Canton Schaffhausen has no cantonal citizenship test. The citizenship act requires that you are integrated into communal, cantonal and Swiss life, familiar with the country's habits, customs and traditions and aware of the rights and duties of citizenship; how that is checked is up to each of the 26 communes. In the city of Schaffhausen it is an interview led by a member of the Stadtrat, in Neuhausen am Rheinfall an oral exam in the ordinary procedure and a written one in the simplified procedure, each after a voluntary preparation course. Add German at B1 spoken and A2 written, two years of uninterrupted residence in the commune and fees that the act fixes at CHF 2,000.
This page summarises what the Schaffhausen citizenship act, its ordinance, the Amt für Justiz und Gemeinden, the City of Schaffhausen and the commune of Neuhausen am Rheinfall published on 5 September 2026. Every figure is linked to its source; course dates, names and waiting times change, so check with your communal chancellery before you apply.
Facts checked on 5 September 2026.
Article 6 of the Schaffhausen citizenship act describes who is suitable: someone integrated into communal, cantonal and Swiss life, familiar with the country's habits, customs and traditions, respectful of the legal order, aware of the rights and duties that come with citizenship, able to communicate with authorities and fellow citizens in the language and living in orderly personal and financial circumstances. For respectable reasons citizenship may be granted even if language and finances are only partly in order. There is no cantonal test: the commune establishes the facts itself, records hearings (section 3 of the ordinance) and decides in the form its communal constitution provides. The canton makes clear that the simplified and the ordinary procedure share the same requirements.
In the city of Schaffhausen the examination is called Vorstellungsgespräch. After an advisory meeting at the Stadtkanzlei and your application, the city invites you to an interview which, under the regulation of 29 October 2024, is led by a member of the Stadtrat in the presence of the chancellery's specialist and two delegates elected by the Grosser Stadtrat, who may ask questions but have neither the right to make motions nor a vote. The city's brochure says what it is about: the Stadtrat wants to find out how well you communicate in German and what you know about Switzerland and Schaffhausen. Its content is the study material: the founding of 1291, four national languages, Confederation, cantons and communes, elections and votes, the canton with 26 communes and around 82,000 inhabitants, the city with around 38,000, the Regierungsrat with 5 and the Kantonsrat with 60 members, the Stadtrat with 5 and the Grosser Stadtrat with 36, Radio Munot and the local associations. The Staatskundeschema 2026 adds the names: National Council 200, Council of States 46, Federal Council 7, Schaffhausen's members of both chambers, the five members of the Regierungsrat and the Stadtrat. The Stadtrat decides on admission.
Neuhausen am Rheinfall takes a different route. After the application and additional enquiries the commune invites you to a review of the application with information on the procedure, to voluntary preparation courses, in the second half of 2026 on two Monday evenings in September from 6.30 to 9 pm, and then to an oral exam in the ordinary procedure or a written exam in the simplified procedure. The courses on communal, cantonal and Swiss affairs and civics cost CHF 285 per person, nothing for children included in their parents' application. A naturalisation commission accompanies the procedure. In the other 24 communes ask the communal chancellery; where the communal assembly or the Einwohnerrat decides, the Gemeinderat's proposal counts as accepted unless someone makes a reasoned counter-motion.
Our 49 questions on Canton Schaffhausen cover the cantonal part of these interviews and exams: joining the Confederation in 1501, the Reformation of 1529, the Munot with its watchman who rings the bell every evening at nine, the Rhine Falls and the trade that had to be reloaded around them, the German exclave of Büsingen, the bombing of 1 April 1944, the 26 communes, the Kantonsrat with 60 and the Regierungsrat with 5 members, the watchmaker IWC and the vineyards of Hallau. Add the federal part from the lessons on Swiss politics, history and geography and your commune's brochure.
In Schaffhausen the procedure begins and ends at the commune: it advises, examines and decides, the Amt für Justiz und Gemeinden obtains the federal authorisation, and the Regierungsrat finally grants cantonal citizenship. The city counts on about two years.
You ask your commune's chancellery about the requirements; in the city of Schaffhausen the advisory meeting at the Stadtkanzlei is the first step. There you clarify whether you need a fide language passport or a recognised exam at B1 spoken and A2 written, or whether schooling, a degree, vocational training with an EFZ or German as mother tongue exempts you.
The forms "Gesuch um ordentliche Einbürgerung" and "Lebenslauf" are available online. Under section 1 of the ordinance you add the application for the federal naturalisation authorisation, a certificate of residence, civil-status documents, copies of passport and foreigner's permit, the debt-enforcement extract for the last 5 years, the tax office's certificate, the language proof, proof of participation in economic life or education, the social-assistance certificate for 3 years and the details of your school years in Switzerland. The city requires an advance equal to the expected fees before it handles the file.
The commune establishes the facts itself, checks from the documents whether the simplified procedure applies and writes the enquiry report. You must cooperate and report changes at once: marriage, birth, separation, a new job, criminal proceedings, new debt enforcement or a move (section 2 of the ordinance). In this phase Neuhausen invites you to the review of the application and to the preparation courses.
In the city of Schaffhausen you have the interview with a member of the Stadtrat, the chancellery's specialist and two delegates of the Grosser Stadtrat about your German and your knowledge of Switzerland, the canton and the city. In Neuhausen you sit the oral exam, in the simplified procedure the written one. Hearings are recorded and placed on file.
Communal citizenship is decided by the body named in the communal constitution: in the city the Stadtrat, otherwise the Gemeinderat, the communal assembly or the Einwohnerrat; in the simplified procedure the Gemeinderat. Where the assembly decides, the Gemeinderat's proposal counts as accepted without a reasoned counter-motion. A refusal must be reasoned. The communal share of CHF 1,150 falls due, CHF 600 in the simplified procedure.
The commune forwards its decision with the enquiry report and the file to the Amt für Justiz und Gemeinden. The office examines the file and sends it to the State Secretariat for Migration, which issues the federal authorisation. Federal fee: CHF 100 for a single person, 150 for a married couple, 50 for a minor. Without this authorisation the communal decision does not take effect.
After the federal authorisation the Regierungsrat grants cantonal citizenship; the cantonal share is CHF 850, CHF 400 in the simplified procedure. With this decision communal citizenship also takes effect, and the Amt für Justiz und Gemeinden notifies you, the commune, the SEM and the migration office.
This is what the practice questions in our lessons look like. The correct answer is marked and the explanation gives the background.
Schaffhausen adopted the Protestant Reformation in 1529, soon after Zürich (1523) and Bern (1528). This early adoption aligned Schaffhausen with the Protestant bloc of Swiss cantons, distinguishing it from Catholic neighbors and shaping its religious identity for centuries.
Schaffhausen joined the Swiss Confederation in 1501 primarily because Habsburg expansion threatened the city's hard-won independence. Despite its prosperity as a free imperial city controlling the Rhine Falls trade, Schaffhausen recognized that it needed the military protection of the Swiss Confederation to maintain its autonomy against the growing power of the Habsburgs. This decision transformed Schaffhausen from an independent city-state into a full member of the Swiss Confederation while allowing it to preserve its local traditions and government.
The Kantonsrat is Schaffhausen's 60-member parliament, the canton's legislative body (Art. 52 of the cantonal constitution). Its members are elected every four years by proportional representation across six constituencies; since 2008 the seats have been allocated by the doubly-proportional 'Pukelsheim' method, so each party's share of the parliament matches its share of the vote across the whole canton. The chamber had 80 seats until a 2008 constitutional amendment cut it to 60. The Kantonsrat makes the laws; the Regierungsrat implements them.
Canton Schaffhausen consists of 26 municipalities, a relatively small number for a Swiss canton. The capital, also called Schaffhausen, is by far the largest with about 39,000 residents (38,982 at the end of 2024 and 39,228 a year later), followed by Neuhausen am Rheinfall with roughly 12,000 (12,198). Many of the other communes are small rural villages with fewer than 1,000 residents, yet they keep substantial local autonomy, with their own councils and mayors deciding local matters. This structure balances the dominance of the capital against the preservation of local traditions and decision-making in smaller communities.
The full federal course plus Schaffhausen in depth — lessons, canton-specific questions and key procedural facts. PDF + EPUB, CHF 19.90.
Procedure, topics and preparation for Schaffhausen: our full guide goes beyond this overview.