Article 8 of the Fribourg citizenship act (LDCF) lists the integration criteria, among them "des connaissances appropriées de la vie publique et politique", and article 15 makes them part of the SENa's investigation report. How they are checked is explained on the canton's own page "La naturalisation": the interviews are no "véritable examen", Fribourg has chosen "entretiens plus informels". Three interviews belong to the procedure: the individual interview with a SENa investigator, to which you are summoned after 12 months on average and which may take place by video with your consent (art. 8a RDCF); the hearing before your commune's naturalisation commission of 5 to 11 members (art. 43 LDCF); and, for the first generation, the hearing before the Grand Conseil's naturalisation commission (art. 20 LDCF). Both commissions may waive the hearing when the file shows a fully accomplished integration. Children over 12 are as a rule interviewed individually by the SENa.
The canton itself lists what the interviews cover: your participation in economic life (training, work, plans), in social and cultural life (associations, regional events), any police record, knowledge of Swiss customs, traditions and way of life, public and political life (how federalism works, the names and size of communal, cantonal and federal authorities, election methods, the ability to name politicians), plus geography, history and current affairs. As study material the SENa publishes the brochure "Informations civiques de base pour la naturalisation" every year; the 2026 edition covers rights and duties, the neighbouring countries and national languages, the seven districts with their capitals from Fribourg to Châtel-St-Denis, the Vanil Noir, the Moléson and the Fribourg lakes, the federal authorities with the members of the Federal Council, Fribourg's members of the federal chambers, the Conseil d'Etat with 7 members, the Grand Conseil with 110 deputies, the prefects of the districts, the communal authorities and the political rights up to Fribourg's popular motion.
Communes fill this frame differently. In the City of Fribourg the naturalisation commission is elected by the Conseil général, meets 15 to 20 times a year, discusses each file before the hearing and checks integration, French or German and civic knowledge in the interview; the city's regulation invites applicants from age 14 to a civic instruction course with course material, compulsory only for applicants turned down for insufficient knowledge of public and political life. Bulle has a commission of seven members and has offered a free, optional two-hour preparation course several times a year since May 2018, to which applicants are invited automatically. In Murten the naturalisation commission makes its recommendation to the Gemeinderat, which decides. The SENa itself may run a civic course for CHF 30 to 50 (RDCF annex). The interview is held in your commune's official language, in bilingual Fribourg in French or German.
Our 50 questions on Canton Fribourg cover the cantonal part of these interviews: the founding of the city by the Zähringen in 1157 on the Sarine rock, the Battle of Murten in 1476, joining the Confederation in 1481 together with Solothurn, the Reformation that Fribourg rejected, the Röstigraben running through the canton with the German-speaking Sense district, the 110 members of the Grand Conseil and the 7 of the Conseil d'Etat, the university of 1889, Gruyère, the Bénichon and fondue moitié-moitié. Add the federal part from the lessons on Swiss politics, history and geography, and read the SENa brochure before you go to the interviews.