Granted, this isn’t relevant for our
decision but in light of the current US immigration lunacy I became curious
about the US process and how it compares.
Not surprisingly, there are some differences, some significant and some
simply amusing.
The permanent residency requirement in the
US is only five years, half that of the new, streamlined Swiss expectation and
more in line with that of other countries. Unlike Switzerland, it is not necessary to
have remained in the same state or locality for any specific period of time but
you must list all addresses for the previous five years. The cost is $ 680 per person, practically
free compared to what it costs here.
There is one specific requirement which will impact almost no one but I mention
it anyway. You must formally renounce
foreign titles and orders of nobility.
The process itself is uncomplicated and typically
takes six months to a year. It comprises
ten steps, most of which are pretty basic.
For instance, the first is “Determine if you are already a US citizen”
which is not as silly as it sounds as the US is one of the few countries that
grants citizenship simply on the basis of having been born here. I’m sure it wouldn’t be listed if this didn’t
happen from time to time. After that, it
boils down to filling out a form, completing an interview and taking an oath of
allegiance. The form itself is 20 pages
long and, I have to say, is often pretty hilarious. I expect that 99.999% of Americans who were born
and raised in the US have never read this thing but it’s worth a stroll. Google Form N-400 and settle down for a few
laughs. In the biographic information
section there is an ethnicity question with two answer boxes, “Hispanic/Latino”
and “Not Hispanic/Latino”. In bold
letters, the instructions request that the applicant check only one box. I found that funny. Maybe it was just me. There is a section devoted to one’s time
spent outside the US where the applicant must fill out a table detailing all of
the trips made in the past five years, including date left, date returned and
countries visited. As difficult as this
one sounds, there’s another section requiring that the applicant provides a
complete listing of all organizations or clubs in which he/she has EVER (bold typeface not mine, came from
the form) been a member, anywhere in the world, along with the dates of
membership and club purpose.
Thankfully, such a question is not required as part of the Swiss
application. The “Additional information
about you” section, however, is where the real fun lies. There are 50 questions and sub-questions,
with tables, demanding answers to questions such as whether you’ve EVER associated with a terrorist
organization or the German Nazi party and if you’ve EVER been involved with genocide, torture, killing or, and this
sounds quaint at this point, “trying to hurt a person on purpose”. In order to drill down further on your
character, the form asks if you’ve EVER
been a habitual drunkard, prostitute, drug smuggler or polygamist. My personal favorite, however, is question
#22, which asks if you’ve EVER
committed, assisted in committing or tried to commit a crime or offense but
weren’t caught. This must be one of
those questions where you simply have to say “Yes” because answering “No” tags
you as a bald-faced liar and you get rejected immediately.
The rest of the form is pretty simple and
as proof that the US is, at the moment anyway, still considered a land of great
opportunity, 2015 saw almost three-quarters of a million people successfully
complete this process and solemnly take the oath of allegiance. In case you’re interested, 34,155 of these came from the seven countries on
the Obergroper’s list and are currently, right under our noses, scheming to kill
us.
