The Federal Supreme Court in Lausanne has ruled that a man denied Swiss citizenship because of a car accident will be able to reapply. The man, who has lived in Switzerland for over 30 years, was initially rejected on the grounds that the accident left him with a criminal record.
Our story starts in 1994, when the man from Türkiye first moved to Switzerland. He had originally been part of a left-wing political party and had fled the country due to political persecution and being sentenced to prison time by the Turkish government.
In 1996, he and his family were granted asylum in Switzerland. After a few years working in a factory in St. Gallen, he became a waiter in the town of Arth-Goldau in 2007, and today runs the Piazza restaurant with his wife.
Having spent so long in Switzerland, the man told Watson that he eventually asked himself, “Where do I want to die?” At that moment, he decided to finally apply for a Swiss passport.
On the face of it, the man’s application was faultless: various local clubs and associations use his restaurant, he is part of several clubs himself, speaks impeccable German and aced the naturalisation test for Schwyz, one of the strictest in the country.
Unfortunately, local authorities rejected him thanks to an incident in June 2020. When returning from a day trip to the Swiss mountains, the man dozed off behind the wheel and crashed his car. Though no one was injured, the police declared that he was “unfit to drive” and issued him with a two-year probation and a fine of 900 francs.
Under the rules, despite his impeccable efforts to integrate, the man would have to wait three years after the probation period concluded before he could try to naturalise again, meaning he could not apply until 2025. The man appealed, arguing that "it makes no sense to deny naturalisation to foreigners because they've fallen asleep at the wheel, even though this happens to Swiss citizens just as often. Fatigue affects everyone equally."
Despite an administrative court ruling in his favour, cutting the waiting time down to just two years, when he applied again, he was still denied by the authorities. In this case, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) rejected the application based on his criminal record, reinstating the 2025 deadline.
On May 21, the Federal Supreme Court ruled in favour of the man, arguing that the SEM should not have rejected his application. While the department's actions were technically correct, according to their own guidelines, the court argued that they should have taken the substance of the man’s criminal record and his exceptional efforts to naturalise into account in their decision.
The ruling now sets a precedent that holding a criminal record should not be automatic grounds for rejecting Swiss citizenship, with the court arguing that it should only apply in cases where serious offences have been committed.
Speaking to Watson, the man’s lawyer, Elias Studer, said they hope the ruling will mean fewer people are denied Swiss citizenship for strange or arbitrary reasons. The man’s application has now been sent back to the SEM for approval.