The requirements for Swiss citizenship vary considerably from one canton to another but a move is underway in Switzerland to harmonise the rules.
The catalyst for this move is an initiative seeking to allow all eligible foreigners to apply for Swiss citizenship after five years of residency, instead of the current ten.
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It is also calling for the naturalisation requirements to be harmonised and for the federal government to be the sole authority to legislate in this area.
The date for this proposal to be brought to the ballot box has not yet been set, but the Federal Council has urged voters to reject it because such a measure “would constitute a significant infringement on the powers of the cantons.”
The government does, however, recognise – based on a study carried out by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) on this subject – that “ordinary naturalisation is subject to very different conditions from one canton to another, so that equal opportunities [for all applicants] are not always guaranteed,” The Federal Council said in a press release on November 5th.
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‘Simplify and harmonise”
The Federal Council is therefore asking the cantons to take into account the results of the study “and examine together how to simplify and harmonise the naturalisation procedure.”
This way, the municipality or canton in which a foreigner submits their application for citizenship “would no longer play as determining a role as in the past.”
On the other hand, the Federal Council pointed out that it does not plan to grant federal authorities the exclusive right in the area of naturalisation procedures because “the three-tier federalist system of citizenship rights has proven itself and must not be called into question.”
The Federal Council is also examining the practices of the cantons regarding the recording of interviews conducted as part of naturalisation procedures, as there are currently no federal regulations about how these interviews should be conducted.
It appears that various cantons and municipalities carry on citizenship interviews only orally, while a requirement to prepare a written record “would improve legal certainty,” it said.
“The Federal Council therefore intends to incorporate the results of its investigation into the ongoing evaluation of the Nationality Act.”
