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  • before i get into today's video a big thank  you to surf shark for sponsoring today's video  

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  • hey guys welcome back to how to switzerland it is  sarah here today and in today's video i'm going to  

  • be talking more about my swiss citizenship journey  so before i send in all of my documents to the  

  • federal government next week i thought it might  be interesting or helpful just to go over what  

  • my immigration process looks like as well as the  documents that are here in my application and just  

  • what's required a lot of people ask me how  i qualify for swiss naturalization and in my  

  • personal case i qualify through marriage so i have  been married to a swiss citizen for over six years  

  • and i have close ties to switzerland so in my case  that makes me qualify since i do qualify through  

  • marriage i'm able to do the easier application  process which is the facilitated instead of the  

  • ordinary so this is the process for facilitated  the swiss government is actually really good at  

  • making it very clear i have to say i mean of  course getting a new passport a new citizenship  

  • is a very complicated process but i feel like  the swiss government makes everything really  

  • clear and organized i could find everything very  easily and you know if i compare it to getting  

  • matthias a green card in the united states this  is very simple and straightforward i didn't ever  

  • really feel like i needed a lawyer or needed  external help because whenever i had questions  

  • somebody was always able to answer them  for me this is the official document  

  • from the canton of zurich from the government and  yeah they lay everything out for you and the first  

  • step is to prepare yourself it shows you where you  can go online to get information and it advises  

  • you to go to your municipality so i can tell you  what the preparation sort of looked like for me of  

  • course i looked online a little bit to get some  information and that's how i found out that it  

  • looks like i qualified to send in a naturalization  application but i wasn't totally sure so i just  

  • went with matthias to the staff house here in  zurich in the city center and actually there  

  • was a person there that i could just talk to and  they answered all my questions we went in there  

  • took a number we waited probably five minutes  and then um we just explained hey we've been  

  • married this long we live here what do we need to  do and he just told us everything that's required  

  • and then gave us an email address to request some  forms and it was really pretty straightforward so  

  • we got the information requested the forms from  the federal government and they mailed them to us  

  • via snail mail and we just began the process of  filling everything out and collecting all of the  

  • documents on this checklist so let's go over  what the attachments are because this is a big  

  • part probably like the biggest part of the whole  application process the first thing is actually  

  • the application that you fill out like you write  your name and your phone number and all of that i  

  • can't show it to you because it's filled out with  all of my data but i can tell you that it is only  

  • two pages long front and back so two or four pages  however you want to call it two pages front and  

  • back job how long you lived in switzerland very  simple things nothing weird you need to list a  

  • minimum of three swiss citizens at three different  addresses um that can be references and uh yeah  

  • then you sign very easy application it's the  attachments that take a little bit more time to  

  • collect but they do list all of the documents that  you need to attach on this simple checklist one  

  • sheet front and back and this is what we had to  collect the first one is called a chameleon house  

  • vise just a piece of paper that shows um that i'm  married who i'm married to and it's sort of like  

  • a family tree and this had to be not older than  six months old and we ordered this from matthias's  

  • heimat here in switzerland and that cost let me  see 41 swiss francs and we got it in about two  

  • days so very easy to collect also had to submit  a copy of my b permit of my residence permit here  

  • in switzerland had to attach a passport photo  those are the photos that you get at like the  

  • photo machines in switzerland mine cost 12 francs  to get um you need a von sitz zoignisse from  

  • where you lived the last five years in switzerland  so this is basically a piece of paper that you get  

  • from the city that shows the addresses that you  were registered at in switzerland and how long  

  • you lived there this is kind of a new thing  for me because we don't have like a central  

  • uh register like this in the united states um  but here in switzerland you have to register  

  • with the city where you live and how many people  live in the apartment and all the details about  

  • um where you live they keep track of that at the  city so then to prove where you live you can order  

  • this um piece of paper from the city that  shows the dates and places next on the list  

  • is a confirmation from the tax office that  you have paid all of your canton federal and  

  • community taxes for the last five years so  before ordering this form online we actually  

  • called all of the different tax offices just to  confirm that everything is good and up to date  

  • sometimes this gets a bit complicated because  we've been moving so much in the recent years  

  • so we called first to make sure everything  was good on our accounts it was incredibly  

  • shocking how easy it was to just call the federal  government have them look you up and tell you um  

  • if you owe any taxes or if everything is in good  standing whatever i mean you just call and they  

  • pick up to me this is incredible but it was super  super easy to do next they require that you submit  

  • a proof of basically a swiss national language  so it says if your mother tongue is not a swiss  

  • national language then you need to submit a sprock  certificate showing so as a language certificate  

  • showing that you can speak at a b1 level and  that you can write at an a2 level so if your  

  • mother tongue is a swiss national language or if  you went to school in the swiss national language  

  • or if you have other language certificates already  you won't have to do this but i didn't have  

  • anything so i had to go and do the german test  i did the whole detailed video on what that was  

  • like so that was definitely the biggest obstacle  to overcome i think that's probably the biggest  

  • obstacle for a lot of people and that test cost  250 francs and then of course you have to spend  

  • all the money beforehand um to get in classes to  prepare for the exam and to learn the language  

  • so um although the exam is only 250 of course  you're going to spend more to get up to that  

  • level you know spend it on classes and preparation  etc and next they want a confirmation that you  

  • have a job so they need paperwork from your  employer or proof that you are self-employed or  

  • proof that you are in school so i was able just to  get confirmation that i am self-employed here in  

  • switzerland that i'm registered as self-employed  next you had to get a confirmation from the  

  • um social help office that in the last three years  you have not taken any governmental assistance and  

  • i'm not 100 sure but i think that if you did take  um social health money if you've gotten this money  

  • from the government you need to pay it all back  to them before you can qualify for citizenship so  

  • this form that i've never taken social help was  very easy to get online as well i lost track how  

  • much did that one cost maybe 20 francs um and  they just sent it in the mail and i also have a  

  • forum in here that um i am a law-abiding citizen  this was just a piece of paper that came with  

  • the application that says um you know i'm notcriminal i'm not a criminal in other countries  

  • etc etc you just have to sign that that is true  next is a document stating that you are in a  

  • legitimate marriage so once again i just had to  get this paper from the government and sign off  

  • that i'm in a legitimate marriage and all of that  and the last document is just a statement that i  

  • allow the government to open like an investigation  into me so basically confirming um that they can  

  • look into all of my stuff and then this is if you  have kids and then you just have to sign that you  

  • attach all of this with your application just sat  down to edit and realize i missed a form it is the  

  • betray boom register ausouq you've probably heard  of this when you went to get an apartment but you  

  • need this for you and for your spouse for the past  five years so this is a piece of paper that proves  

  • that you have no outstanding debt and that you  are not delinquent on any of your bills so this  

  • is super easy to order online um so yes this  has to be attached as well but i was registered  

  • aka document that shows that you have no debt  now i need to send that paperwork to the federal  

  • government so that's the step that i am at and  once i send it to them it's called the boond um  

  • they are going to look everything over and just  examine that all the documents are there that i  

  • qualify that everything is accurate etc they might  request more documentation more proof of something  

  • that's what happens um at the federal level  and once all of that is done they will then  

  • inform the canton so in my case canton zurich and  zurich will on behalf of the federal government  

  • look further into me as a person so they will look  if i have a criminal record this next year it says  

  • that the police will especially make sure that we  are in a legitimate marriage i have heard that in  

  • some people's cases the police might show up at  your house um just on a random day unannounced  

  • and they might look around your house or ask you  further questions um but again none of this is  

  • like necessarily guaranteed i've read stories  of people that send off the paperwork and then  

  • it's pretty much done whereas some people have had  the police show up at their house so i don't know  

  • completely what to expect after i send in the  packet but it's clear here that it might happen  

  • and then once that is done my von gained my local  community government um so to say will make sure  

  • that i am properly integrated into switzerland via  a conversation uh sort of interview so this is the  

  • step that i'm not totally clear on what's going to  happen i don't know if they leave it kind of up in  

  • the air on purpose but in zurich i read that this  could be just a simple conversation where they'll  

  • send you a letter that i need to go somewhere at  this date and time and a person will interview me  

  • in german and ask um integration questions so  this could be anything just about my personal  

  • life here in switzerland or it could be related  to swiss geography politics and history so  

  • i know that i need to study everything related  to swiss um history politics and geography you  

  • know knowing the cantons the rivers the lakes  the mountains history all of that kind of stuff  

  • um how the government works all of that during  this conversation they can ask me questions  

  • about that but they can also ask me questions  just about my daily life like what do you do  

  • for fun do you take vacations in switzerland  do you like hiking all this kinds of stuff  

  • is on the table from what i understand i've  read online that some people got asked a lot of  

  • personal questions just about um the swiss people  that they know and what sports they play and  

  • stuff like that where some people get asked to  name every river in switzerland and match all  

  • the flags the different cantons so i don't know  what to expect completely but i will be continuing  

  • my german lessons to make sure that i'm prepared  and also just studying up on switzerland as much  

  • as i can very good we're almost done so once all  of that is completed um the canton will uh take  

  • all of their notes like how did my conversation  go how did the investigation go and they send it  

  • back to the federal government and the federal  government will make the final decision on if i  

  • am integrated enough and if all of my paperwork  lines up and if i can get the swiss naturalization  

  • and that's the whole process a lot of people were  asking me how long does this take i've read online  

  • that it can take between 12 to 18 months but  it can also go as long as 24 months or longer  

  • some people have said they've gotten this whole  process done in as little as six months so it  

  • really depends another question is how much does  this cost and that part i'm a little bit confused  

  • on because i know that this package going to the  federal government i believe cost 900 francs like  

  • as soon as i send this in and they process it they  will invoice me for 900 francs but that's just the  

  • federal level there will be more bills along the  way as they open the different investigations um  

  • with like the police and the canton so i read  that all in all this can cost up to about 2 000  

  • francs and then let's say that all of this goes  well and i get the swiss passport a lot of people  

  • have been asking me if that means i need to give  up my us passport and i don't switzerland and the  

  • us allow for dual citizenship so i will be allowed  to hold both by the way i should have said this at  

  • the beginning of the video but this is obviously  not legal advice don't take my word for anything  

  • that i mentioned here if you are looking to start  this process just go to your local staff house  

  • and ask they are very very helpful that's allhave for today's video let me know if you have  

  • any questions in the comments down below let  me know if you've gone through this process  

  • in switzerland i would love to hear about your  personal experience and how long it took and all  

  • the questions that they asked and things like  that so please let me know your experience in  

  • the comments down below also don't forget to  check out surf shark while you're down there  

  • link in the description box and that's all  i have for today talk to you soon guys bye

before i get into today's video a big thank  you to surf shark for sponsoring today's video  

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