Federal Act
on Swiss Citizenship
(Swiss Citizenship Act, SCA)

¹ Any for­eign na­tion­al may ap­ply for sim­pli­fied nat­ur­al­isa­tion fol­low­ing mar­riage to a Swiss cit­izen if he or she:

a.

has lived for three years in mar­it­al uni­on with his or her wife or hus­band; and

b.

has resided for at least five years in Switzer­land, in­clud­ing one year im­me­di­ately pri­or to mak­ing the ap­plic­a­tion.

² Any per­son who lives or has lived abroad may also ap­ply provided he or she:

a.

has lived for six years in mar­it­al uni­on with his or her wife or hus­band; and

b.

has close ties with Switzer­land.

³ A for­eign na­tion­al may also ap­ply for sim­pli­fied nat­ur­al­isa­tion un­der para­graphs 1 or 2 if his or her wife or hus­band ac­quires Swiss cit­izen­ship after their mar­riage through:

a.

re­in­state­ment of cit­izen­ship; or

b.

sim­pli­fied nat­ur­al­isa­tion based on des­cent from a Swiss par­ent.

⁴ The nat­ur­al­ised per­son ac­quires the can­ton­al and com­mun­al cit­izen­ship of his or her Swiss spouse. If the spouse is a cit­izen of two or more can­ton­al or com­munes, the nat­ur­al­ised per­son may de­cide to ac­quire cit­izen­ship of only one can­ton or com­mune.