Swiss "FI Gotchas"?

Swiss citizenship while studying? Can I ask you how it went and where you come from?

I was born here, my parents are from Bosnia/Serbia.

Took 2 years and 3500 CHF in total. Luckily I had a interpreter as a friend, otherwise it would have been even more expensive than that.

oooh. ok make sense. I thought it was weird, since I know rules have tightened.

So you were born here but needed an interpreter? You mean in Bosnia/Serbia. ahah I’m confused.

There were some documents (like bith certificates from my parents) that needed to be translated to German.

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I’m guessing that fits in the second part of “Teilnahme am Wirtschaftsleben oder am Erwerb von Bildung”. I was worried about the first, poked around a bit and found:

https://www.sem.admin.ch/dam/data/sem/rechtsgrundlagen/weisungen/buergerrecht/hb-bueg18-kap3-d.pdf (p51), with further reference to https://www.sem.admin.ch/dam/data/sem/aktuell/gesetzgebung/buev/entw-ber-d.pdf (p19) which says:

“Da dem Kriterium der Grundsatz der wirtschaftlichen Selbsterhaltungsfähigkeit zugrunde liegt, ist es jedoch weiter zu fassen: Es soll auch dann als erfüllt gelten, wenn einbürgerungswillige Personen die Lebenskosten und Unterhaltsverpflichtungen durch eigenes Vermögen oder Leistungen Dritter, auf die ein Anspruch besteht (z. B. Sozialversicherungen, Unterhaltsleistungen gemäss Zivilgesetzbuch [ZGB41]) bestreiten können. Damit werden Ausländerinnen und Ausländer, die über genügende finanzielle Mittel verfügen und keiner Erwerbstätigkeit nachgehen, wie beispielsweise Rentenbezüger oder Vermögende, nicht von vornherein von einer Einbürgerung ausgeschlossen.”

So this sounds promising and in line with what @San_Francisco says above.

It would be interesting/reassuring to hear from any FIRE people actually going through this, though :slight_smile:

I would def. apply for the citizenship as soon as you are able to do it. No need to delay it.

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If you are under 30 mandatory military service is a reason to delay it.

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Well yes, but I had a Bosnian passport and that really sucked. Even my UK visa got declined.

There is a new law btw, you need to pay 11 years. Only if you are under 37, you’ll avoid that. This affects everyone, from 18-37. Doesn’t matter if you “finished” paying after 30.

Need to pay 11 years of what?

Wehrpflichtersatzabgabe, if you don’t go to the military or Zivildienst.

I guess you mean “Only if you are above 37, you’ll avoid that”. I was 40 when I applied in Zurich. No tax. Fees were lower too. CHF 1200 in total.

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