I was reading about citizenship laws in Switzerland and there is a Wise (TransferWise) article claiming that US and Canadian citizens can naturalize after only 5 years of residence.

” Americans & Canadians are eligible to apply for Swiss citizenship after only five years of residency, rather than the standard 12 years. ”

Has anybody heard of this? I cannot find it anywhere else.

[https://wise.com/gb/blog/how-to-get-citizenship-in-switzerland](https://wise.com/gb/blog/how-to-get-citizenship-in-switzerland)

4 comments

  1. Canadian and American citizens can apply for a C-permit after 5 years, provided they meet the language requirement. Citizenship is 10 years, I think.

  2. The article is old as it still refers to the 12 years and misleading. For normal naturalization process you need to have lived 10y in Switzerland on a B or C permit. In addition you need to satisfy the Cantonal and Gemeinde requirements that are to have lived continuously between 2 to 5y in the same Gemeinde before application.
    On top there is the language requirement that can be asked before or during the process by knowing at level B1 one or two cantonal languages.

    Use only official sources not random articles online. Here the link for Zurich city. https://www.zh.ch/de/migration-integration/einbuergerung.html

  4. Nope. 10 years (plus 1.5-2 years for the process to conclude), like everybody else. Simplified naturalization is through wedding, but again, no special arrangements for US or Canadian citizen

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