Did you acquire Swiss citizenship while living abroad? What challenges did you face – and what does the red passport mean to you?

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In my work, I focus on topics that are relevant to Swiss citizens abroad – from political developments in Switzerland and their impact on the diaspora to social, economic, and cultural issues. Before joining SWI swissinfo.ch, I worked as a local journalist for the Aargauer Zeitung. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Multilingual Communication and, as is typically Swiss, completed an apprenticeship as a commercial employee.

Deutsch

Haben Sie das Schweizer Bürgerrecht im Ausland erhalten? Welche Herausforderungen haben Sie erlebt – und welche Bedeutung hat der rote Pass für Sie? Original
Italiano

Avete ottenuto la cittadinanza svizzera mentre vi trovavate all’estero? Quali difficoltà avete dovuto affrontare e che significato ha per voi il passaporto rossocrociato?
Português

Você obteve a cidadania suíça no exterior?

Many Swiss citizens living abroad assume that Swiss citizenship is automatically passed down from one generation to the next.

In principle, this is true. However, there is one important exception: anyone born abroad who holds another nationality alongside Swiss citizenship and fails to meet certain deadlines may lose their Swiss citizenship.

Were you born abroad and did you acquire Swiss citizenship through your parents? Was the process of obtaining a Swiss passport straightforward – or did you face any challenges along the way? We’d love to hear about your experiences and your story.

LynxVegas 2026-09-15 09:50

Technically yes. I'm a Brit living in Switzerland. When I got my lovely red passport, instead of saying welcome to the club, the born-Swiss said I was not a real Swiss, or I bought my passport, or I was a paper Swiss. All correct, but not exactly the reaction I expected. And the born-Swiss still treat me as a foreigner. Somehow inferior to them in every way, even though I'm doing a job most of them could not do, earning a much higher salary.

Rafiq Tschannen 2026-08-19 06:22

Well, two of my children did. One daughter was born in Thailand in 1996. I, the father, am Swiss and the mother Indonesian. Our marriage was not registered yet. The Swiss Embassy said that the child should be Indonesian and the Indonesian Embassy said the child should be Swiss. In fact she was stateless. Facilitated Nationalization to obtain the Swiss nationality took one year. The new consulate in Prishtina, Kosovo, was happy to issue their first Swiss passport. In 2006 our son was born in Jordan. Now both Switzerland and Indonesia granted immediate nationality. Here we just had a controversy with the family name. The first Swiss passport was issued with the mother's family name and the Indonesian passport was issued with the Swiss family name. After showing the Indonesian passport to the Swiss Embassy the passport was amended to the same Swiss family name as the Indonesian passport. All is well that ends well.

Did you acquire Swiss citizenship while living abroad? What challenges did you face – and what does the red passport mean to you?

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