Swiss IV

I believe the biggest hurdle to become a Swiss citizen is the efficiency of my birth country. When I was going head to head with the guy in the Swiss citizenship office, he was adamant when informing me that all EU countries have birth certificates. A certificate that apparently is crucial in the application process.

I refrained from mentioning that Switzerland is not part of EU, and that all cantons have their own rules. Plus that I lived in my home country for many years, and probably know it better than him. Not approriate to mention when I wanna be a citizen I thought.

Was trying to explain to him that I've never seen one, but that we have something similar. Like a paper stating who you are, where you live and where you were born. Not good enough according to the king, it also needs to state who your parents are/were. Not entirely sure why, since mine are no longer, so therefore cannot be questioned, but ok. I have parents, I assure you. Or rather did have.

So through a website I ordered the document available, in English (yes, has to be in German, Italian, French or English or you have to pay yourself for the translation) and it arrived after two working days. For free, no charge. But unfortunately it didn't state the names of my parents.

So I sent a question, again through the website to my home country, asking if they could provide a certificate containing all the requested info. And a day after I got a personal answer, saying sure, we can include your parents, we can provide it in English, we can stamp and sign it. Ha you Swiss!

I bet the stamp and the signature will make ze Swiss squirm with delight! And it is all for free!