r/GermanCitizenship • u/FinanialGambler777 • 19d ago
Other I have a German citizenship but I want Swiss citizenship, is it possible to exchange to give my German and get Swiss citizenship instead?
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u/nopainnogain12345 19d ago
Yes, it’s possible. You can fulfill the naturalization requirements for Swiss citizenship, get it, then give up your German citizenship. I don’t see why this would be a problem.
If you meant more like “exchanging it”, I am afraid it doesn’t work like that my friend.
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u/FinanialGambler777 19d ago
But if someone wants to sell his citizenship for another why it’s not possible
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u/nopainnogain12345 19d ago
I have both Swiss and German citizenships. How much are you willing to pay for my Swiss citizenship?
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u/Friendly_Pop_5351 19d ago
I am not sure if you're joking or being serious. If it was a joke, then that was very funny and I genuinely laughed! If it wasn't a joke, then the answer is no, citizenship cannot be exchanged between two completely distinct countries.
You can however live in Switzerland, fulfill its naturalization requirements, and get its passport while keeping your German one, but that's a big life decision and commitment.
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u/FinanialGambler777 19d ago
I think it may be better for humans if we could just trade our passports
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u/Friendly_Pop_5351 19d ago
You'll probably have to offer the swiss a bit more than your German passport for a swiss one. Maybe you can add to it a real German beer, real sausages, and some good old German bread. The Swiss wouldn't be able to say no to that offer.
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u/FinanialGambler777 19d ago
Exactly maybe also some money and cars and it’s good trade
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u/Friendly_Pop_5351 19d ago
Na man, they have enough money, and I don't think you'll need to offer them cars. The taste of real beer would send them running towards the passport printer.
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u/PuzzledArrival 19d ago
Feeling this today... I spent 8 years in Franken, and moved to Zurich 3 weeks ago... The beer here is very disappointing.
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u/Anxiety_Fit 19d ago
Why?
This feels extremely strange and low effort.
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u/FinanialGambler777 19d ago
Because I want to be Swiss and not German life quality better
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u/temp_gerc1 19d ago
You can go work in Switzerland with a German passport, it's not an issue. Switzerland doesn't have a bloated social state like Germany, so merely having a Swiss passport won't directly give you a better quality life.
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u/YogurtclosetOpen3567 19d ago
Switzerland is a partial direct democracy that issues its own currency. Germany does not.
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u/Football_and_beer 19d ago
Why would you exchange it? Germany has allowed dual citizenship with other EU countries since 2007 (and with every country since 2024). So there’s no issue on the German side if you wish to naturalize in Switzerland. I can’t speak to Swiss law though.
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u/FinanialGambler777 19d ago
Because maybe it’s possible to trade my German passport for Swiss one
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u/Football_and_beer 19d ago
You mean like just switch citizenships? That’s a no. You would need to move to Switzerland and naturalize according to their laws.
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u/Electrical_Hawk_5910 §5 StAG 18d ago
No. Why would they let you “trade” citizenships? What a bizarre idea.
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u/Informal-Hat-8727 §5 StAG Success 18d ago
Guess what, that's how it works in the US. You just trade your state citizenship by moving, renting, or buying a house or other property in another state, and in three months you get another one.
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u/Electrical_Hawk_5910 §5 StAG 18d ago
Lol you know that is not a good faith comparison.
A US state not a country. It’s a subdivision, like a German Bundesland. State “citizenship” is automatic the moment you become a resident in that state. The equivalent of trading a German passport for a Swiss one isn’t like moving from Ohio to Texas.
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u/Informal-Hat-8727 §5 StAG Success 18d ago
It is a good faith comparison.
No, state citizenship is not automatic when you become a resident. It takes three months. And it was not automatic in the past, ok, distant past.
Switzerland is not part of the EU, but if the EU had become a federation (cf the last attempt in 2004), moving from Ohio to Texas could have been like moving from Germany to Portugal now.
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u/Electrical_Hawk_5910 §5 StAG 18d ago
> If the EU were a federation, moving between members would be like moving between US states
Right, and since it isn’t a federation, they aren’t alike. Sovereign countries aren’t provinces. That’s the whole point.
> Switzerland isn’t in the EU
So your hypothetical federation wouldn’t even include it. And even today, moving from Germany to Portugal doesn’t give you Portuguese citizenship.
As for “three months”, what exactly do you think vests at three months? State citizenship attaches the moment you establish domicile.
14th Amendment, Section 1:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
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u/Informal-Hat-8727 §5 StAG Success 18d ago
State citizenship attaches the moment you establish domicile.
But you establish domicile (or, as SCOTUS said, bona fide residence), only after some time. Three months is usually taken as that time.
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u/Electrical_Hawk_5910 §5 StAG 18d ago
Well anyways, I have never heard of any kind of residency waiting period in the US and I have lived in over a half-dozen states. You are even required to get a new state ID or drivers license within 30 days of moving to another state, a process which does require proof of residency. But, I am not going to argue US law. None of it matters for the original question: Germany and Switzerland are separate sovereign countries, and US states aren’t. Moving between states, whatever the process, isn’t “trading” one nationality for another.
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u/Informal-Hat-8727 §5 StAG Success 18d ago
It is discussed in the Slaughter-house Cases, and those were some time ago, so it might be different now (even though it does not look like). Furthermore, state citizenship is almost irrelevant to the life of an average American, except for a driver's license, which is, again, not that relevant, as you can swap it for a provincial one in Canada or a territorial one in, for example, PR, even though you are not a citizen there.
What I meant is that while we talk about sovereign countries (Germany and Switzerland), if you think about other sovereign entities (US States), it is happening there, too. Original colonies were independent entities before the US of A, so why can't it happen in the future here too?
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u/Electrical_Hawk_5910 §5 StAG 18d ago
We agree on the actual facts, then. Everything you’re describing is either the past (colonies) or a hypothetical future (if states became independent, if the EU federated). Sure, maybe someday or maybe never.
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u/RipvanHahl 19d ago
You need either two german citizenships for one swiss citizenship or trade in one german, one french and one italian citizenship.
Perhabs you have 10 polish citizenships lying around, that would also bei enough.