Citizenship Test Graubünden 2026 – Trilingual Canton Guide

Canton Graubünden runs no cantonal citizenship test. Its citizenship act (KBüG) requires that you are "familiar with cantonal and communal conditions", and the ordinance (KBüV) spells that out as basic knowledge of geography, history, politics and society, participation in social and cultural life and contacts with Swiss citizens. The body that checks this is not the political commune but the Bürgergemeinde, the citizens' commune, a separate corporation that exists alongside the commune in Graubünden and grants communal citizenship.

Article 26 of the ordinance makes one thing compulsory and one optional. Compulsory is a naturalisation interview with the citizens' commune, recorded in writing; only in justified cases can the cantonal office release a commune from it. Optional is a written test on the basic knowledge. A citizens' commune that holds one must make sure you can prepare with suitable materials or courses and that the test can be passed with the language level required for naturalisation, B1 spoken and A2 written.

The Bürgergemeinde Chur, the largest in the canton, uses both: preparation courses and a citizenship test for foreign applicants, then a personal interview, then the decision and finally a ceremony at which new citizens receive their certificate of citizenship. In Davos the Bürgerrat of the citizens' commune decides; in Poschiavo, in the Italian-speaking south, the file reaches the communal chancellery through the cantonal migration office. The Graubünden canton page lists every source.

The federal frame comes first: a C permit and 10 years in Switzerland, 3 of them in the 5 years before filing, with years between ages 8 and 18 counting double and at least 6 years of actual residence. B and C permits count in full, F permits at half value, L and N permits not at all.

Graubünden then asks for 5 years of residence in the commune where you apply, the last 2 of them immediately before the application; the cantonal information sheet names the same 5 years for the canton. If your total stay in the commune is 12 years or less, the citizens' commune may insist on up to 5 uninterrupted years before filing, so ask yours early. Registered partners of Swiss citizens for at least 3 years need only 2 years in the commune. Chur puts it simply: 5 years in Chur in total and at home there for the last 2.

The language is one of the three cantonal languages, German, Romansh or Italian, at B1 spoken and A2 written. Romansh counts in any of its five idioms, Putèr, Surmiran, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan and Vallader, or in Rumantsch Grischun. You need no certificate if a cantonal language is your mother tongue, if you attended at least five years of compulsory school in one, or if you completed upper-secondary or tertiary education in one; the school does not have to have been in Switzerland. Otherwise you need a language test accepted by the State Secretariat for Migration. Two Graubünden rules stand out among the rest: social assistance received in the last 10 years must be fully repaid, and your debt-enforcement extracts of the last 5 years must show no open enforcement or loss certificates. Checked on 5 September 2026.

The ordinance names four fields for the basic knowledge: the geographic, historical, political and social conditions of Switzerland, the canton and your commune. The interview goes further and asks about your life: whether you take part in social and cultural life and keep contacts with Swiss citizens, how you earn your living, and whether you support the integration of your spouse, partner and children, which the act lists as an integration criterion in its own right.

For the knowledge part the canton points you to your citizens' commune and recommends one reader, "ECHO, Information zur Schweiz" published by the relief organisation HEKS. It also issues a warning worth taking seriously: "citizenship courses" sold by private providers give no guarantee of covering what the citizens' communes ask, and certificates of attendance are not taken into account. The cantonal integration portal hallo.gr.ch adds the themes that frame the conversation: what Swiss democracy rests on, which languages are spoken, how the political system works, what freedom of religion means and since when women and men have been equal before the law.

Where the citizens' commune holds a written test, as Chur does, it must offer preparation, and the test must be passable with B1 and A2. Our 35 Graubünden questions cover the cantonal layer: the Three Leagues, 1803, Romansh since 1938, the 120 seats of the Grosser Rat and the 100 communes.

Graubünden's file travels from the cantonal office to the citizens' commune, back to the office, to the Confederation and finally to the government.

1. Civil register and citizens' commune. Before filing you must be recorded in the Swiss civil register through your civil registry office. Contact your citizens' commune about its residence rule, its fee and its preparation material.
2. Application to the AFM. The official form goes with its attachments to the Amt für Migration und Zivilrecht in Chur: permit, residence certificates, proof of nationality, civil-status certificate, language proof, CV and self-declaration, employer's confirmation or accounts, debt-enforcement extracts for 5 years, tax certificate and information on social assistance for 10 years. Attachments may be no older than two months.
3. Admissibility check. The AFM takes up the application when the residence periods are proven, the criminal record is in order and linguistic integration can be confirmed, then forwards it to the citizens' commune.
4. Enquiries, interview and test. Within 6 months the citizens' commune checks the remaining conditions, holds the recorded interview and, if it chooses, the written test, and writes the enquiry report. Children from age 12 are examined individually.
5. Assurance. Within 6 more months the citizens' assembly decides by majority on the assurance of communal citizenship; counter-motions must be reasoned. The board or a commission may decide instead, in Davos the Bürgerrat. A refusal can be appealed to the Cantonal High Court.
6. Federal authorisation. The AFM makes further enquiries if needed and obtains the authorisation of the State Secretariat for Migration. From the assurance onwards you may move within Switzerland; moving abroad ends the procedure.
7. Cantonal citizenship. The government, or the department it has mandated, grants cantonal citizenship, and only then does communal citizenship take effect. Chur ends with the ceremony and the certificate of citizenship.

The canton publishes no total duration; the two six-month deadlines of the citizens' commune are the only fixed periods. Nothing in the sources sets a waiting period after a refusal.

Graubünden's cantonal fee is a range, not a flat amount, because article 37 of the ordinance bills according to the work involved: CHF 100 to 1,300 for a single adult, 150 to 1,600 for a couple, 150 to 1,800 for a couple with children, 100 to 1,500 for a parent with children and 100 to 1,100 for a minor applying alone. Above-average effort can double the fee, and the invoice is payable within 30 days.

The citizens' commune sets its own fee in its citizenship regulations. The act caps it at CHF 2,000 per foreign person (CHF 1,000 for Swiss applicants), requires it to be cost-covering and allows advances. Ask your citizens' commune for the figure before you file; Chur, Davos and the smaller communes differ.

The Confederation adds CHF 100 for a single person, CHF 150 for a married couple and CHF 50 for a minor applying alone. A language test, preparation courses and document fees come on top. All figures checked on 5 September 2026.

Start where the canton starts: with the reader it recommends and with your citizens' commune's own material, which tells you whether you face an interview alone or an interview and a written test. Learn the canton's frame in numbers: 120 members of the Grosser Rat, 5 members of the government, 100 communes in 11 regions, three official languages of equal standing under article 3 of the cantonal constitution, and the story of the Three Leagues that became a canton in 1803.

Then go local. Know the president and council of your commune and the board of your citizens' commune, the valley you live in and its language, the festivals from Chalandamarz to the customs of your own region, and the institutions of your region. Our Graubünden question bank with 35 cantonal questions and the federal lessons gives you the facts to build on.

Finally, rehearse in the language of your commune. The interview is a conversation, and the ordinance requires that any test be passable with B1 spoken and A2 written, so fluency matters more than perfection. If you need a certificate, book a test accepted by the State Secretariat for Migration early; the AFM can tell you which schools in the canton offer one. For your own file, call the Amt für Migration und Zivilrecht, Grabenstrasse 15, 7001 Chur, 081 257 36 80.