Monday, January 2, 2017

Swiss citizenship - Issue #4: Cost

Like everything else here, a Swiss passport doesn’t come inexpensively.   In Basel-Stadt, our cost breakdown would be as follows:
CHF 150      Federal fee (family)
CHF 950      Cantonal fee (family)
CHF 900      Community fee (youth up to 25)
CHF 2,600   Community fee (two adults over 25)
CHF 360      Language test (Lisa and I)
CHF 4,960   Total     

For us, add another CHF 340 for passports.  Although our US passports are still valid, Swiss citizens are required to travel on their Swiss passports when entering or leaving the country (the US has the same law).  This brings our grand total up to CHF 5,300.  A lot of money to be sure but pretty reasonable when one considers what you get for it.  A stable, democratic government in a clean country full of natural beauty and supported by 725 years of rich tradition.  As a point of comparison, the cost for a family like ours to get US citizenship would be USD 1360.  Yes, sounds cheap but keep in mind that this comes with a lifetime tax obligation regardless of where you live.

2 comments:

  1. You have a lovely and informative blog, thank you so much for sharing. Your background is gorgeous! Happy New Year and warm greetings from Montreal, Canada. :)

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  2. You have a lovely and informative blog, thank you so much for sharing. Your background is gorgeous! Happy New Year and warm greetings from Montreal, Canada. :)"adwokat Wrocław"

    ReplyDelete