The civil society alliance “Aktion Vierviertel” has submitted the “For a modern citizenship (democracy initiative)” in Bern, Switzerland, after the initiative collected over 104,603 certified signatures out of 135,000 signatures in total.
This means that it is highly likely for the Swiss government to consider discussing the residency period needed for a candidate to obtain Swiss citizenship. The initiative is pushing for foreigners in Switzerland to be eligible for citizenship after five years of residency, regardless of the type of settlement permit they hold, Schengen.News reports.
The democracy initiative received support from several Swiss political parties and organisations, including SP, the Greens, Operation Libero, the Foundation for Direct Democracy, Campax, Unia and HEKS.
These Are the Changes Made to the Federal Constitution
The initiative proposes that for the naturalisation of foreign nationals in Switzerland, the following should apply:
1. Candidates should be legal residents of Switzerland for five years;
2. Candidates should have a clean record, indicating that they have not committed serious offences or were sentenced to long-term prison;
3. Candidates do not represent a threat to the internal or external security of Switzerland;
4. Candidates have basic proficiency in a national language, which includes German, Italian and French.
Over 41,200 People Acquired Swiss Citizenship in 2023
According to the data published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), the total number of acquisition of Swiss citizenship in 2023 was 41,200, 47 per cent of them being men and 52.4 per cent women.
The majority of people who obtained Swiss citizenship in 2023 came from European countries (82.7 per cent), representing a total of 34,100 people – 25,300 of them coming from the EU/EFTA countries.
In addition, 2,500 people who obtained Swiss citizenship last year came from Africa, compared to 1,900 who came from America and 2,500 from Asian countries.
The most popular way of acquiring citizenship was the standard naturalisation, through which a total of 33,900 became Swiss citizens. Through the simplified naturalisation, 7,200 people obtained citizenship in 2023.
Source: https://schengen.news/swiss-organisation-submits-petition-to-reduce-residency-period-for-naturalisation-to-5-years/
