How long does the ordinary naturalisation procedure take?

It is the most frequent question in our calls: how long before you hold your Swiss passport? The answer depends on your commune, on the canton and above all on the quality of your file when you submit it.

The application is first examined by the commune whose citizenship the applicant wishes to acquire. In Geneva, the Geneva Citizenship Act (LDCG) provides that the period between submission and the communal opinion must not exceed 12 months, subject to special cases.

• Once the communal opinion is issued, the OCPM forwards the file to the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), which issues the federal authorisation
• On receipt of the federal authorisation, the OCPM again consults the computerised VOSTRA criminal records register
• After its investigation, the file is forwarded to the Council of State, which rules on the application by decree
• In Geneva, the decree must be issued within one year of the federal authorisation being granted

If this one-year deadline is exceeded, the federal authorisation lapses: a new authorisation must be requested before the Council of State can issue a new decree — costing several months.

Submitting a complete file the first time considerably shortens the procedure. If documents are missing, the applicant is given additional time to complete the file — and that time is added to everything else.

Watch the calendar too: documents provided in support of the application may expire before the end of the procedure if they are ordered too early. Knowing in which order and at what point to order each document makes a real difference.