Swiss citizenship through a parent

Who qualifies

• Likely SwissA Swiss mother or father, married to each otherYou’re Swiss from birth, wherever you were born. Since July 1, 1985 this has applied to Swiss mothers married to non-Swiss fathers too.
• Likely SwissA Swiss mother who wasn’t married to your fatherYou’re Swiss from birth.
• Likely SwissA Swiss father not married to your mother, and you were born on or after January 1, 2006You become Swiss once he legally recognizes you as his child, or a court rules he’s your father, before you turn 18.
• Can applyBorn before July 1, 1985 to a Swiss mother married to a non-Swiss fatherYou may not have become Swiss at birth. You can apply for simplified naturalization if you have close ties to Switzerland.
• Can applyBorn before January 1, 2006 to a Swiss father not married to your motherIf he recognized you before you turned 18, you can apply for simplified naturalization if you have close ties to Switzerland. If your parents later married, you may already be Swiss.
• Usually notOnly a Swiss grandparent or earlier ancestorThere’s no route through grandparents. What counts is whether your parent was Swiss when you were born.

The age 25 rule

If you were born outside Switzerland to a Swiss parent and you also have another citizenship, you lose Swiss citizenship automatically on your 25th birthday. That doesn’t happen if, before then:

• your birth was reported to a Swiss authority, in Switzerland or abroad, such as a Swiss embassy or consulate, or
• you declared in writing that you want to stay Swiss.

Reports made by your parents, relatives or others count. The law gives examples: getting you entered in Swiss registers, registering you with a Swiss embassy or consulate, or getting you a Swiss passport or ID card. So if your parents registered your birth with a Swiss consulate when you were small, you’re covered.

If you lose it, your own children lose it too.

Before 2018 the age limit was 22, according to a report by SWI swissinfo.ch in May 2017. The law that applies is the one in force at the time, so if you turned 22 before January 1, 2018 without being reported, you most likely lost it then.

Not sure whether your birth was reported? Ask the civil registry office at your family’s place of origin, or the Swiss embassy.

Simplified naturalization for some children of Swiss parents

Some children of Swiss parents didn’t become Swiss at birth, but can apply for “simplified naturalization”. It’s a shorter process decided by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM). It’s open to you if you were born:

• before July 1, 1985 to a Swiss mother married to a non-Swiss father. Your mother must have been Swiss before or when you were born. It doesn’t work if, before you were born, she had given up Swiss citizenship or lost it under the age limit for people born abroad.
• before January 1, 2006 to a Swiss father not married to your mother, who recognized you before you turned 18.

If you live abroad, you need “close ties” with Switzerland. That means:

• at least 3 stays in Switzerland of at least 5 days each in the last 6 years
• being able to get by in a Swiss national language: German, French, Italian or Romansh
• basic knowledge of Swiss geography, history, politics and society
• contact with Swiss citizens, and people living in Switzerland who can confirm all this

You apply through the Swiss embassy or consulate general that covers where you live. You pay in advance, and the fee usually isn’t refunded if you’re turned down. Through a US office it costs CHF 600 (US$750) for an adult. Children under 18 included in a parent’s application pay nothing. You’re interviewed in person, usually in a Swiss national language. The embassy usually reports to the SEM within 12 months, and the SEM usually decides within 12 months of that.

If you live in Switzerland, you need to be well integrated instead, including speaking a national language at level B1 and writing it at A2.

Getting Swiss citizenship back

If you lost Swiss citizenship, including at 25, you can apply to get it back. This is called “reinstatement”.

• Within 10 years of losing it: you can apply from abroad, if you have the same close ties to Switzerland as above.
• After 10 years: you can only apply once you’ve lived in Switzerland for 3 years.

The process and fees are the same as for simplified naturalization: CHF 600 (US$750) for an adult through a US office. Swiss women who lost citizenship by marrying a foreign national before 1992 can also apply.

If your parent lost Swiss citizenship before you were born, you didn’t inherit it. There’s no simplified route for you, but your parent may be able to get theirs back, and children under 18 can be included in a parent’s application.

Swiss grandparents and earlier ancestors

Swiss citizenship passes from parent to child. A Swiss grandparent alone doesn’t make you Swiss. What matters is whether your parent was Swiss when you were born.

So if your Swiss grandparent’s child (your parent) was Swiss when you were born, you may be Swiss too: follow the rules above. But if your parent was born abroad and lost Swiss citizenship at 25 (or 22) before you were born, you didn’t inherit it, and there’s no descent route for you.

A route for some grandchildren of Swiss mothers closed on December 31, 2017, when the current law replaced the old one, according to the same 2017 report by SWI swissinfo.ch.

Your place of origin and the family register

Every Swiss citizen is also a citizen of a commune (a municipality) and a canton. That commune is your “place of origin” (Heimatort in German, lieu d’origine in French). It’s where your family’s citizenship comes from, not where you were born or live. Swiss passports and ID cards show the place of origin instead of the place of birth. A child takes the place of origin of their Swiss parent.

For generations, each commune kept a family register of its citizens. Births, marriages and deaths abroad were added once they were reported. Since 2005 Switzerland has recorded all of these events in one electronic register, called Infostar, which replaced the family register. The old paper registers are kept, and extracts can still be issued.

To find your family’s record:

• Look at your Swiss parent’s passport or ID card, which shows the place of origin.
• Ask the civil registry office (Zivilstandsamt, or état civil) at the place of origin for a family certificate or an individual civil status certificate. In Switzerland a certificate costs CHF 30 plus postage, and family certificates cost more. You can also order through the Swiss embassy for an extra fee: allow at least 30 working days.
• Don’t know the place of origin? Start with the civil registry office where your ancestor was born, married or died. Civil registration began in 1876. Earlier events are in church registers, many of them held by cantonal archives.

For more help with older records, see finding your ancestor’s records.

How to claim it from the US

1. Check what’s on recordFind your Swiss parent’s passport or ID card and their place of origin. If your birth was reported, you’re already in the Swiss civil register.
2. Register your birth, if it isn’t recordedThrough the Swiss embassy in Washington or the consulate general that covers your state, using its online desk. Upload copies first, then send the originals when asked. Registering a birth is free.
3. Register as a Swiss citizen living abroadSwiss citizens who live abroad, and aren’t registered with a commune in Switzerland, must register with their Swiss embassy or consulate. You do this through the same online desk.
4. Apply for a Swiss passportSee below. If you were born abroad and are under 25, these steps also protect you from the age 25 rule.

Getting a Swiss passport from abroad

You apply online, then give your fingerprints and photo at the Swiss embassy or consulate general where you’re registered. You can ask for a different place, such as another Swiss embassy or a passport office in Switzerland. A standard passport can only be issued once your birth is in the Swiss civil register. The official delivery time abroad is 30 days.

Passports last 10 years for adults and 5 years for under-18s. Fees at US offices from April 1, 2026, including postage:

• Adult passport: CHF 149 (US$187)
• Child’s passport: CHF 69 (US$87)
• Adult passport and ID card together: CHF 166 (US$209)

In Switzerland an adult passport costs CHF 140, plus postage.

Documents

To register a birth in the US, the Swiss embassy asks for:

• A certified copy of your full birth certificate, from the state’s vital records office, showing the city where you were born and both parents’ full names, including your mother’s maiden name. It must be no more than 6 months old.
• A copy of your passport, if you have one
• Proof your parent is Swiss, such as their Swiss passport or ID card
• If your parents weren’t married: the certified acknowledgment of paternity or court decision, a sworn statement (affidavit) on residence and marital status, and the other parent’s certified birth certificate and passport copy

Notarized copies, hospital records and church records aren’t accepted. The embassy has US documents translated and legalized itself, and its instructions don’t ask for an apostille. Ask the embassy for its full list before you send anything.

For US, UK and Irish certificates, see where to order certificates.

Military service

Switzerland has compulsory military service for men. If you live abroad, you don’t have to attend recruitment or serve in peacetime, though you can volunteer. If you move to Switzerland for good, you may have to serve, depending on your age. Dual citizens who have done military service in their other country are exempt.

Swiss men who don’t serve usually pay a military service exemption tax: 3% of net income, at least CHF 400 a year, from the year they turn 19 to the year they turn 37. Under the law on this tax, Swiss citizens living abroad usually don’t pay it once they’ve lived abroad for more than 3 years in a row.

Common questions

What a Swiss passport gives you

The right to live and work in Switzerland, and across the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons and the EFTA Convention. See what an EU passport lets you do.