Reference letters from Swiss citizens on behalf of naturalisation applicants are a standard requirement in a citizenship procedure. But it appears some Swiss citizens are more equal than others when it comes to who can provide them.
Among the documents that are normally required for the naturalisation application process are character references from people who know the candidate well – friends, neighbours, and co-workers – who could attest to the applicant’s successful integration in Switzerland.
The only requirement is that the people who provide references are Swiss nationals themselves.
READ ALSO: What is the reference letter you might need for Swiss citizenship?
Not ‘real’ Swiss
But this particular requirement is not as straightforward as it seems – at least not in the case of a North Macedonian woman, married to a Swiss citizen for 15 years, who applied for a fast-track naturalisation.
As required, she has submitted, together with her application, references from Swiss citizens who know her, testifying to her integration in Switzerland.
However, as the references were from naturalised citizens with foreign names, SEM sent the letter to the applicant asking that people who are vouching for her should be “Swiss by descent” – in other words, indigenous.
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‘Discriminatory’ method
In response, MP Céline Widmer has asked the Federal Council on September 26th to clarify this situation.
“This approach is incompatible with the values of the Federal Constitution, as it implies that not all Swiss people are equal before the law,” she said. “It also assumes that some people cannot be Swiss by descent because of their name, which is discriminatory.”
“Does the Federal Council believe that the distinction between ‘Swiss by descent’ and ‘Swiss by naturalisation’ leads to two-tier citizenship?, she asked.
So far, Widmer has not received an answer from the Federal Council, and SEM has not provided any clarity either.
SEM’s approach is, not surprisingly, totally legitimate for deputy Pascal Schmid from the right-wing, anti-immigrant Swiss People’s Party.
He said that candidates for citizenship “should obviously not list newly naturalised people as references.”
However, Barbara von Rütte, professor of migration law at the University of Bern, believes that this practice “clearly violates the principle of equal treatment of citizens.”
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What does the law say?
The Swiss Nationality Act clearly distinguishes between acquisition of nationality “by descent” – that is – transmitted at birth if at least one parent is Swiss – and acquisition “by naturalisation.”
However, the law does not establish any difference in rights between Swiss citizens by descent and naturalised ones.
Once nationality is obtained, all Swiss citizens are equal before the law (according to Art. 8 of the Constitution).
The Constitution also expressly prohibits all forms of discrimination, including that based on the method of acquiring nationality.
READ ALSO: Does having a foreign name in Switzerland affect your life?