Switzerland’s controversial initiative to shorten residency requirements for naturalisation will be voted on in a February 28th referendum.
After a two-year wait to be scheduled for a national vote, the government announced on October 28th that this proposal will be on the ballot on February 28th.
The proposal (also known as the “Democracy initiative”) aims to cut the wait time before a foreigner can apply for citizenship from the current 10 years of residency down to five.
The initiative also calls for the federal government to be responsible for naturalisation, so that the procedure is standardised across the country.
Currently, individual cantons may impose their own naturalisation criteria, which are sometimes stricter than the ones set by the federal migration authorities – read more about this below.
For Action Vierviertel, the group behind the initiative, the required residency period for foreigners to be able to apply for naturalisation is too long in Switzerland, especially compared to other states.
“There are few countries in Europe that place so many obstacles to naturalisation,” the group said.
“Swiss law needs to be revised because current rules are too strict, especially for people from third countries,” it added.
What is the required residency period in Switzerland right now?
It depends on where you come from.
Citizens of the European Union and EFTA (Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein) have a shorter residency period to qualify for citizenship than other foreigners.
After five years with a B permit, they usually qualify for the permanent residency — that is, the C permit.
Then, another five years of continuous residency is required before they can apply for naturalisation.
For most third-country nationals, however, the rules are stricter. Their residency period to ‘upgrade’ a B permit to a C is twice as long — 10 continuous years.
There are, however, some exemptions from these rules.
For instance, Americans and Canadians are on par with their EU / EFTA counterparts: they can also apply for a C permit after five years of continuous residence on a B permit.
There are other exceptions as well: if you are a non-EU / EFTA spouse or the minor child of a Swiss citizen or a permit C holder, you too can apply for a C permit after five years.
