Citizenship Test Geneva 2026 – What You Actually Need to Know

The Canton of Geneva checks your knowledge of Switzerland and Geneva with an official exam: the "test de validation des connaissances d'histoire, de géographie et des institutions suisses et genevoises". It is run by the canton, the Service des naturalisations of the OCPM (Office cantonal de la population et des migrations), not by your commune, and since 1 September 2024 it rests on article 22 of the new Geneva citizenship act (LDCG).

The order matters: you pass the test BEFORE filing your application. Without the attestation of success the office does not even register the file. Not everyone takes it: under article 23 the department can exempt you if nothing suggests insufficient integration and you were either born in Geneva and have lived there ever since, or are under 25 and did five years of compulsory school, an upper secondary education or a degree in Geneva. Applicants aged 12 to 25 without an exemption take a simplified oral test at the interview.

You can practise with Geneva-specific questions while you prepare.

The residence rules come first. You need 10 years of legal residence in Switzerland in total, of which at least 3 fall within the 5 years before your application. Years lived here between ages 8 and 18 count double, with a minimum of 6 actual years.

On top of that, Geneva requires 2 years of residence in the canton, including the 12 months immediately before you apply. And there is no way around the permit rule: you need a C permit, and it must stay valid for the whole procedure.

Your contact for all of it is the OCPM's Service des naturalisations – the procedure in Geneva runs at cantonal level.

Geneva requires French at level B1 for speaking and A2 for writing on the CEFR scale. What many applicants miss: you prove it with an attestation that meets the Swiss "fide" evaluation standards, and that document is part of your application dossier.

The list of recognised certificates is published on the fide website. If your diploma is not on it, you can have your credentials recognised through the fide secretariat for a fee. Plan this early – booking a language exam can take time, and without the attestation your dossier is incomplete.

The canton's own preparation tool is an online tutorial called "Connaître la Suisse et Genève", and its five modules are the map of what the test covers: history; Switzerland and the cantons; the political system; rights and duties; customs and traditions. The tutorial ends with a self-check quiz – with the canton's own warning that the quiz alone is no guarantee, only working through the modules is.

Geneva does not publish a fixed number of questions or a pass mark, so be sceptical of guides that quote one. Prepare against the five modules, in French, and register for a test session with the Service des naturalisations by phone (+41 22 546 46 20, weekday mornings) or via the contact form.

For active practice alongside the tutorial, Geneva-specific questions are available here.

Seven steps. One: request your application dossier from the Service des naturalisations of the OCPM. Two: if you are required to take the knowledge test, pass it and collect your attestation, and obtain the fide-compliant French attestation. Three: send the complete dossier by post, with a recent civil status extract, a copy of the C permit, the attestations of the tax administration, the debt enforcement office and the Hospice général, and the two test attestations; the fee is due now and is not refunded. Four: a sworn investigator examines integration and residence and interviews you; the canton publishes a preparation guide. Five: your commune gives its opinion, through its executive if you are under 25 and through the Conseil municipal, in closed session, if you are over 25; the act wants this reached within twelve months of filing, 24 at most. Six: the SEM issues the federal permit and the Conseil d'Etat decides by decree within a year of it. Seven: you take the oath before the Conseil d'Etat, and that day you are Swiss.

The cantonal fees are fixed, not a range: CHF 300 for minors aged 11 to 17, CHF 850 for adults under 25, CHF 1,250 for adults over 25, CHF 1,360 for a couple with one member under 25, CHF 2,000 for a couple over 25, plus CHF 300 per additional child, and CHF 350 if a child comes of age during the procedure and takes an individual oath. Add the federal fee when the authorisation is issued: CHF 50 for a minor, CHF 100 for an adult, CHF 150 for a couple. For favourable files the Service des naturalisations currently quotes 20 to 24 months in total.

A failed attempt is a delay, not the end: you can sit the test again. Geneva does not publish a fixed waiting period between attempts – the Service des naturalisations tells you when you can rebook, through the same registration channels.

Use the gap deliberately. Go back through the five tutorial modules rather than re-reading everything, and drill the topics that cost you points. Structured practice by topic shows you exactly where the gaps are.