Obwalden is one of the cantons with a real exam, and it comes before the application. Anyone who wants to naturalise first attends the information event of the Amt für Justiz, then proves German at B1 spoken and A2 written with a language assessment, and sits the written exam on civic basic knowledge at the Berufs- und Weiterbildungszentrum Obwalden (BWZ) in Sarnen: six question blocks from the naturalisation procedure through rights and duties, the structure of the state, geography and history to politics and society, about 90 minutes, with a minimum score in every block. Only with the certificate of the passed exam, which is valid for two years, does the commune accept the application.
After that come the interview with the cantonal police for the conduct report, the commune's naturalisation interview and three decisions: the assurance of communal citizenship by the communal assembly, the Gemeinderat or a naturalisation commission, the assurance of cantonal citizenship by the eleven-member cantonal naturalisation commission, and the federal authorisation of the SEM. The conditions are five uninterrupted years in the canton and in the same commune, the C permit and three years without social assistance. This page summarises what the citizenship act, the ordinance, the implementing provisions (as of 1 February 2026), the leaflet of the Amt für Justiz (as of January 2026), the BWZ and the seven communes said on 6 September 2026; every figure is linked to its source.
Facts checked on 6 September 2026.
The basis is the citizenship act of 17 May 1992 in the version of 1 January 2018. Article 6a requires German and basic knowledge in six areas: the naturalisation procedure, general rights and duties, the structure and content of state and community, geographical and historical conditions, political conditions, and social conditions, habits, customs and traditions, each for Switzerland, the canton and the commune. Article 7 provides that foreign nationals prove language and basic knowledge "by an examination". The implementing provisions entrust the exam to the BWZ, the Amt für Justiz reviews the content regularly, the exam is written and ends with a certificate that stays valid for two years and, once the application is filed, until the end of the procedure. The leaflet fixes the order of the preliminary stage: information event, language test, voluntary preparation course, civic-knowledge exam, residence certificate, registration at the civil registry office, remaining documents.
The structure is in annex 5 of the leaflet. The exam consists mostly of multiple-choice questions but also contains questions with answers you write yourself, and it is divided into six blocks along the six topics. You need a minimum score in every block; fail a single block and the whole exam counts as failed, and the threshold depends on your age. The sample marking key shows the weights: 12 points for the procedure, 16 for rights and duties, 33 for the structure of the state, 48 for geography and history, 12 for politics, 16 for society, 137 in total, of which adults must reach 60 to 70 percent per block and thus 84 points, teenagers from 16 55 to 65 percent and 76 points; the leaflet calls the key expressly non-binding. The duration is expected to be 90 minutes. Children and teenagers aged 12 to 15 sit an age-appropriate exam over the same blocks but need only about 60 percent overall and have 60 minutes; under 12 there is no exam, and children aged 9 to 11 are checked in reduced form in the conduct report and the commune's interview. The BWZ charges CHF 60 for the exam; the preparation course of 15 lessons in spring and autumn costs CHF 280 without the textbook "Die Schweiz verstehen", can be completed with the exam and is voluntary. You can only register through your commune of residence.
Two further obligations come before the exam. The Amt für Justiz organises the information event at least once a year, Alpnach names March and September; registration is compulsory, minors over 16 attend with their legal representative, under 12 are excluded, and the confirmation is valid three years. You prove the language not with a course certificate but with a written and oral language assessment; since 1 February 2026 the providers must offer a language certificate recognised by the SEM, until then the implementing provisions named the BWZ. The BWZ continues to run its bzi assessment on Saturday mornings, for naturalisation 25 minutes oral and 72 minutes written at CHF 240; ask your commune which proofs it accepts since the change. The commune's instructing authority can dispense you from the language and civic-knowledge proofs, for instance for German as a mother tongue, five years of compulsory school in German, German-language upper-secondary education, or a disability, illness or pronounced learning, reading or writing difficulty; the Amt für Justiz can demand the proof later, and if the naturalisation body concludes that the circumstances do not justify an exception, you must submit it after all.
After the exam the questions continue, only no longer in writing. The cantonal police usually invite you once to a one- to two-hour interview on security and order, family, work, finances and living conditions and write the conduct report, which also records how familiar you are with local conditions. The commune regularly holds a naturalisation interview, mainly about whether you take part in social and cultural life in Switzerland, the canton and the commune and keep contact with Swiss citizens; Lungern had its naturalisation commission ask general-knowledge questions about Obwalden and Lungern there too. In communes with an assembly you present yourself in person, answer questions and leave the hall for the debate and vote; without a reasoned counter-motion the Gemeinderat's proposal counts as accepted, and ballot votes are not allowed. Our 49 Obwalden questions cover the cantonal part of the geography, history and politics blocks: Unterwalden in the Federal Charter of 1291 and the separation from Nidwalden in 1803, Morgarten 1315, the Sonderbund of 1847, Brother Klaus and the Stans Agreement of 1481, Engelberg Abbey of 1120, the abolition of the Landsgemeinde in 1998, the Kantonsrat with 55 and the Regierungsrat with five members, the Landammann elected each year, the seven communes on 490.6 square kilometres with 39,272 inhabitants at the end of 2023 (provisionally 39,907 at the end of 2025), the capital Sarnen, the Titlis and the Älggi-Alp as the geographical centre of Switzerland. Add the lessons on Swiss politics, history and geography for the federal part and read the leaflet, which is also the course material at the BWZ.
The leaflet of the Amt für Justiz and the page of the commune of Alpnach trace the path: information event, language assessment, exam at the BWZ, registration and documents, application to the commune, conduct report of the cantonal police, naturalisation interview and communal assurance, cantonal naturalisation commission, SEM, formal decision.
Count the periods: 10 years in Switzerland, the last 5 of them without interruption in the canton and in the same commune, plus the C permit; check the three-year social-assistance rule, your criminal-record extract and your debt-enforcement record. Get the documents from the communal chancellery and register with the Amt für Justiz for the information event, which takes place in March and September and is open only to registered guests. Over-16s attend with their legal representative, under-12s stay at home. The confirmation is valid three years.
Prove German B1 spoken and A2 written with a written and oral language assessment; the commune gives you the registration form. Since 1 February 2026 the assessments of providers with an SEM-recognised language certificate count; the BWZ offers its bzi assessment on Saturday mornings (25 plus 72 minutes, CHF 240, repeat after three months). The result is valid indefinitely. If German is your mother tongue, or you had five years of German-language school, German-language education from upper-secondary level up or a recognised certificate, apply to the commune's instructing authority for a dispensation.
After passing the language assessment or with a dispensation, register through the commune for the civic-knowledge exam at the BWZ Obwalden, Grundacherweg 6 in Sarnen. The voluntary course of 15 lessons takes place in spring and autumn (CHF 280 plus textbook); the leaflet strongly recommends it, but the exam can be taken without it. About 90 minutes, six blocks, a minimum score in each, CHF 60. The certificate is valid two years; your application must be filed by then.
Get the residence certificate from the Abteilung Migration (about CHF 20) and have yourself registered or updated at the civil registry office with the exam attestations (usually up to CHF 200; foreign civil-status documents do not belong in the application). Fill in the official form completely and name at least two Swiss reference persons living in Obwalden who are not your employer, teachers or doctors. According to Alpnach's list, add among other things a CV with places of residence, school and work, passport and C permit, residence confirmation, civil-status extract, the last tax assessment with proof of payment, debt-enforcement and criminal-record extracts from age 10, the declarations on the legal order, the Federal Constitution and social assistance, and a short report on why you want to become Swiss. File with the Einwohnergemeinderat, in Engelberg with the Bürgergemeinderat.
The commune sends your file to the Amt für Justiz, which checks completeness, queries the VOSTRA criminal register and commissions the cantonal police to write the conduct report. The police invite you to a one- to two-hour interview (bring your foreign national's identity card) on registration, family, work and finances, security and order, the values of the Federal Constitution, economic life and the integration of your family; report and preliminary check go to the commune. Costs CHF 500 to 1,000, billed directly by the police command. Pending criminal proceedings usually suspend the application until the judgment is final.
Your commune's instructing authority obtains further information, holds the naturalisation interview and decides on the facts and its proposal; you receive the decision with a note on the cost consequences and have 30 days to comment or withdraw. Then the communal naturalisation body decides: in Sarnen, Sachseln and Lungern the Gemeinderat, in Alpnach and Engelberg the communal or Bürgergemeinde assembly, in Kerns and Giswil the commission, the Gemeinderat or the assembly depending on the case. At the assembly you present yourself and leave the hall for the vote; without a reasoned counter-motion the proposal counts as accepted. You can appeal a negative decision to the Regierungsrat within 20 days. The communal fee follows the communal regulation, most recently CHF 1,800 in Lungern.
Once the communal decision is final, the commune forwards the file to the Amt für Justiz, which collects the advance of CHF 1,000, 1,600 or 800 plus 300 per child, examines independently and submits a report and proposal to the cantonal naturalisation commission. The commission assures cantonal citizenship (appeal within 30 days to the administrative court), the application goes to the SEM for the federal authorisation (CHF 100, 150 for couples, 50 for minors filing alone), and with it the commission takes the formal naturalisation decision, with which you acquire communal, cantonal and Swiss citizenship at once; it can still take new facts into account until then. The administrative court certifies that the decision is final, about eight weeks later the decisions go to the registers, and two weeks after that you can apply for passport and identity card at the passport centre in the Rathaus Sarnen. A naturalisation obtained by deception can be annulled within eight years.
This is what the practice questions in our lessons look like. The correct answer is marked and the explanation gives the background.
Sarnen is the capital of Obwalden with around 10,900 residents. Located at the shores of Lake Sarnen (Sarnersee), it houses the cantonal government, parliament, and serves as the administrative center of the half-canton.
Obwalden's Landsgemeinde met each year on the last Sunday in April on the Landenberg above Sarnen. Voters abolished it at the ballot box on 29 November 1998 by 5,697 to 5,045, replacing it with a parliament and an optional referendum. Nidwalden had gone first in 1996 and Appenzell Ausserrhoden in 1997.
Just 100 eligible voters have to demand a referendum within 30 days of a law's publication – one of the lowest thresholds in Switzerland. A cantonal popular initiative needs 500 signatures. Both keep citizen influence high in a canton of about 40,000 people.
The Obwalden cantonal parliament (Kantonsrat) has 55 members elected by proportional representation. It replaced the Landsgemeinde in 1998 and meets in Sarnen to pass laws and approve the cantonal budget.
The full federal course plus Obwalden in depth — lessons, canton-specific questions and key procedural facts. PDF + EPUB, CHF 19.90.
Procedure, topics and preparation for Obwalden: our full guide goes beyond this overview.