webpage doesn't have any more details on the kantonal and communal admission requirements. So do I need to rephrase my help to include which commune is the easiest to get swiss citizenship?

Facilitated naturalisation doesn't apply to me. My only option is regular naturalisation.

Learning German at the moment. Otherwise only English.

Haven't made up my mind re swiss citizenship as yet but never too early to plan especially given the residence requirement which makes it important to choose a kanton and commune well as one doesn't want to move around and having to start from scratch again.

for "normal" naturalisation, I believe it's 12 years uninterrupted in the country and 2 years in the same Gemeinde or Kreis (ie. same address).

But again, I say - with an EU passport, unless you have a reason to become Swiss or have a chance of facilitated naturalisation then I wouldn't bother.

The cost is around one years' worth of tax plus you will have to meet several times and be interviewed and tested on all things local and Swiss. And all in the local language.

And then you are still not guaranteed to "pass".

Don't forget about the Army service requirement! Neither of my sons will even consider being "naturalised" because of it, and they've lived in Switzerland for over twenty years.

ah yes, that's mentioned in the other thread - but they won't want this, I'd say - it'll be money and/or Zivildienst

Army service/military tax depends on your age and whether or not you have any "skills" they're after! Certainly in the case of most older "incomers" they're more likely to take the money. I don't know how it works in the other cantons, but in Geneva my husband paid the military tax from the second he started earning, the Genevois charge all foreign males, it doesn't matter which type of permit or passport you have, you can't win here you know!

Hi JC, I think all of us are scratching our heads as to WHY you want to think about Swiss citizenship this early in the game? Are you just gagging for a second passport, or have your Swiss friends somehow convinced you that a Swiss passport is the be-all-and-end-all of passports? Maybe you could enlighten us a little about your motivation and we might be able to provide better advice?

Maybe I'm completely wrong here, but as I understand it the gemeinde where you live makes a difference, rather than the canton.