Reader question: Will my children get a Swiss passport if born in Switzerland?
Obtaining Swiss citizenship is not a simple matter even if you are born here, as there are many obstacles to overcome. This is what you should know about the complex process of naturalisation.
It is natural that people who are settled in Switzerland would want their children to have a Swiss citizenship.
Unlike many other countries, however, merely being born in Switzerland doesn’t mean the person is Swiss.
If their parents were born abroad and still hold foreign passports, children will not obtain Swiss citizenship at birth.
This may sound unfair to someone coming from, say, the United States, but Switzerland doesn’t recognise so-called “birthright citizenship” which automatically grants a Swiss passport to anyone born here.
Even though the kids have lived their entire lives here and consider themselves to be Swiss, they have the same nationality as their parents and will continue to be considered as foreigners – until and unless they become naturalised.
Some Swiss politicians and political parties, most notably the Social Democrats, are pushing for a relaxation of the rules, however at present they remain in place.
How Switzerland’s Social Democrats want to introduce ‘citizenship by birth’
Who is entitled to a Swiss passport at birth?
Children born to Swiss-citizen parents, or at least one parent who is Swiss, will be automatically considered citizens of Switzerland. Called “acquisition by descent”, it applies to babies born in Switzerland as well as those born abroad.
A foreign child adopted by Swiss parent(s) will get Swiss citizenship as well.
READ MORE: Why your Swiss citizenship application might be rejected – and how to avoid it
What happens if both parents are foreign nationals?
There are several scenarios to consider if you would like your child (or future child) to be Swiss.
If you don’t have children yet but permanently reside in Switzerland with a C permit, you could apply for naturalisation after living in the country for 10 years.
How to apply for Swiss citizenship: An essential guide
If this sounds simple enough — it isn’t. There are a number of exceptions and nuances involved in this process (called “ordinary naturalisation”), which are outlined on this government site.
If you become naturalised before the child is born (even if you still retain the citizenship of your former country), then he or she will be automatically Swiss at birth.
In the event that the child was born before you could get naturalised, you can apply for citizenship as a family, under the same criteria as outlined on the government site.
However, this process should be undertaken while the child is still a minor; after they turn 18, they would have to apply for naturalisation by themselves.
What if I moved to Switzerland when my children were already born?
If two non-citizens move to Switzerland when their children were already born, naturalisation is the means through which they may be able to gain citizenship.
While normally you will need to be in Switzerland for ten years to apply, years between the ages of 8 and 18 count as double, meaning that a child could effectively apply after five years.
As outlined above, if you want to help your children gain Swiss citizenship, it is best to kick off the process well before they turn 18, otherwise they will need to do so themselves.
What about citizenship for the third generation?
A proof of the complexity of the country’s naturalisation process is that even the third-generation residents have to jump through hoops to get their Swiss passports.
On paper, foreigners born in Switzerland and whose grandparents already lived here can obtain their citizenship more easily — the so-called “simplified naturalisation”. In reality, however, the procedure is full of obstacles and not at all simple.
According to the Federal Commission for Migration (FMC), out of about 25,000 people in this category, only 1,847 received their Swiss passports at the end of 2020.
READ MORE: EXPLAINED: Why so few third-generation Swiss are actually ‘Swiss’?
That’s because “legal requirements are impossible to meet”, the report states. “Thus, it is clear that facilitated naturalisation is not actually easier for the third generation, but rather more difficult”.
In all, the study found that access to Swiss nationality for this population group is unreasonably bureaucratic, as in many cases proof required for this process to be successful is difficult to obtain — if, for instance, grandparents are deceased and the family hasn’t kept any records.
FMC recently drew a disappointing assessment of a facilitated naturalisation process for the third-generation foreigners.
This is one of the reasons why we have such a large foreign presence in Switzerland: because the law makes access to naturalisation particularly difficult”, according to Rosita Fibbi, migration sociologist at the University of Neuchâtel.
“Many countries have introduced simpler procedures for people born there… this is not the case in Switzerland”, she added.
EXPLAINED: Why ‘simplified’ Swiss naturalisation is actually not that simple
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It is natural that people who are settled in Switzerland would want their children to have a Swiss citizenship.
Unlike many other countries, however, merely being born in Switzerland doesn’t mean the person is Swiss.
If their parents were born abroad and still hold foreign passports, children will not obtain Swiss citizenship at birth.
This may sound unfair to someone coming from, say, the United States, but Switzerland doesn’t recognise so-called “birthright citizenship” which automatically grants a Swiss passport to anyone born here.
Even though the kids have lived their entire lives here and consider themselves to be Swiss, they have the same nationality as their parents and will continue to be considered as foreigners – until and unless they become naturalised.
Some Swiss politicians and political parties, most notably the Social Democrats, are pushing for a relaxation of the rules, however at present they remain in place.
How Switzerland’s Social Democrats want to introduce ‘citizenship by birth’
Who is entitled to a Swiss passport at birth?
Children born to Swiss-citizen parents, or at least one parent who is Swiss, will be automatically considered citizens of Switzerland. Called “acquisition by descent”, it applies to babies born in Switzerland as well as those born abroad.
A foreign child adopted by Swiss parent(s) will get Swiss citizenship as well.
READ MORE: Why your Swiss citizenship application might be rejected – and how to avoid it
What happens if both parents are foreign nationals?
There are several scenarios to consider if you would like your child (or future child) to be Swiss.
If you don’t have children yet but permanently reside in Switzerland with a C permit, you could apply for naturalisation after living in the country for 10 years.
How to apply for Swiss citizenship: An essential guide
If this sounds simple enough — it isn’t. There are a number of exceptions and nuances involved in this process (called “ordinary naturalisation”), which are outlined on this government site.
If you become naturalised before the child is born (even if you still retain the citizenship of your former country), then he or she will be automatically Swiss at birth.
In the event that the child was born before you could get naturalised, you can apply for citizenship as a family, under the same criteria as outlined on the government site.
However, this process should be undertaken while the child is still a minor; after they turn 18, they would have to apply for naturalisation by themselves.
What if I moved to Switzerland when my children were already born?
If two non-citizens move to Switzerland when their children were already born, naturalisation is the means through which they may be able to gain citizenship.
While normally you will need to be in Switzerland for ten years to apply, years between the ages of 8 and 18 count as double, meaning that a child could effectively apply after five years.
As outlined above, if you want to help your children gain Swiss citizenship, it is best to kick off the process well before they turn 18, otherwise they will need to do so themselves.
What about citizenship for the third generation?
A proof of the complexity of the country’s naturalisation process is that even the third-generation residents have to jump through hoops to get their Swiss passports.
On paper, foreigners born in Switzerland and whose grandparents already lived here can obtain their citizenship more easily — the so-called “simplified naturalisation”. In reality, however, the procedure is full of obstacles and not at all simple.
According to the Federal Commission for Migration (FMC), out of about 25,000 people in this category, only 1,847 received their Swiss passports at the end of 2020.
READ MORE: EXPLAINED: Why so few third-generation Swiss are actually ‘Swiss’?
That’s because “legal requirements are impossible to meet”, the report states. “Thus, it is clear that facilitated naturalisation is not actually easier for the third generation, but rather more difficult”.
In all, the study found that access to Swiss nationality for this population group is unreasonably bureaucratic, as in many cases proof required for this process to be successful is difficult to obtain — if, for instance, grandparents are deceased and the family hasn’t kept any records.
FMC recently drew a disappointing assessment of a facilitated naturalisation process for the third-generation foreigners.
This is one of the reasons why we have such a large foreign presence in Switzerland: because the law makes access to naturalisation particularly difficult”, according to Rosita Fibbi, migration sociologist at the University of Neuchâtel.
“Many countries have introduced simpler procedures for people born there… this is not the case in Switzerland”, she added.
EXPLAINED: Why ‘simplified’ Swiss naturalisation is actually not that simple
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