2.5 years??!! Wow that’s long, especially after you have to wait 10 years to be able to apply (at least that’s my case and I guess I am EU-lucky).
Apparently the average is around 2 years, I guess I got lucky 
Even better, I had to wait 11 years (it went from a 12-year waiting period to a 10 right at that moment).
I guess I sort of won a year, yay \o/
(well, only half considering)
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Can be more if you move cities/cantons.
Thanks for all the info. 1k is cheaper that what I heard, it seems to be around 2.5k in NE. But 2.5 years is the length I hear about often indeed.
I’ll start the process this year…
Fiscal disadvantage: if you work for an international organization in Geneva you have to pay income tax whereas foreigners don’t.
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You don’t only can vote ( permit c holder can already vote sometimes) but can be elected as well. Feel like a bundesrat career? It comes with a nice pension package.
I’ve heard Swiss authorities are quite good when it comes into rescue citizen abroad, like if some terrorists kidnaps you. Not sure that applies to permit c holder. Very unlikely scenario anyhow.
You can get elected at the municipal level at some places without being Swiss.
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Inventive for what? Becoming swiss? The incentive is to get the nationality of the country that Welcomes you. Money is not a subject when speaking about getting nationality.
Agreed. But it may be to get rid of it. Tell that to Americans enjoying FATCA.
I don’t think he only meant “financial” incentives, although they do play a role in my opinion. I guess nobody gets another citizenship (in CH or anywhere else) just for fun, there will always be some advantages/disadvantages to weight in (vote, or buy a house, or you have a “better” passport to travel around, or you are sure you cannot be spelled/deported, or you get discounts/increase on tax, insurance, or whatever that new country might bring you).
Furthermore, in the Swiss case specifically, from the experience I have seen with co-workers/friends, getting the Swiss Citizenship might be too demanding for a “country that welcomes you”… where I come from you just need to live there for 4 years if you are single, 2 years if you are a highly qualified professional, or even 1 year if you have a kid born there or is married to a national… and that’s it, if you want you fill a form (for free), show a few documents, and “next day” you are a citizen… it’s simply assumed you are integrated (no tricky language exams, no questions that even some nationals cannot answer, no interviews with neighbours, etc.).
So, to go through all this trouble (and costs) here in CH, people do wonder if there’s any advantage (which I myself still didn’t feel compelled to, even though having a Swiss Passport would be way better than my current one).
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Wow, that’s long. I submitted my paperwork a few months ago, had my interview 2 months later and am hopeful that I don’t have to wait that long. The interviewer was so pleased that I did not get the “you’ll hear from us in due course” as final feedback but in fact received an explicit compliment about how well I had done. The interviewer then even went further when meeting my wife in the lobby and made clear that I did an excellent job and the interview will be no cause for me not getting citizenship. So, perhaps I’m too optimistic… but was hoping to get the (positive) letter perhaps by April. Fingers crossed. Will be too late to get a discount on my car insurance for the year, but that wasn’t the main reason to apply anyway:)
To add to this, I absolutely love Switzerland. If I could design a country from scratch it would pretty much be almost exactly like Switzerland. I feel truly blessed to live here (incl. financially!) and look forward to enjoying life here for a long, long time.
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Out of curiosity, what do they ask during the interview? Does the cost depend on the canton?
Thanks
- Get the publication “Der Bund kurz erklärt” - you can download it from the Swiss government website or have it mailed to you for free. You need to be able to talk with confidence about how the Swiss model of governance is structured. For example: name all Bundesrat members, from which political party they are, from which Canton, and which department they are responsible for.
- Questions about personal life (easy) - i.e. relationship, clubs you are a member of, etc.
- Trivial pursuit re Switzerland… they can go 100 directions with this but stuff like name 5 mountains, lakes, airports, sights, etc. in the country / Canton… they can get very specific here (e.g. where is the Bundesbrief located? name important years / events in Swiss history?) and also ask trick questions (name 2 cantons for each Swiss formally recognized language)? What phone numbers to call in case of an alarming situation?
I’d recommend downloading 1-2 apps where you can browse through a lot of test questions to get you a flavour of types of questions they could ask.
I don’t know in detail about the costs.
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Was your process the normal naturalisation? I assume so as it sounds too extensive for the facilitated one.
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tldr;
main differences:
- C permit can be revoked in case of >6 month leave outside of Switzerland and might be tricky to regain upon return
- C permit does not allow you to cast votes
- military taxes up to the age of 37
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I’ve only been in the country for about a year, so I was mainly asking out of curiosity. But thank you, that information is very helpful.
Are interviews usually conducted in the official language of the canton?
No, in fact mine was/is the facilitated one: EU citizen / Swiss wife / 10+ years in Switzerland / financially independent. I believe the difference is
- My interview was at cantonal level (and by the police, not a local gemeinde person)
- Ultimate decision is at Bund level (not local gemeinde)
- I do not have to present myself to the local community and hope nobody object
I suspect/hope that facilitated will result in the process being MUCH quicker than the 2.5 years mentioned at the start of this thread. Me acing the interview may help a bit there as well.
Yes. While in theory you could request an interview in Italian (given it’s an official Swiss language) while in a German speaking canton… you can imagine that they’re going to seriously frown and question your language skills / integration.
Be careful, Swiss value modesty over everything else. 
But in any case, good luck with the process! 
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