Citizenship Test Basel-Landschaft 2026

Basel-Landschaft, the half-canton that split from the city of Basel in 1833, does something few other cantons still do: its citizens' assemblies vote on every naturalisation, and its cantonal parliament, the Landrat, grants cantonal citizenship. What it does not have is a written citizenship test. The Citizenship Act of 19 April 2018 requires basic knowledge of the geographical, historical, political and social conditions in Switzerland, the canton and the commune, but that knowledge is checked in an integration interview by the Bürgerrat (citizens' council) or municipal council of your commune. Liestal's Bürgergemeinde says openly that the interview has the character of a test; Allschwil publishes the list of topics its Bürgerrat asks about. The Security Directorate's Office for Migration, Integration and Citizenship also holds a personal interview and checks record and finances. This guide explains who can apply, how the interview works, what it costs and how long the whole procedure takes, all taken from the act, the canton's information sheets and the pages of the Bürgergemeinden of Liestal, Allschwil, Pratteln, Muttenz, Reinach and Aesch. The Basel-Landschaft canton page has the same facts with every source linked.

The federal rules come first: a C permit, ten years in Switzerland with three of them in the five years before the application, and years between the ages of 8 and 18 counting double with at least six actual years. The canton adds five years of settlement in Basel-Landschaft; if spouses apply together and have been married for three years, three years suffice for the second person, and the same applies when the spouse has already been naturalised. Each commune sets its own period between two and five years in its regulation: Reinach asks for two, Allschwil, Pratteln, Muttenz and Aesch for five. German is required at B1 in all four skills, one level above the federal written minimum; you are exempt from the certificate if German is your mother tongue or you completed all of compulsory school in German, and the canton accepts the fide language passport and telc, Goethe and ÖSD certificates but no course attendance confirmations. Section 9 of the act lists the integration criteria: taking part in social life, basic knowledge, work or education, a written commitment to the free democratic form of state, respect for public safety and order, and supporting your family's integration. A VOSTRA entry, certificates of unpaid debts or justified debt collections from the last ten years stand in the way, as does social assistance in the five years before the application unless it has been fully repaid. Minor children in your household are included; from 12 they are assessed independently, and a minor can apply alone from the completed 16th year with a written declaration of their own will.

Once your application is in, the Security Directorate instructs the Bürgerrat or municipal council of your commune to hold the integration interview, and the commune has six weeks to send back its opinion on your language, your social integration, your basic knowledge and how you support your family's integration. How the interview runs is set out in each commune's naturalisation regulation. In Liestal the naturalisation commission conducts it and then proposes admission, refusal or deferral to the Bürgerrat; the Bürgergemeinde states that the conversation has the character of a test. In Allschwil you first present yourself, your family and your reasons for applying, and the Bürgerrat then asks about civics (the area and population of Switzerland, the canton and Allschwil, the national languages, the number of cantons), geography (mountains, lakes, rivers, regions), understanding of democracy, rights and duties, history, neutrality, customs and traditions and your ties to the village. Pratteln holds first interviews by appointment only, Reinach and Muttenz invite you to an introductory meeting before the formal file is opened. There is no published question count or pass mark anywhere in the canton, and a second interview is not free: Allschwil charges CHF 500 extra, Aesch CHF 250, Liestal CHF 250 for each further or unexcused missed interview.

You file the application in writing with the Security Directorate's Office for Migration, Integration and Citizenship at Schlossstrasse 1 in Pratteln (phone +41 61 552 51 61, amib.buergerrecht@bl.ch), not with the commune, although most Bürgergemeinden hand out the forms and their regulation at an introductory meeting. The canton currently warns that processing an application can take up to four months. The act caps the fees: the canton may charge at most CHF 2,000, plus 1,000 in particularly demanding cases, and so may the commune. In practice the canton charges CHF 1,550 for a single person or the first person in a joint application plus 150 per additional person, up to the 2,000 cap. Communal fees vary: Liestal charges CHF 1,500 for a single person, 1,800 for a couple with minor children and 2,000 for a family with adult children, Allschwil 1,500 per application including one interview, Pratteln about 1,300 for a single person and 2,000 for a family, Aesch 1,500 or 1,800, Reinach up to 3,000. The federal authorisation costs CHF 100 for an adult, 50 for a minor and 150 for a married couple. Muttenz puts the total at about CHF 3,500 for a single applicant and 4,000 for a family. Fees are due even if the application is refused or withdrawn, an advance up to the expected fee can be demanded, and the cantonal fee can be waived in whole or in part in a case of financial hardship if you ask before the decision. Liestal and Muttenz reckon with one and a half to two years for the whole procedure.

The Bürgergemeinden tell you what to learn. In August 2026 the Association of Basel-Landschaft Bürgergemeinden published an 18-page guide for the civic interview, distributed for example by Sissach: Swiss history from 1291 to today, territory, people and state power, the rule of law, the authorities of Confederation, cantons and communes, federalism, the municipal and citizens' commune, then Canton Basel-Landschaft with its five districts of Arlesheim, Laufen, Liestal, Sissach and Waldenburg and its 86 communes, your own commune, and the current members of the Federal Council, cantonal government, National Council and Council of States, Landrat, municipal council and Bürgerrat. The guide says it should be understood rather than memorised. Allschwil hands out a vademecum with the invitation at the latest, Aesch and Muttenz publish their own guides, Reinach runs a civics course taught by a vocational-school teacher, and Muttenz points to the courses of the Ausländerdienst Baselland in Pratteln. Then make the Basel-Landschaft facts your own: the separation from Basel in 1833 after the fight at the Hülftenschanz, the capital Liestal, the Landrat with 90 members and the cantonal government with five, the Laufental that joined in 1994, the Ergolz, Augusta Raurica, Schweizerhalle and the Chienbäse procession. Our 50 Basel-Landschaft questions cover exactly this material and the federal lessons follow the structure of the association's guide, so you can practise the Basel-Landschaft questions here.

If your record and your integration are positive, the Security Directorate grants the cantonal naturalisation authorisation and asks the Bürgerrat to put your application to the citizens' or municipal assembly within six months. The assembly votes by open vote unless it decides on a secret one, and to prepare it the commune may publish your name, sex, year of birth, nationality and years of residence in the agenda or the official gazette; where the commune has delegated the decision to the Bürgerrat, it decides within three months. Do not move to another commune before that decision, otherwise the procedure lapses. Within 30 days the minutes of the vote and the fee go to the canton, which only then applies to the State Secretariat for Migration for the federal authorisation. Once that arrives, the Security Directorate has three months to ask the cantonal government to propose the grant of cantonal citizenship to the Landrat; the Landrat's petitions committee reviews the file, and the Landrat decides within ten weeks. Cantonal and communal citizenship take effect with that decision, which is sent to you by post, and the civil registry office is informed. Refusals at every stage must be reasoned. Liestal then invites its new citizens to a citizens' assembly and hands over the Bürgerbrief, the citizenship charter.