Becoming a Swiss citizen is a lengthy and sometimes arduous process. For those with an EU passport 10 years of residency is required before applying. In addition, there are language requirements, general knowledge tests, proof of not having received welfare recently and of having paid taxes, along with typically significant fees, depending on the canton. […]
Language requirements for Swiss citizenship and visas – what you need to know
Brought to you by Swiss French School. On 1 January 2019, Switzerland’s federal government tightened and harmonised the rules on language requirements to qualify for some residence permits, B and C permits in particular, and naturalisation. Before 2019, formal testing of language ability was not typical. Since then it has been formalised and standardised across cantons […]
Call to raise minimum language requirement for citizenship in Swiss canton
What level of language mastery should be required to become Swiss? Members of the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP) in the canton of Zug have decided the current language requirements for naturalisation in the canton are too low, so the party has put forward a motion to raise them, reported Blick. Who gets to become Swiss […]
Upper house rejects automatic citizenship for those born in Switzerland
This week, a proposal put forward by Lisa Mazzone, a federal parliamentarian from Geneva, to grant automatic citizenship to those born in Switzerland was rejected by 29 to 13 votes in the Council of States, Switzerland’s upper house, reported 20 Minutes. Unrestricted jus soli, or birthright citizenship, is increasingly rare beyond the nations of North […]
Politicians demand citizenship for those born in Switzerland
Two members of the Council of States, Switzerland’s upper house, have called for those born in Switzerland to be granted citizenship, a concept known as Jus soli, which is predominant in the Americas, but rare elsewhere. The two politicians, Paul Rechsteiner from St. Gallen and Lisa Mazzone from Geneva, say that studies show citizenship acts […]
Swiss naturalisation boosts earnings, says research
Academics from ETH Zurich, London School of Economics and Stanford have produced research that suggests naturalisation boosts long term earnings. At first glance this might appear to be an impossible task. Surely those who gain Swiss citizenship are likely to earn more because they possess a range income-boosting attributes that also help them gain citizenship. […]
Rejected Swiss citizenship applicants withdraw appeal
A couple who refused to the shake hands with those interviewing them during their citizenship application, has withdrawn their appeal challenging its rejection, according to the newspaper Le Matin. Pierre-Antoine Hildbrand, a local politician who interviewed the couple last spring told Keystone-ATS that the couple’s application was rejected by a majority of the municipality of […]
Swiss municipality forced to grant citizenship to Iranian refugee
Becoming a Swiss citizen is a three layered process. Once certain requirements have been met, such as sufficient time in the country, evidence of integration, the ability to financially support oneself, and mastery of the local language, applications pass through three layers of approval: municipal, cantonal and federal. An application can fail at any one […]
British man shows challenges of getting Swiss citizenship
A British man who has lived most of his life in Switzerland missed out on Swiss citizenship recently when he failed his citizenship test. Anyone with children in the Swiss school system will know how tough Swiss marking can be. 94% does not get you the top grade of 6 in a school test. It […]
Becoming Swiss is about to get harder
From 1 January 2018, becoming Swiss will get more difficult. The key change is the types of qualifying residence permits – only C-permit holders will be able to apply. In addition, years spent in Switzerland on N (asylum) and F (provisional) permits will not count. There is some good news. Those with C-permits will only […]
