Swiss authorities accused of discrimination in citizenship applications

When applying for Swiss citizenship by naturalisation, the candidate must provide references from locals who attest to their successful integration. But what happens if those references don’t come from the “right” people? That’s the crux of an ongoing case that has seen the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) accused of discrimination. 

Citizenship application rejected because references didn’t have “Swiss-sounding names”

National Councillor Céline Widmer has called on the SEM to respond to accusations that it is adopting a “two-tier citizenship” approach to approving naturalisation applications - that is, distinguishing between references from Swiss citizens based on whether they were born Swiss or naturalised - a practice she described as unacceptable. 

The issue was sparked after the SEM sent a letter to a North Macedonian woman, who has been married to a Swiss man for 15 years, who recently decided to go for a Swiss passport. She completed her application with all the necessary documents, including references from local people who could attest to her successful integration. 

But the people she chose to provide references were, according to the response she received from the SEM, not “Swiss enough” - that is, they were naturalised Swiss citizens who were born abroad and did not have “Swiss-sounding names”. She was asked to provide new references that came from people who were “Swiss citizens by descent”. 

State Secretariat for Migration accused of discrimination

According to Widmer’s letter to the National Council, this is not an isolated case. Indeed it has apparently become a relatively standard practice. She writes: “It has now become known from practice that the SEM explicitly prefers references from "Swiss citizens by descent."”

She adds that this approach “is incompatible with the values of the Federal Constitution, as it implies that not all Swiss citizens are equal before the law. Furthermore, it implies that people with certain names cannot be Swiss by descent, which is discriminatory.” Widmer rightly points out that there are people who are Swiss by descent who have never lived in the alpine nation.

The Federal Council has yet to respond to the letter, 20 Minuten reports, and the SEM refused a request for comment. 

While SVP National Councillor Pascal Schmid told 20 Minuten that “it is obvious” that someone should not list “newly naturalised people as references”, others pointed out that the practice clearly violates the Swiss constitution. The Swiss Nationality Act does not establish any differences in rights between Swiss nationals by descent and naturalised nationals.