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SWISS CITIZENSHIP

IN NUMBERS: Where do Switzerland’s dual nationals live?

The share of people in Switzerland who have two passports has grown in the past decade, a new study shows.

IN NUMBERS: Where do Switzerland's dual nationals live?
Nearly a million people in Switzerland have a Swiss passport in addition to a foreign one. Photo by AFP

In 2019 — the most recent year for which official numbers are available —19 percent of permanent residents aged 15 or over had dual nationality, according to a study released last week by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). 

This number equates to nearly a million people out of Switzerland’s population of 8.6 million.

When foreigners gain citizenship of their country of residence while still maintaining the nationality of their place of origin, they become known as ‘dual nationals’.

Both countries consider these people as their citizens and neither regards them as foreigners.

The most obvious benefit of dual citizenship is the ability to live and vote in both countries, without having to give up any rights in either.

READ MORE: IN NUMBERS: How Switzerland’s population is becoming increasingly multilingual 

This is what we know about dual nationals in Switzerland:

Among this population, 65 percent obtained Swiss nationality though naturalisation, while 35 percent obtained it at birth.

More than half — 55 percent — of the country’s dual nationals come from Europe.

The second nationality most represented among the population with two citizenships is Italian (24 percent), followed by French (11 percent) and German nationality (9 percent).

The highest number of dual nationals live in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

Most are in Geneva (45 percent) and Vaud (30 percent); next are Ticino (28 percent), Basel-City (25 percent) and Zurich (23 percent).

READ MORE: How dual citizenship has become easier to obtain in Switzerland 

Foreigners who wanted to become naturalised in Switzerland before 1992, had no choice but to give up their old passport.

Dual citizenship was not legal, which may explain why less than 8,000 foreigners a year were naturalised between 1987 and 1992. 

But in 1992, Switzerland passed a new civil rights law. One of the changes was the recognition of dual citizenship.

Interestingly, even though Switzerland is often slow to change, the country was one of the pioneers in Europe in recognising dual citizenship.

Germany, for example, has only accepted dual citizenship since 1999 and in principle only for citizens of other EU countries or Switzerland

Austria still doesn’t allow dual nationality —apart from special cases. And anyone who wants to become a Liechtenstein citizen must also hand in their old passport.

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For members

SWISS CITIZENSHIP

Do you need permanent residency to become a Swiss citizen?

There are many eligibility criteria to be met before applying for naturalisation. But is living in Switzerland one of them?

Do you need permanent residency to become a Swiss citizen?

If you have gone through the naturalisation procedure — or are planning to do so — you probably know all the requirements you need to fulfil.

There is the language proficiency, successful integration, and yes, length of residency as well.

This implies that you must actually live in Switzerland a certain length of time as a permanent resident before being able to seek citizenship.

This rule also extends to foreign spouses of Swiss citizens, who must live at least five years in the country — including three years before applying for naturalisation. 

What exactly does this mean?

In Switzerland, ‘permanent residence’ for the purpose of naturalisation means that you must have a ‘settlement’ C permit — the highest in Switzerland’s permit hierarchy, and the only one allowing to apply for citizenship.

Most foreigners in Switzerland, especially those coming from the EU or EFTA nations (Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein) ‘worked their way up’ from the B to C permit through residency — typically five years.

In case you come from non-EU / EFTA states (including the UK), then your wait to ‘upgrade’ from a B to a C permit is twice as long — 10 continuous years.

There are, however, some exemptions from these rules.

For instance, Americans and Canadians are on par with their EU/ EFTA counterparts: they can also apply for a C permit after five years of continuous residence on a B permit.

Another exemption to the length-of-residency rules are Switzerland-born foreigners who have lived in the country since birth and are automatically holders of a C permit.

READ ALSO: Why does Switzerland have two kinds of C-permit holders? 

So in that sense, applicants for citizenship must be permanent residents of Switzerland who have a C permit.

But there are some non-residents who can become Swiss citizens as well

This is where the so-called ‘citizenship by ancestry’ kicks in.

You may apply for citizenship via the ancestry route through paternal or maternal descent, regardless of your place of birth and whether you actually live in Switzerland or not.

According to the Swiss Citizenship Act, you are considered Swiss if your parents are married to each other and either of them is a Swiss citizen

You may also apply for facilitated naturalisation if you are the child of a female Swiss citizen, even if your mother is not married to your father.

This process is not automatic, however; you will still have to prove that you have close ties with Switzerland — for instance, through family interactions or regular visits to the country.

If, however, you are the child of a Swiss father not married to your mother, the situation is slightly trickier.

In such as case, you can acquire citizenship at birth (or later) so long as the father’s paternity is established. In this case, too, you will need to prove your close ties with Switzerland.

In all these cases, you don’t have to live in Switzerland at all (or only occasionally) and still apply for a Swiss citizenship.

READ ALSO: The bizarre reasons applicants have been denied Swiss citizenship
 

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