Swiss citizenship requirements

Everything Swiss citizenship asks for

Ten years in Switzerland

Ten years of residence in Switzerland in total, three of them within the five years before you apply. Years lived here between your 8th and 18th birthday count double, but at least six years must be actually lived here. Time on a B or C permit, an FDFA legitimation card or a Ci permit counts in full. Time on an F permit counts at half; asylum (N) and short-stay (L) time do not count. Your canton adds two to five years in the canton, often in the commune too. Read BüG article 9 (official text)

C permit

Ordinary naturalisation asks for a settlement permit, the C permit, when you submit your application. A B permit is not enough, however long you have held it. Read BüG article 9 (official text)

A national language, B1 spoken and A2 written

Spoken skills at level B1 and written skills at level A2 in a national language. A recognised language certificate proves it. So does a national language you speak and write as your mother tongue, five years of compulsory school in one or a secondary or higher qualification taught in one. Read BüV article 6 (official text, German)

Knowledge of Switzerland

You are familiar with Swiss life: basic knowledge of the country's geography, history, politics and society, taking part in social and cultural life and keeping contact with Swiss people. There is no national test; your canton decides whether and how to check it. Read BüV article 2 (official text, German)

Work or education

You take part in economic life or in education: your income, assets or benefits you are entitled to cover your living costs and maintenance duties. Social assistance received in the three years before applying, or during the procedure, counts against you unless you have repaid it in full. Read BüV article 7 (official text, German)

Respect for public safety and order

An unconditional or partly suspended sentence, an inpatient measure, an activity, contact or area ban, an expulsion or a suspended sentence of more than 90 day-fines, three months of prison or 360 hours of community service rules naturalisation out while SEM can see it in the criminal record. So does a smaller suspended sentence if you failed the probation period. Other entries are weighed by SEM, nothing counts as clean while a sentence or probation period is still running and open criminal proceedings put the application on hold. Foreign records count the same way. Read BüV article 4 (official text, German)

Two routes and what the app does not count for you

• Ordinary naturalisation10 years
• Spouse of a Swiss citizen5 years

Ordinary naturalisation

The path under BüG articles 9 to 18. You apply to the office your canton names, usually after the two to five years your canton asks in the canton and commune. The commune and the canton check your integration and your knowledge of Switzerland, often with a test and an interview, and in some communes an assembly or council votes. If they would grant it, SEM issues the federal naturalisation permit and the canton then decides within a year. Switzerland lets you keep your current citizenship, so this route reaches a real finish line.

Spouse of a Swiss citizen

Under BüG article 21, the husband or wife of a Swiss citizen can apply after five years in Switzerland in total, including the year just before applying, and three years of marriage and living together. No C permit is needed. SEM decides, not your canton, after the canton reports on your integration. SEM charges CHF 500, plus up to CHF 400 for the canton's report. The integration criteria still apply in full: B1 spoken and A2 written in a national language, respect for public safety and the constitution and work or education. A registered partner of a Swiss citizen has the same shorter residence under article 10, but in the ordinary procedure, so a C permit is still needed.

How time outside Switzerland counts

Living abroad for more than six months, or deregistering, counts as giving up your residence in Switzerland, and the time after that does not count toward the ten years. The app does not subtract it from your date. Up to a year abroad for your employer or for education still counts as a short absence. Check with your canton's naturalisation office.

• The line is one stay, not a yearly allowance: actually living abroad for more than six months counts as giving up your residence in Switzerland (BüG article 33).
• Deregistering with your commune counts the same way.
• A short trip abroad with the intention of coming back does not interrupt your residence, and up to a year abroad for your employer or for education still counts as a short absence (BüV article 16).
• Separately from naturalisation, a B or C permit ends when you deregister, and without deregistering after six months abroad. A C permit can be kept for up to four years abroad if you ask before the six months are up (AIG article 61, VZAE article 79).

The first paragraph is the snapshot the app uses. The list is BüG article 33, BüV article 16, AIG article 61 and VZAE article 79, as the app’s own residence guide reads them. Belong Switzerland measures your longest stay abroad against the six month line, and a planned trip shows what it would do before you book it.

Three levels, and no deadline for the first two

The wait

Your commune and canton check your file first, often with a knowledge test and an interview, and in some communes an assembly or council votes. No law sets how long that part takes, and cantons differ by months and sometimes years. Then SEM decides on the federal naturalisation permit, as a rule within eight months of having the complete file. Keep your residence, your C permit and your documents current: the canton checks your criminal record again before it decides.

The knowledge check

There is no national test or calendar. Your canton decides how your knowledge is checked, in writing or in an interview. Some cantons ask you to pass their test before you apply, others invite you once you have applied.

After the decision

With the federal permit, the canton decides within one year. You become Swiss when the cantonal decision takes legal effect, with the citizenship of your commune and your canton.

Before you count on a date

Your canton and commune count too

BüG article 18 lets each canton set between two and five years of residence in the canton, and many cantons also ask for a period in the commune where you apply. The ten years in Switzerland keep counting when you move, but the cantonal and communal periods can start again. Check your canton's rules before you move.

Dual citizenship allowed

Swiss law has not required new citizens to renounce another nationality since 1992. Whether you may keep your current passport is decided by the law of your other country, so check it before you apply.

An initiative asks for five years

The popular initiative "Für ein modernes Bürgerrecht (Demokratie-Initiative)" asks for a federal right to naturalisation after five years of lawful residence. The Federal Council recommends rejecting it without a counter-proposal. The National Council rejected it and the Council of States followed on 24 September 2026; Parliament's final vote was still to come on 30 September 2026. It changes nothing unless the people and the cantons both accept it at a vote, and no vote date had been set by 30 September 2026. Until then the ten years apply.

Three levels, and times vary

No federal law sets how long the commune and the canton may take, and waiting times differ a great deal between cantons. SEM decides on the federal permit within eight months as a rule once it has the complete file, and the canton then has a year to decide. Meeting every requirement does not set the decision date, the offices' queues do.

Questions about Swiss citizenship

Preparing for the knowledge check

There is no national citizenship test. Your canton checks basic knowledge of Swiss geography, history, politics and society, in a written test, an interview or both, and many cantons ask about the canton and the commune too.

Practice questions with answers

How each of the 26 cantons checks it

Diese Seite auf Deutsch

Rules as of 1 October 2026, snapshot 2026.1, with the federal naturalisation permit from SEM. Read the official source. Belong Switzerland is not a government service and not affiliated with SEM, any canton or any commune. It gives no legal advice.