Referezpersonen

The main application form requires that we provide the names of four Swiss citizens who currently live in Switzerland and who know us well.  Actually, the form asks for at least four, then provides space for four exactly.  To me, the request as worded meant no less than four and the more the merrier so I called the office for clarification, asking if it was okay to provide an extra sheet of paper to accommodate some additional names since we have an abundance of Swiss people who would happily vouch for us.  The guy I spoke with seemed a bit confused by my question, though, and in the end said that they only wanted to see that we knew at least four Swiss people.  Wow, I thought.  We’ve lived here twelve years.  I would hope that we can scrape together at least twelve real live Swiss people who know our names.  I’m sure that the rest of the process won’t be as simple as this.

Das Zivilstandsamt

The Registrar’s office turned out to be in another location, on the other side of town from the immigration office.  It’s a beautiful baroque building just around the corner from the Münster that I’ve probably walked by a thousand times.  Just inside the front door, looking anachronistic in the setting of this grand old building, stood a very modern machine from which I obtained, you guessed it, a waiting number.  Since I arrived just as they opened, I got the day’s first number and had only to wait until the staff was ready.  I was soon called in by a pretty, young woman who asked me to take a seat at a table in a room adorned with several very nice prints of Basel through the centuries.  After ascertaining the reason for my visit, she asked me for my permit, retreated into an adjacent room, then returned twenty minutes later with a yellow sheet of paper with a number of items checked off.  This turned out to be another list of documents we’d need to collect and I could see that we had most of them at home but not the top two.  It turns out that if you were not born in Switzerland you must provide birth certificates issued within the last six months and, if married, the same thing there.  Oohh, I thought, as she explained this to me.  I was born some years ago in a small town in upstate New York that was then still seeking to determine how best to harness electricity.   Computers may have been invented but I was sure there were none actually installed in Ilion, New York at that time.  I think the nice young woman may have sensed my dismay but didn’t let on as she soldiered down the rest of the list before asking if I had any questions.  No, I answered, as I silently considered where to begin while shaking her hand and perfunctorily wishing her a good day.   My negative thoughts soon lifted, though, as I realized that however remote Ilion may have been, or still was, it was sure to be connected to more advanced systems than those to which many other citizenship applicants, in particular those from developing countries, were turning so if they could manage it then I was sure that Ilion wouldn’t let me down.  I relaxed and made a note to contact them as soon as I got home.

Das Einbürgerungsgesuch

Well, we’ve done it.  We’ve taken the first official step in the Naturalization application process.  It wasn’t a big deal really, just a visit to the immigration office (Thursdays only).  No appointment was necessary, nor possible, so we just dropped in, took a number and waited about twenty minutes before being invited into a nice, but sterile office by a pleasant, business like woman in her late-thirties.  After asking us a few quick questions to confirm our eligibility she whisked out a folder of forms and briskly, but efficiently, worked her way through them, high-lighting the documents which we would need to assemble to initiate the process.   It took about fifteen minutes.  She then answered the few questions we had, wished us a nice day and escorted us out so she could move onto the next nice immigrant family sitting anxiously in the waiting room.

On the way home I reviewed the list.  It included nothing surprising or clearly problematic but there was a nested reference sending us to another office, the Zivilstandsamt (Registrar's office), to obtain an extract of information the city had on us.  I wondered what that meant.

The process begins…

It’s been over a year since I last blogged although I did recycle some posts in other media outlets, including a magazine article.  The problem has been primarily a matter of time and believe or not, it takes time to write this schlock.  Remember, I’m not a professional.

That being said, we recently decided that the moment is here to kick off the Swiss citizenship application process and that struck me as a good time to return to the blogosphere.   It should make for some fun and who knows, maybe my observations and digressions will prove helpful to future seekers of the little red booklet.  So, here we go.  Buckle up as we begin the journey during which I’ll bring you inside the process to vicariously experience the thrill, the frustrations, the expense and ultimately, hopefully the satisfaction of achieving fully certified Swissness.    Stay tuned…