Did you lose or gain Swiss citizenship? How did that affect your life?
Until 1953, if a Swiss woman married a foreigner, she automatically lost her Swiss citizenship.
Until 1992, if a Swiss woman married a foreigner, she had to declare to the civil registry office that she wished to retain her nationality. Failure to do so resulted in the loss of her Swiss citizenship, and her children would not be able to become Swiss citizens.
Did you lose or give up Swiss citizenship? Or did you become a Swiss citizen?
What impact has this had on your life?
Tell us your story.
Hi everyone! I have a question pertaining to Swiss Citizenship Reinstatement, and if anyone has had a similar experience going through this process.
Does anyone have experience reinstating their Swiss citizenship AFTER the 10 year deadline without moving to Switzerland for 3 years. My mother is wondering if this is possible. She was born in the US to two Swiss nationals, and unknowingly lost her citizenship in 1991 when she married a US Citizen. She was unaware that she lost her citizenship until sometime in 2010, after the 10 year-reinstatement period passed. The law changed in 1992, allowing women to marry foreign nationals without having their citizenship revoked, so it unfortunate that she missed this by a year. Again, she was unaware that her citizenship was revoked until 2010. She is not in a place currently to move to Switzerland for 3 years to have it reinstated, but would like to regain her citizenship for emotional reasons. Her mother (still living), brother, and sister (deceased) still hold/held their citizenship. Does anyone have a similar experience?
My great-grandparents never lost their nationality, only they never returned to Switzerland.
It is unfortunate that the Swiss state has forgotten its citizens who were refugees from the war in Chile. Moreover, neither their children nor their grandchildren have any benefits today.
Mis bis-abuelos nunca perdieron la nacionalidad,solamente que nunca volvieron a Suiza.
Es lamentable que el estado Suizo se halla olvidado de sus ciudadanos refugiados de la guerra en Chile. Además, ni sus hijos ,ni sus nietos tienen beneficios hoy en día
Good morning from Reno Nevada! I just joined because I was looking for some answers. I am planning on going to Switzerland to visit relatives in March of 2024. I was hoping to reinstate my Swiss citizenship which I let lapse many years ago. I never contacted the consulate that I married in 1979 and change my last name. Since then I have been married again and have 2 grown daughters. I did work in Switzerland in 1973-75 and still have my AHV card . I would love to reinstate my Swiss passport and citizenship under my new name and both my daughters would love to get their dual citizenship also, and maybe it’s possible also for my grandchildren, I have 3 grand sons. Both my parents were from Switzerland and immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1940s and early 1950s. I have been back to visit about 4 times, and have a brother that lives there and a few aunts and cousins that still live there. What must I do to reinstate my dual citizenship with Switzerland? I appreciate your help! Sincerely , Cindy
Hello and thank you for your comment.
Was your brother also born in the USA and does he still have Swiss citizenship?
The best place to find out is the Swiss consulate responsible for your region.
Christiane Humbert-Grossrieder's naturalization was successful, but not that of her children:
[url]https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-citizenship--discrimination-against-women-continues/48504854[/url]
Guten Tag und vielen Dank für Ihren Kommentar.
Ist ihr Bruder auch in den USA geboren und besitzt er die Schweizer Staatsbürgerschaft bis heute?
Am besten informieren Sie sich beim Schweizer Konsulat, das für Ihre Region zuständig ist.
Bei Christiane Humbert-Grossrieder hat es mit der Wiedereinbürgerung geklappt, nicht aber für ihre Kinder:
[url]https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-citizenship--discrimination-against-women-continues/48504854[/url]
Hi Cindy, do you have any updates?
I moved to New York in 1989 and have renewed my passport twice at the Consulate in New York.
In 2017 I went to the same. Consulate in New York City wanting to renew my expired Swiss passport. I handed my passport to the person at the counter and after a little while I was told that there is no information about my person and I need. To provide with an alternative ID. I then conversed in perfect. Zuridutsch with another representative of the Consulate trying to understand why my expired Swiss passport doesn’t count and how it is possible that all information about my person this very Consulate has accumulated since the mid 1990 has disappeared.
They insisted to see another ID such as a US passport. After a few more appointments spanning a few moths I obtained my birth certificate from Zurich Switzerland, but that was not sufficient I was told. Required was an additional testament on my person by my Lawyer.
So I decided here and then from inside the Consulate to call my Atterney in Zurich, as I started to explain my predicament to my Attorney the Consulate employee signed me to stop the phone call, then she went on telling me the Consulate is prepared to issue me with a new Passport.
I don’t know what made them to change their mind but I am a Swiss citizen again having been Statless for a couple of years.
This sounds like an adventurous story, luckily with a happy ending!
Das klingt nach einer abenteuerlichen Geschichte, zum Glück mit einem Happy End!
A l'époque (1980), si une femme Suisse a retenu sa nationalité Suisse au temps de recevoir une autre nationalité elle était obligée de voyager en Suisse avec son mari étranger pour obtenir un permis de résidence pour celui-ci, en plus l'enfant devait être né/née en Suisse pour obtenir la nationalité Suisse. Cela était une grand injustice car les femmes qui résidaient très loin de la Suisse ou celles qui n'ont pas eu les moyens financiers de se rendre deux fois en Suisse pour des périodes étendues n'ont pas eu la chance de donner la nationalité Suisse à leurs enfants. Pendant que les enfants des hommes Suisses mariés avec des femmes étrangères résidants n'importe oú dans le monde ont automatiquement reçu la nationalité Suisse.
Heureusement cela a maintenant enfin été changé!
I came to Switzerland 20 years ago for my then-boyfriend-and-now-husband. At first I didn't think about applying for Swiss nationality as I thought it would complicate my life if I wanted to go visit my family back in Shanghai, China. 6 years into our marriage and after the episode of then Swiss President Moritz Leuenberger went to Libya for the Swiss hostages, my in-law parents convinced me to finally make the move.
It was comparatively easy for me. In the spring of the year I made the application, I hand-wrote a motivation/self-intro lettre in French, included my CV, all my diplomas, certificates, and papers, and sent everything to our cantonal migration office. A couple months later I was summoned to the local police office for an interview. Then my friends/references (who happen to be in different cantons, which also helped) got to write lettres to sing praises of me. By the end of the autumn, I already received the affirmative reply to my application.
However, the day I was granted the Swiss nationality, I also lost my Chinese nationality, as China doesn't accept double-nationality. Since then I applied for Chinese visa only once, except for my family and a few friends, I don't miss China very much. I prefer the free air here than there.
Before obtaining Swiss passport, travelling was much more difficult as I had to apply for a visa wherever I wanted to go. I still remember staying in the queue in a cold winter morning for an interview in front of the US embassy, or in a hot summer afternoon in the waiting room of the Italian consulate, or, answering all kinds of hard questions on my private life raised by suspicious embassy/consulate agents. Oh, I would never forget either the hostility I felt when I, the only one holding a Chinese passport among people with European passports, was singled out for a body search by a ground personnel in Heathrow. I would say, my life became easier after becoming a Swiss.
Thank you for the insight into your story.
Vielen Dank für den Einblick in Ihre Geschichte.
Bonjour à tous suisse de nationalité je vis en France depuis 1983 ma femme est française mes enfants sont Suisse et français , je pensais que j'aurais la nationalité française que nenni je dois aller a l'école pour apprendre le français mdr école en suisse université populaire pour apprendre le français aux étrangers et ben non recalé aller comprendre il est normal que la Suisse reste comme ceci les français veulent tout mais rien en échange alors pas de cadeaux pour eux bonne soirée à vous
Bonjour à tous suisse de nationalité je vis en France depuis 1983 ma femme est française mes enfants sont Suisse et français , je pensais que j’aurais la nationalité française que nenni je dois aller a l’école pour apprendre le français mdr école en suisse université populaire pour apprendre le français aux étrangers et ben non recalé aller comprendre il est normal que la Suisse reste comme ceci les français veulent tout mais rien en échange alors pas de cadeaux pour eux bonne soirée à vous
Hello,
I was born in 1948 to a French father and a Swiss mother, but French by marriage and having lost her Swiss citizenship! I lived in Nice for 6 years, then my parents divorced and my mother and sister moved back to Switzerland. My mother had to reapply for her Swiss nationality, and the children were allowed to remain French with a C permit, with the possibility of opting for one or the other nationality at the age of 20. At the time, military service still existed, and boys had to serve in the army on one side or the other.
Every 3 years we had to report to the French Consulate in Geneva, but I hated it because the officials were very unpleasant (very different from now) and I always felt guilty.
I kept up the feeling of belonging to my Gallic ancestors because of the poor reception at the Swiss elementary school, which on my arrival from France refused to put me in a class corresponding to my abilities, I could already read and write then, having attended public school at the age of 4.
I was so bored in class for 2 months that my mother, alerted by my conduct in class, decided to send me to the French public school in Ferney-Voltaire!
I did all my schooling in neighboring France, then in Switzerland (private international or French school) in Geneva until I passed the French baccalaureate, and at the age of 20 I decided to stay French.
After a year of biology at the University of Geneva, I decided to study medicine, but once again I was prevented from doing so by the faculty, which arbitrarily imposed a mark of 4.5 on all the propaedeutic exams (sic).
I refused, decided to apply for facilitated naturalization (thanks to my mother, who had regained her Swiss nationality after our return) and, after acquiring Italian as my 2nd language in a few months, took a supplementary Maturité fédérale.
Up until then, from the experience of "Switzerland to Lausanne", I'd felt a little more Swiss thanks to my acquisition, to pass the Maturité fédérale de notion l'histoire suisse, of which I've come to be unconditionally proud.
Since then, I've had dual nationality and two passports. I stayed in Switzerland and worked until I retired, but since the age of 21 I've had a second home in France.
Thanks to my 2 passports, I still have my Swiss pride and above all my French culture.
True double luck....
Avrilenavril
Bonjour,
Je suis née en 1948 de père français et de mère suisse mais française par mariage et ayant perdu sa citoyenneté suisse! J'ai vécu 6 ans à Nice et mes parents ont divorcé et retour avec ma mère et soeur en Suisse. Ma mère a du redemander sa nationalité suisse, et aux enfants de rester françaises, munies d'une permis C, avec la possibilité de opter pour une ou l'autre nationalité à 20 ans. A l'époque le service militaire existait encore et les garçons devaient servir à l'armée d'un côté ou l'autre.
Tous les 3 ans nous devions aller pointer au Consulat de France de Genève mais je détestais cela car les fonctionnaires étaient très désagréables (très différents de maintenant) et je me sentais toujours coupable.
J'ai entretenu l'appartenance à mes ancêtres gaulois à cause du mauvais accueil à l'école primaire suisse, qui à mon arrivée de France a refusé de me mettre dans une classe correspondant à mes capacités, je pouvais alors déjà lire et écrire, ayant fréquenté l'école publique à 4 ans.
Je me suis tellement ennuyée en classe pendant 2 mois avant que ma mère alertée par mes notes de conduite en classe, décide de m'envoye suivre l'école publique française de Ferney-Voltaire!
Je fais toute ma scolarité en France voisine puis en Suisse (école privée internationale ou française) à Genève jusqu'au baccalauréat français et à 20 ans je décide de rester française.
Après une année de biologie à l'université de Genève je décide de ma lancer en étude de médecine mais à nouveau obstacle de la faculté qui m'impose arbitrairement une note de 4,5 à tous les examens propédeutiques (sic).
Je refuse, décide de demander ma naturalisation facilitée (par ma mère qui avait retrouvé sa nationalité suisse après notre retour) et je passe après acquisition en quelques mois de l'italien en 2è langue, un complément de Maturité fédérale.
Jusqu'alors, du vécu de "Suisse jusqu'à Lausanne", je me suis sentie un peu plus Helvétique grâce à mon acquisition, pour passer la Maturité fédérale de notion l'histoire suisse, dont je suis venue inconditionnellement fière.
Depuis j'ai une double nationalité et deux passeports. Je suis restée en Suisse, fait carrière jusqu'à ma retraite, mais j''ai depuis l'âge de 21 ans un maison secondaire en France
De cette époque, je garde ma fierté suisse et surtout ma culture française!, et ceci grâce à mes 2 passeports.
Vrai double chance....
Avrilenavril
Thank you for your interesting story!
Vielen Dank für Ihre interessante Geschichte!
In Switzerland, everything can be bought. So I bought a Swiss passport. For my Swiss colleagues at work, this doesn't change a thing, and I'm still as much of a foreigner as I was before. On a personal level, knowing that I can no longer be expelled from the country for running a red light brings me a certain comfort.
En Suisse, tout s’achète. J’ai donc acheté un passeport suisse. Pour mes collègues de travail suisses, cela ne change strictement rien, et je demeure aussi étranger qu’avant. Sur le plan personnel, savoir que je ne peux plus être expulsé du pays pour brûler un feu rouge m’apporte un certain réconfort.
Nonsense!
N’importe quoi !
When I became Swiss, a Swiss colleague, rather than say well done, said I was not a real Swiss, but a paper one. The only time I've needed to show my ID in Switzerland is in some foreigner unfriendly bars and clubs, when the doorman said I could not come in as I was not Swiss. It takes years to get citizenship, but the Swiss are not happy when you do.
Fortunately, not all Swiss are like that, dear Lynx.
Zum Glück sind nicht alle Schweizer:innen so, lieber Lynx.
My grandfather and grandmother (both Swiss) announced my father to the embassy but he was never registered in the Swiss records. Therefore he lost his Swiss citizenship due to expiration because living in the country he did not know anything about the Swiss laws. I spoke to the embassy telling them that it was announced but they ask for the note sent by my grandparents who are now deceased, 50 years ago. My father then has two options: somehow find the note (making it accessible to me) or get it back after 3 years living in Switzerland (making it impossible for me to access). It is too sad the situation, I know many Swiss from Argentina who are in the same situation. The citizenship law of 2006 has to come back!
Mi abuelo y mi abuela (ambos suizos) anuncíaron a mi padre ante la embajada pero el nunca fue anotado en los registros de suiza. Por lo tanto perdío la ciudadanía suiza por caducidad porque al vivir en el campo no sabía nada de las leyes de suiza. Hable con la embajada diciendoles que fue anunciado pero me piden la nota que enviaron mis abuelos ya difuntos, hace 50 años. Mi padre entonces tiene dos opciones: de alguna manera encontrar la nota (haciendo que yo pueda acceder) o recuperarla luego de 3 años viviendo en suiza (haciendo imposible que yo pueda acceder). Es demasiado triste la situación, conozco muchos suizos de Argentina que se encuentran igual. Tiene que volver la ley de ciudadania de 2006!
Good day
I am very sorry to hear that you do not have access to Swiss citizenship. I assume the letter is untraceable?
Guten Tag
Es tut mir sehr leid, zu hören, dass Sie keinen Zugang haben zum Schweizer Bürgerrecht. Ich nehme an, der Brief ist unauffindbar?
I LOST A CITIZENSHIP THAT I NEVER HAD: My story is curious. I am the son of a Swiss mother who married a Polish citizen around 1947. I was born in 1950, in Brazil, and, at that time, Swiss law determined that the children of Swiss women married to foreigners were not entitled to Swiss citizenship. In 1964, my mother decided to return to Zurich and took me with her. Since I was not Swiss, I received the Niederlassung C. Later, when the population voted for equal rights for men and women, the law that denied me the right to Swiss citizenship was changed. I thought that I would now be recognized as Swiss, but no. The new citizenship law that was passed was not. The new citizenship law, passed I can no longer remember when, provided that the right to retroactive citizenship would only benefit people born after 1952. The new law, therefore, excluded me. I lived part of my adolescence and early youth in Zurich. I spoke Swiss German and have, to this day, many friends and family in that city. I returned to Brazil in 1973, that is, after being domiciled in Switzerland for nine years. If I had stayed one year longer, I could have applied for citizenship, but life took me back to Brazil before that. I returned to Switzerland in 1977, when I started working for Swiss Radio International. I lived in Bern for about 5 years. I came back to Brazil again, but continued working for the Swiss Red Cross, doing periodic missions in Mozambique. I feel half Brazilian, half Swiss, but the fact is that, after all this, when I go to Switzerland, I am just a tourist. I haven't accumulated any rights. I was and am a Swiss without citizenship. I would even like to know what my situation is, if I apply for citizenship now. If someone can recommend a specialist, I would appreciate it.
PERDI UMA CIDADANIA QUE NUNCA TIVE: Minha história é curiosa. Sou filho de uma mãe suíça que se casou com um cidadão polonês por volta de 1947. Eu nasci em 1950, no Brasil. e, naquela época, a lei suíça determinava que filhos de mulheres suíças casadas com estrangeiros não teriam direito à cidadania helvética. Em 1964, minha mãe decidiu voltar a Zurich e me levou com ela. Como não era suíço, recebi o Niederlassung C. Mais tarde, quando a população votou a favor de direitos iguais para homens e mulheres, a lei que me negava o direito à cidadania suíça foi alterada. Pensei que passaria a ser reconhecido como suíço, mas não. A nova lei da cidadania, aprovada não me lembro mais quando, determinava que o direito à cidadania retroativa só beneficiaria pessoas nascidas a partir de 1952. A nova lei, portanto, me excluía. Vivi parte da minha adolescência e o início de minha juventude em Zurich. Falou suíço-alemão e tenho, até hoje muitos amigos e família naquela cidade. Voltei ao Brasil em 1973, ou seja, após estar domiciliado na Suíça por nove anos. Se permanecesse um ano a mais, poderia ter solicitado a cidadania, mas a vida me levou de volta ao Brasil antes disso. Voltei à Suíça em 1977, quando comecei a trabalhar para a Rádio Suíça Internacional. Residi em Berna por aproximadamente 5 anos. Voltei novamente ao Brasil, mas continuei trabalhando para a Cruz Vermelha Suíça, realizando missões periódicas em Moçambique. Me sinto meio brasileiro, meio suíço, mas fato é que, depois de tudo isso, quando vou à Suíça, não passo de um turista. Não acumulei nenhum tipo de direito. Fui e sou um suíço sem cidadania. Gostaria até se saber qual é minha situação, caso solicite, agora a cidadania. Se alguém puder me recomendar um especialista, eu agradeço.
Good day Jax Black
Thank you very much for your comments. I was particularly pleased to read that you once worked for Swiss Radio International - the predecessor of SWI swissinfo.ch.
I guess I can only refer you to the [url=https://www.eda.admin.ch/countries/brazil/de/home/vertretungen/botschaft.html]Swiss Consulate in Brazil[/url] or to the[url=https://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/de/home/integration-einbuergerung/schweizer-werden.html] State Secretariat for Migration[/url]. Keep us posted on what information you receive.
Guten Tag Jax Schwarz
Vielen Dank für Ihre Ausführungen. Besonders gefreut hat mich zu lesen, dass Sie mal für Swiss Radio International gearbeitet haben - den Vorgänger von SWI swissinfo.ch.
Ich kann Sie für Ihre Frage wohl nur an das [url=https://www.eda.admin.ch/countries/brazil/de/home/vertretungen/botschaft.html]Schweizer Konsulat in Brasilien[/url] oder an das[url=https://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/de/home/integration-einbuergerung/schweizer-werden.html] Staatssekretariat für Migration[/url] verweisen. Halten Sie uns auf dem Laufenden, welche Informationen Sie erhalten.
There are still states today that oblige their citizens by law to work for the state, its interests and thus against other states. It's better not to name names on the web if you don't want to get into more trouble. And if someone does not do what the state wants, then the relatives of the person are disadvantaged as a punishment, possibly excluded or taken into clan custody and so the person is "motivated" to do everything for the state.
If now a country like Switzerland naturalizes persons from such a country and the person was not officially expatriated there, then Switzerland has citizens which must work against Switzerland! Such regulations can introduce some countries also fast under the hand. It is therefore understandable if some countries are very careful with dual citizenship, look carefully from which country someone comes and you lose the citizenship as soon as you get the citizenship of another country.
Es gibt heute noch Staat(en) die per Gesetz ihre Bürgerinnen und Bürger verpflichten für den Staat, seine Interessen und somit gegen andere Staaten zu arbeiten. Namen nennt man im Netz besser keine wenn man nicht noch mehr Ärger haben möchte. Und wenn jemand nicht das tut was der Staat sich wünscht dann werden zur Strafe die Verwandten der Person benachteiligt, gegebenenfalls ausgegrenzt oder in Sippenhaft genommen und so die Person "motiviert" für den Staat alles zu tun.
Wenn nun ein Land wie die Schweiz Personen aus solch einem Land einbürgert und die Person dort nicht offiziell ausgebürgert wurde, so hat die Schweiz Bürger welche gegen die Schweiz arbeiten müssen! Solche Regelungen können manche Länder auch rasch unter der Hand einführen. Es ist daher verständlich wenn manche Länder mit doppelten Staatsbürgerschaften sehr vorsichtig sind, genau hinschauen aus welchem Land jemand kommt und man das Bürgerrecht verliert sobald man von einem anderen Land das Bürgerrecht erhält.
Do you have to be informed by the state/community when you are expatriated or can they do it secretly?
Muss man vom Staat/Gemeinde informiert werden wenn man ausgebürgert wurde oder können die das auch heimlich tun?
What do you mean?
Wie meinen Sie das?
My mother - a Swiss Citizen married my non-Swiss father in 1949. Lost her citizenship, and regained it.
When "equality" was proclaimed and Swiss women's were given the right to have their family members become Swiss, there was just one "small" difference for Swiss women: their children, if born before 1.1.1953 were excluded.
My father became a Swiss citizen automatically.
My brothers became Swiss citizens automatically.
My brothers wives became Swiss citizens automatically.
My brothers' children - became Swiss citizens automatically.
All the children of my mother's Swiss female cousins who married Swiss citizens are Swiss citizens - regardless of when they were born.
The children of my mother's male cousins - some of whom married non-Swiss citizens, are Swiss citizens, regardless of when they were born.
I am not. Because the correction of the Swiss law discriminating against women was only partial. I was born a month before the cutoff of point - and did not become a Swiss citizen automatically. I have to prove myself worthy of the right, taken from my mother when inequality was the rule in Switzerland.
I am very sorry about that.
Das tut mir sehr leid.
i was born in Botswana and my parents in a moment of madness moved to South Africa where i was forced to fight in the bush war. later i tried to get a Botswana passport but was declined . luckily i am Swiss by virtue of marriage .what a relief SA us a veautiful country but is going downhill fast.
Viva Suisse Viva
I am swiss and back to switzerland with one of my daughter and 3 children. My daughter is considered an immigrant because she was not declared to the swiss embassy for war reasons, today we only want her to have a B or C permit but here in the canton of vaud it is like asking for leaves from the federal bank? However, foreigners from up to coal want to be given permission? Comme suisse je me sent traisionados
Soy suiso y de regreso a suisa con unas de mis hija y 3 niños MI hija esta considerada imigrante Porque no fue declarada a la embajada suisa por razones de Guerra hoy solo queremos que tenga un permiso B o C pero Aqui canton de vaud es como pedir Las leaves del Banco federal ?? Sin embargo estrangeros de hasta coal quiera planeta se le de permiso ?? Comme suisse je me sent traisionados
If your daughter is between 25 and 35 years old, she can still apply for reinstatement. If this deadline has already passed, she still has the possibility of regaining Swiss citizenship if she decides to live in Switzerland (which seems to be the case) and if she has been living there for at least three years. Ask the competent cantonal authority for more information. You can also learn more by reading [url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/passeport-suisse--les-%C3%A9chos-d-une-vieille-injustice/48495010]THIS ARTICLE[/url].
Si votre fille a entre 25 et 35 ans, elle peut encore déposer une demande de réintégration. Si ce délai est déjà passé, elle a encore la possibilité de récupérer la nationalité suisse si elle décide de vivre en Suisse (ce qui semble être le cas) et qu'elle y réside depuis au moins trois ans. Renseignez-vous auprès de l'autorité cantonale compétente. Vous en apprendrez également plus en lisant [url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/passeport-suisse--les-%C3%A9chos-d-une-vieille-injustice/48495010]CET ARTICLE[/url].
I'm new to all this 'obtaining another citizenship' ... but it strikes me that one should NEVER lose their first citizenship UNLESS one makes a request to give it up!
It wasn't always so that one needed to be a citizen.
If one was born in a Commonwealth country you were automatically a British Citizen... until they changed some ruling... I"m not 100% sure of all this to be honest, but my point is... Governments change the rules without putting it to the vote.. that is not fair...
Wasn't it at one stage that some countries didn't even have this citizenship thing until after WWI? So to me it is a political and economic thing... but often treated as a 'jump through these hoops'..
Recently a politician in Basel Stadt was commenting about the language level for obtaining citizenship; fair enough on one level.. but it struck me that there are people living in Switzerland without citizenship and yet own land/houses/businesses and do not speak anything but English... or the Sprache of the area they live in.. so why are people that want to vote and live here and speak the required language, given such a hard time?
I realise it is a difficult situation... and sometimes hard to debate..
However, there are many countries that do not accept dual nationality and therefore require the renunciation of one of them when the situation arises.
Il existe pourtant de nombreux pays qui n'acceptent pas la double-nationalité et demandent donc de renoncer à l'une d'entre elles lorsque la situation se présente.
I have heard about this, very little but heard about it...
On one hand I can understand it... but it is not across the world and that is what makes it interesting when one ponders on the concept of 'globalisation'...
However, back to the point... I still think that your country of birth should not, at the very least, be able to 'totally' cut you off and I say this because in these days there could be a situation where one has to return to their 'homeland'... and to me it should be easy...
But once again.. we see the use of politics and economy to control Human Beings on this planet...
Let's face it: in one commonwealth country it is illegal for a Politician to hold two citizenships... and yet when this was exposed, people didn't even know they had two? So how can this happen in this modern world... Someone is not doing a good job or caring enough with the people they have under their watch..
Because people you are speaking of are very rich, owning a land as non resident is extremely expensive. Others who follow the rules, do integrate.
I lived with my English boyfriend in Zurich. In 1983 we got married in London. Only by chance I learned that I wanted to keep my Swiss citizenship in writing within a short time in the Swiss embassy. Otherwise I would have become stateless! When we returned to Zurich we were informed that my husband was now the "head" of the family and if we wanted to change canton and he was a foreigner, we needed a permit. Also " the foreigner has to carry the identity card always on him". It seemed to me like at that time for blacks in South Africa! I was so piqued that we decided to leave Switzerland. We now live in New Zealand, the first country with women's suffrage...
Ich wohnte mit meinem Englischen Freund in Zürich. 1983 heirateten wir in London. Nur durch Zufall erfuhr ich dass ich innert kurzer Zeit in der Schweizer Botschaft schriftlich meine Schweizer Staatbürgerschaft bahalten wollte. Ich wäre sonst staatenlos geworden! Als wir nach Zürich zurückkehrten wurde uns dann mitgeteilt dass mein Mann, nun "Obehaupt" der Familie ist und wir wenn wir Kanton wechseln wollten und er Ausländer war, eine Bewilligung brauchten. Auch " hat der Ausländer den Ausweis stehts an sich zu tragen". Es kam mir vor wie dazumal für Schwarze in Südafrika! Ich war dermassen pikiert dass wir uns entschlossen die Schweiz zu verlassen. Wir leben nun seitdem in Neuseeland, notabene das erste Land mit dem Frauenstimmrecht...
Dear Mrs. Jones, today one can hardly imagine that this was possible even in the 80s!
And by the way: Conversely, the English wife of a Swiss husband would have automatically received Swiss citizenship.
Liebe Frau Jones, heute kann man sich das kaum mehr vorstellen, dass dies sogar noch in den 80er-Jahre möglich war!
Und übrigens: Umgekehrt hätte die englische Ehefrau von einem Schweizer Mann automatisch das Schweizer Bürgerrecht erhalten.
Ah, nationalities... I (Swiss) had a daughter born in Thailand with my Indonesian partner. The Swiss Embassy said she should be Indonesian and the Indonesian Embassy said she should be Swiss. To my great surprise therefore she ended up stateless. Through good relations with the Indonesian Embassy she was entered on the mother's passport, however, this did not entitle her for her own Indonesian passport. Well, it took more than one year to get the Swiss 'naturalization' process and then finally she had her own Swiss passport. Incidentally the Swiss consulate in Pristina, Kosovo, was happy to issue their first Swiss passport to her. Later on the Indonesians changed their law and she could get an Indonesian passport too, which she lost again at age 18. Ah, yes, we need to study this subject when living internationally...
This sounds really very complicated! Why did your daughter lose the Indonesian passport again at 18?
Das klingt wirklich sehr kompliziert! Wieso hat Ihre Tochter den indonesischen Pass mit 18 wieder verloren?
The Indonesians wanted you to decide at the age of 18 which passport you wanted to keep. Since my daughter did not want to lose the Swiss passport, she had to hand over the Indonesian one.
Die Indonesier wollten, dass man sich im Alter von 18 Jahren entscheidet, welchen Pass man behalten will. Da meine Tochter den Schweizer Pass nicht verlieren wollte, musste sie den indonesischen abgeben.
Is it because Indonesia does not accept dual nationality? Many countries in the world are in this case.
Est-ce parce que l'Indonésie n'accepte pas la double-nationalité? Plusieurs pays dans le monde sont dans ce cas-là.
Ah, yes, we need to study this subject when living internationally... wise words which any person who came here from 3rd country not as a refugee but worked his ass to be here, knows all about these paper problems. It is amazing to us how 1st world citizens from birth just assume they will be taken care off anywhere.
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