Ascendencia de ciudadanos suizos en el extranjero + pérdida de 25 años (BüG Art 7) — transmisión extraterritorial

Acquisition at birth: a child born abroad acquires Swiss citizenship at birth if at least one parent is Swiss at the time of birth, on the same Art 1 terms as a child born in Switzerland — irrespective of the country of birth, of the parents' marital status (subject to the Art 1(1)(b) / Art 1(2) rules for unmarried parents), and of whether the child is a dual national from birth. No registration, declaration or application is required for acquisition; the Heimatort cascades automatically (Art 2). Retention to age 25: where the child born abroad ALSO holds another nationality, retention is conditional. To avoid forfeiture at completed age 25, the person (or someone on their behalf) must, before that age, have been reported to or reported themselves to a Swiss authority at home or abroad, or have declared in writing the wish to retain Swiss citizenship (Art 7(1)). The statutory definition of a sufficient report is broad: any communication by parents, relatives or acquaintances aimed at entry in the home-commune registers, immatriculation, or issuance of identity documents counts as a 'Meldung'; and a person prevented against their will from reporting in time may still validly do so within one year after the impediment ceases (Art 7(3)-(4)). A child born abroad who holds no other nationality is not subject to the forfeiture (the rule is expressly limited to the dual-national case).

For acquisition: the requirement is simply that at least one parent was Swiss at the moment of the child's birth, on the Art 1 terms (married parents with a Swiss father or mother; unmarried Swiss mother; or establishment of filiation to an unmarried Swiss father). For retention, the Art 7 forfeiture is engaged only where two conditions co-exist: the child was born abroad AND also holds another nationality. Where both hold, the retention requirement is that a qualifying report or written retention declaration reaches a Swiss authority before the person completes age 25 (Art 7(1)). The statute does not require any particular form beyond reaching a Swiss authority: the Art 7(3) definition treats any communication by parents, relatives or acquaintances aimed at register entry, immatriculation, or identity-document issuance as sufficient, and Art 7(4) preserves validity within one year after an involuntary impediment ceases. A born-abroad child who does NOT hold another nationality is outside the forfeiture rule and retains citizenship without action. Forfeiture, if it occurs, is automatic by operation of law at completed age 25 and cascades to the person's own children (Art 7(2)) and to the cantonal/communal Bürgerrecht (Art 8).

The documents central to CH-DSC-03 are: the child's foreign birth certificate (with apostille for Hague-Convention states, or legalisation otherwise) plus the transmitting Swiss parent's proof of Swiss citizenship, used to report the birth to the Swiss representation and derive the Heimatort (Art 2); the marriage certificate or recognition/establishment-of-paternity act as relevant to the Art 1 transmission basis; evidence of the qualifying Art 7 report or written retention declaration made before age 25 — which, given the broad Art 7(3) definition, may take the form of records of register entry, immatriculation, or identity-document issuance; and the Auslandschweizerregister entry under ASG Art 11, which gates consular and political rights though it is not itself a nationality act. Where status is doubtful in a long extraterritorial line, the Art 43 declaratory determination provides a conclusive ruling (carried at CH-CBN-04). Documents in a language other than German, French or Italian require certified translation; the canton's official-language requirements bear on which language the civil authority will accept.

Step 1 — Report the birth: the Swiss parent reports the child's birth to the competent Swiss representation abroad, which transmits the record for civil-register entry of the child and derivation of the Heimatort (Art 2 cascade). Step 2 — Civil documents: following registration, a Swiss passport or identity card for the child may be applied for at the competent representation per EDA consular procedures. Step 3 — Auslandschweizerregister entry: a Swiss national without Swiss domicile is, under ASG Art 11, required to report for entry in the Auslandschweizerregister, the entry being the precondition for exercising the rights/duties of the Swiss abroad and for receiving Swiss-authority services; functionally this operates as effectively voluntary in that non-registration does not strip nationality, but it gates consular and political rights. Step 4 — Art 7 retention before age 25: for a born-abroad dual national, a qualifying report or written retention declaration must reach a Swiss authority (at home or abroad) before completing age 25 to prevent forfeiture (Art 7(1)); the broad definition of a sufficient 'Meldung' (register entry, immatriculation, identity-document issuance) and the one-year post-impediment grace apply (Art 7(3)-(4)). Note that the ASG Art 12(3)/14 confirmation-at-majority (with 90-day deletion of the register entry on non-confirmation) is a REGISTER mechanism distinct from the BueG Art 7 nationality forfeiture and is analysed at CH-OPSC-03. Where forfeiture has occurred, the remedy is restoration under BueG Art 26-29 (CH-RST-01/CH-RST-03).

Acquisition rests on BueG SR 141.0 Art 1 (jus-sanguinis transmission) with the automatic Heimatort cascade of Art 2. The forfeiture mechanism is BueG Art 7: Art 7(1) sets the completed-age-25 forfeiture for born-abroad dual nationals absent report/declaration (tri-lingually pinned: de 'mit der Vollendung des 25. Lebensjahres' / fr 'lorsqu'il atteint l'âge de 25 ans' / it 'a venticinque anni compiuti'); Art 7(2) cascades the forfeiture to the person's children; Art 7(3)-(4) define a sufficient report and the one-year post-impediment grace. Loss of federal citizenship carries the cantonal and communal Bürgerrecht (Art 8). The repealed BueG 1952 Art 10 used age 22 — the historical figure that the v5 C6 correction supersedes. The extraterritorial framework is anchored constitutionally in BV Art 40 (the Confederation fosters relations of the Swiss abroad and legislates on their rights and duties) and operationalised by the ASG SR 195.1, which defines an Auslandschweizer as a Swiss national without Swiss domicile who is registered in the Auslandschweizerregister (Art 3(a)). Dual nationality has been freely permitted since 1 January 1992 by domestic Federal Act of 23 March 1990, not by treaty.

Edge case 1 — Forfeited intermediate link severs onward descent: a second-generation born-abroad dual national who forfeited at completed age 25 (Art 7(1)) before the birth of their own child transmits nothing to that later-born child, because the parent was no longer Swiss at the determining event (Art 50) and the forfeiture is expressly derivative (Art 7(2)). The later-born descendant must qualify independently; the forfeiting person themselves may seek restoration under Art 26-29 (/040), but a descendant born after the loss cannot. Edge case 2 — Born-abroad child with NO other nationality: the Art 7 forfeiture does not apply, because the rule is limited to the case where the child 'noch eine andere Staatsangehörigkeit besitzt' (also holds another nationality); such a child retains citizenship without any retention step. Edge case 3 — Involuntary impediment to reporting: a person prevented against their will from making the report/declaration in time may still do so validly within one year after the impediment ceases (Art 7(4)). Edge case 4 — Register vs nationality at majority: failure to confirm an Auslandschweizerregister entry within 90 days at majority deletes the REGISTER entry only and does not in itself cause loss of nationality (ASG Art 12(3)/14, analysed at CH-OPSC-03). Edge case 5 — Qualifying informal report: because Art 7(3) treats communications by relatives aimed at register entry/immatriculation/identity documents as sufficient, an apparent age-25 gap may in fact have been cured by such a communication and must be checked before concluding forfeiture.