Swiss nationality law
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Swiss citizenship is the status of being a citizen of Switzerland and it can be obtained by birth, marriage or naturalisation.
The Swiss Citizenship Law is based on the following principles:
- Triple citizenship level (Confederation, canton and community)
- Acquisition of citizenship through descent (jus sanguinis)
- Prevention of statelessness
Every Swiss is a citizen of his/her place/community of origin, his/her canton of origin and the Confederation, in this order: a Swiss citizen is defined as someone who has the citizenship of a Swiss municipality (art. 37 of the Swiss Federal Constitution). He/she is entered in the family register of his/her place of origin. The place of origin is the place where the family (usually the father) comes from. It is not to be confused with the place of birth. The place of origin can be the same as the place of birth, but this is not necessarily the case.
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[edit] Requirements for citizenship
[edit] Birth
A person is a Swiss citizen at birth (whether born in Switzerland or not) if he/she is:
- born to a Swiss father or mother, if parents are married
- born to a Swiss mother, if parents are not married
Where parents marry after birth and only the father is Swiss, the child acquires Swiss citizenship at that point.
There are exceptions if only the mother is Swiss and she acquired Swiss citizenship on the basis of a previous marriage to a Swiss citizen.
Jus soli does not exist in Switzerland, hence birth in Switzerland in itself does not confer Swiss citizenship on the child.
[edit] Marriage (facilitated naturalisation)
A person married to a Swiss citizen may apply for Swiss citizenship by facilitated naturalisation after living in Switzerland for five years and having been married for at least three years. No language test is required, however one must show:
- integration into the Swiss way of life;
- compliance with the Swiss rule of law;
- no danger to Switzerland's internal or external security.
Children from the person's previous relationships are given citizenship along with the partner. This clause is not valid for same-sex couples.
It is also possible for the spouse of a Swiss citizen to apply for facilitated naturalisation while resident overseas after:
- 6 years of marriage to a Swiss citizen; and
- close ties to Switzerland.
Spouses acquiring Swiss citizenship by facilitated naturalisation will acquire the citizenship of the community and canton of their Swiss spouse.
[edit] Naturalisation
Citizenship in Switzerland can be obtained by a permanent resident who lives in Switzerland for twelve years (any years spent in Switzerland between the 10th and the 20th years are counted double), and has lived in the country for the last three out of five years before applying for citizenship. One should be able to speak fluently in either German (preferably Swiss German), French, Italian or Romansch (depending on the community) and show:
- integration into the Swiss way of life;
- familiarity with Swiss habits, customs and traditions;
- compliance with the Swiss rule of law;
- no danger to Switzerland's internal or external security.
Cantons and communities impose their own residence and other requirements, which may be additional to those imposed by the Confederation.
[edit] Simplified naturalisation
Certain categories of non-Swiss may apply for simplified naturalisation, including:
- women who lost Swiss citizenship through marriage to a non-Swiss citizen, or through the loss of Swiss citizenship by a husband, before 23 March 1990
- children born to Swiss mothers who acquired Swiss citizenship themselves on the basis of a previous marriage
- persons born before 1 July 1985 whose mother acquired Swiss citizenship by descent, adoption or naturalisation
- children whose mother acquired Swiss citizenship by marriage
All these categories have additional requirements to be fulfilled. Normally a successful applicant acquires the cantonal and communal citizenship of the Swiss mother or spouse.
[edit] Triple citizenship level
Each community in Switzerland maintains its own registry of citizens, which is separate from the registry of people living in the community. Most Swiss citizens do not live in the community that is their place of origin; therefore, they are often required by the community they live in to get a certificate of citizenship (acte d'origine/Heimatschein/atto d'origine) from their place of origin. In practice, there is no difference in rights or obligations between citizens of different communities, except for the extra paperwork that may be involved.
[edit] Dual citizenship
According to the Federal Office for Migration [1], there is no restriction on dual citizenship in Switzerland since 1 January 1992, meaning that foreigners who acquire Swiss citizenship, or Swiss citizens who voluntarily acquire another citizenship, do not automatically lose their previous citizenship, as was the case before this date. Of course, the non-Swiss citizenship can still be lost if the laws of the other country do not recognise dual citizenship. An estimated sixty percent of Swiss nationals living abroad in 1998 were dual citizens. There is no restriction on multiple cantonal/municipal citizenship.
Since many nationality laws now allow both parents to transmit their nationality to their common child (and not only the father, as was often the case in the past), many children automatically acquire multiple citizenship at birth. This is especially frequent in Switzerland since a relatively high proportion of the population holds a foreign passport (up to 54% in Geneva). However, the Federal Office for Migration specially notes that this has not resulted in any practical problems worth mentioning. Military service, the most likely problem to arise, is usually done in the country where the applicant resides at the time of conscription.
After two referenda rejected laws to facilitate naturalisation in September 2004, some of the opponents (in particular from the Swiss People's Party) proposed to go back to the pre-1992 situation where dual citizenship was forbidden [2]; as of November 2005, this suggestion has not been followed by any formal proposal.
[edit] Discussions about Swiss citizenship
Swiss citizenship laws have been widely debated over the years. In comparison to other nationality laws, access to Swiss citizenship is relatively narrow, and several modifications to widen access to Swiss citizenship were proposed over the years. Those that were voted upon during referenda in 1983, 1994 and 2004 were all rejected. In particular, during the referendum of September 2004, Swiss voters rejected proposals [3][4] which would have:
- given some long resident Swiss-born persons aged between 14 and 24 the right to apply for facilitated naturalisation (which bypasses canton and community requirements); and
- granted automatic Swiss citizenship to persons born in Switzerland with a parent also born in Switzerland
The French-speaking cantons in the west (Romandy) were generally in favour of change, while the German-speaking cantons in the east (Deutschschweiz) and the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in the south voted against it. The campaign around these referenda was controversial in itself, including accusations of racist political advertisements.
While minimal requirements for obtaining Swiss citizenship by naturalisation are set at the federal level, Swiss cantons and communities are free to introduce more stringent requirements, with some communities even deciding not to allow any naturalisation at all on their territory [5]. In 1999, Emmen and the canton of Lucerne began using popular referenda to decide the outcome of naturalisation requests; however, the practice was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in July 2003.
[edit] Rights and obligations of Swiss citizens
All Swiss citizens are:
- able to vote in political elections upon reaching the age of 18.
- able to run for political office.
- able to start and give a signature to a petition of signatures for a referendum.
- able to obtain a Swiss passport.
- prevented from getting deported from Switzerland.
- obliged to do military service (men only).
