Naturalisation in Aargau After the SEM Permit – The Last Cantonal Step

Aargau is one of the cantons where the federal permit comes before the cantonal decision. Your commune examines you first and promises communal citizenship; the Departement Volkswirtschaft und Inneres then checks the file, collects its advance on costs and obtains the federal naturalisation permit from the State Secretariat for Migration; only after that does the Einbürgerungskommission of the Grosser Rat grant cantonal citizenship, as the final decision, unless the Grosser Rat itself decides. That is why an Aargau file is not finished when the SEM letter arrives.

Who decides at communal level depends on your commune: the communal assembly, the Einwohnerrat or the Gemeinderat promises communal citizenship, and the Gemeinderat then sends the file to the canton. Everything before that, the initial consultation, the civics test, the interview and the publication of the application, happens at the commune. The Aargau canton page lists the requirements with their sources; this guide follows the procedure from the moment the file leaves the commune.

With the federal permit in the file, the Einbürgerungskommission of the Grosser Rat decides on cantonal citizenship. The canton's leaflet puts its own part, from the arrival of the file to the committee's decision, at about twelve months in the normal case; that period includes the departmental check, the federal permit and the committee. Once the committee has granted cantonal citizenship you hold the citizenship of your commune, of the canton of Aargau and of Switzerland, and you can apply for a passport and an identity card.

The fees are settled along the way rather than at the end: the commune may ask for an advance when you file, the department collects its own advance before it applies to the SEM, and both may double their fee where the work is extraordinary.

The canton publishes one figure: about twelve months for the cantonal part in the normal case. It does not publish a figure for the communal phase, because that depends on the commune, its meeting rhythm and its workload; the leaflet tells you to ask at the initial consultation. Add the time you need beforehand for the civil status document and for the civics test, which is taken before filing.

Two deadlines shape your timetable. The civil status document may be no older than six months when you file, and the other enclosures no older than three months, so order them last. And the test certificate may be no older than six months at filing; if you fail, you may repeat the test as often as you like, but only after a waiting period of two months, at CHF 50 per sitting.

1. Initial consultation at your commune: it explains the requirements, hands you the form with the list of enclosures and names the test dates.
2. Civil status document from the civil registry office, ordered early because it can take time.
3. The Staatsbürgerlicher Test: 45 questions with four answers each, 40 minutes, passed from 34 correct answers, from age 16, CHF 50, before filing. There is no exemption for Swiss schooling, only for an impairment; children under 16 are questioned in the interview instead.
4. Filing at the commune: everyone applying signs, including children on the application; enclosures no older than three months; the commune may ask for an advance, checks the file and publishes the application in its official organ.
5. In-depth examination and interview: the Gemeinderat checks social assistance, debt enforcement and criminal records and talks with you about your life in the commune, its authorities, festivals and neighbours; the handbook calls it a conversation, not a quiz.
6. Promise of communal citizenship by the communal assembly, the Einwohnerrat or the Gemeinderat, then transfer of the file to the canton.
7. The Departement Volkswirtschaft und Inneres examines the file, collects its advance and obtains the federal permit from the SEM.
8. The Einbürgerungskommission of the Grosser Rat grants cantonal citizenship, and with it Swiss citizenship.

Ten years in Switzerland, three of them in the five years before the application, the years between 8 and 18 counting double with at least six actual years; B and C permits count in full, F half, L and N not at all. A C permit at filing. Five years in the canton of Aargau and at least three uninterrupted years in the commune. German at B1 spoken and A2 written, with no certificate needed for native speakers, five years of school in German or an upper-secondary or tertiary qualification in German.

Aargau's financial rules are stricter than the federal minimum: no social assistance in the ten years before the application and during the procedure, with the federal exceptions for disability, illness or working poverty; no debt enforcement by public bodies, social insurers or health insurers in the last three years; a debt enforcement extract covering five years. The interview covers your life in the commune; the canton's handbook publishes sample questions for it.

The commune charges CHF 1,500 for a single person and CHF 750 for a child on the application from the age of ten, nothing below; the canton CHF 750 and CHF 375 on the same scale; the Confederation CHF 100 for a single person with or without children, CHF 150 for a married couple and CHF 50 for a minor applying alone. A single adult therefore pays CHF 2,350 in fees plus CHF 50 per test sitting; a couple with a child of eleven pays CHF 150 plus 2 times 750 plus 375 plus 2 times 1,500 plus 750, which is CHF 5,775. Commune and canton may double their fee where the work is extraordinary and may ask for advances. Add the civil status document, the register extracts and, if you need one, the language certificate.

Your first contact is your commune, which runs the initial consultation, the test and the communal phase. The cantonal side is the Abteilung Register und Personenstand of the Departement Volkswirtschaft und Inneres, whose leaflet and handbook are linked on the Aargau canton page; the communal associations publish the official practice test for the civics exam.