Erleichterte Einbürgerung des ausländischen Ehegatten (facilitated naturalisation of Swiss spouse, BüG Art 21)

CH-MAR-01 is the facilitated naturalisation (erleichterte Einbürgerung) of the foreign-national spouse of a Swiss citizen under Art 21 of the Federal Act on Swiss Citizenship (Bürgerrechtsgesetz, BüG, SR 141.0), in force 2018-01-01. It is the highest-volume facilitated-naturalisation pathway in Switzerland. The route substitutes a combined marital-union-plus-residence test for the ten-year federal residence and tri-level cantonal/communal admission of ordinary naturalisation (CH-NAT-01, BüG Art 9). Federal competence is exclusive: the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) decides after consulting the canton (Art 25(1)); there is no cantonal naturalisation commission decision and no communal assembly vote on the merits. Two statutory tracks exist: a resident track (Art 21(1)) requiring three years of marital union plus five years' total Swiss residence (one year immediately before application), and an abroad track (Art 21(2)) requiring six years of marital union plus close ties (eng verbunden) to Switzerland with no Swiss residence. On naturalisation the applicant acquires the Swiss spouse's cantonal and communal citizenship; where the spouse holds several, the applicant may choose to acquire only one (Art 21(4), decoded primary). Same-sex married couples use this Art 21 spouse track following Ehe-für-alle (in force 2022-07-01); the registered-partnership track (CH-MAR-02, Art 10) is closed to new partnerships. As a signature route, CH-MAR-01 is analysed below across conservative, moderate and liberal interpretive tiers, anchored on the sham-marriage (Scheinehe) jurisprudence and the joint declaration of marital community.

Eligibility rests on Art 21 BüG, which opens two cumulative-condition tracks. RESIDENT TRACK (Art 21(1)): the foreign applicant must, at the time of application, (a) have lived for three years in marital union (eheliche Gemeinschaft) with the Swiss spouse, AND (b) have resided in Switzerland for five years in total, of which one year immediately before filing the application. The five years need not be continuous; the one-year-immediately-prior requirement is the only continuity element. ABROAD TRACK (Art 21(2)): an applicant who lives or has lived abroad may instead apply where (a) they have lived six years in marital union with the Swiss spouse, AND (b) they are closely connected with Switzerland (mit der Schweiz eng verbunden). A bridging rule (Art 21(3), decoded primary) extends both tracks to a person whose spouse acquires Swiss citizenship AFTER the marriage through restoration (Wiedereinbürgerung) or through facilitated naturalisation by descent from a Swiss parent. In every case the facilitated-naturalisation material conditions of Art 20 apply: the integration criteria of Art 12(1)-(2) must be met, and the applicant must not endanger the internal or external security of Switzerland; for applicants without Swiss residence these conditions apply by analogy (Art 20(3)). Integration includes ability to communicate in everyday life in a national language at oral CEFR B1 / written A2 (BüV Art 6), respect for public security/order and constitutional values, and economic participation. The marital union must be genuine and subsisting; SEM verifies via a joint declaration of marital community.

The cumulative requirements differ by track. RESIDENT TRACK (Art 21(1)): three years' marital union with the Swiss spouse + five years' total Swiss residence with one year immediately before application. ABROAD TRACK (Art 21(2)): six years' marital union + close ties to Switzerland (eng verbunden), no Swiss residence required. COMMON material conditions (Art 20 → Art 12): (1) successful integration — respect for public security and order; (2) respect for the values of the Federal Constitution; (3) ability to communicate in everyday life in a national language, oral CEFR B1 / written A2 (BüV Art 6), with the proof-deemed-met exemptions (mother tongue, five years' compulsory schooling, secondary-II/tertiary education in a national language, or qualifying certificate); (4) participation in economic life — covering living costs without social assistance in the relevant look-back (BüV Art 7 logic); and (5) no endangerment of internal/external security (Art 20(2)). The marital union must be genuine and subsisting at application and (in SEM practice) at decision. For abroad-track applicants the integration/security conditions apply by analogy (Art 20(3)). The Swiss spouse need not be Swiss-resident — a Swiss spouse who is themselves an Auslandschweizer satisfies the spousal condition. The applicant acquires the spouse's cantonal/communal citizenship (Art 21(4)), choosing one where the spouse holds several.

Core documentation: (1) a valid marriage certificate establishing the marriage to the Swiss spouse, with a certified translation if not issued in German, French or Italian; (2) proof of the Swiss spouse's current Swiss citizenship (certificate of citizenship / Heimatschein) — the federal certificate of Swiss citizenship costs CHF 60 (BüV Art 25(1)(f)); (3) identity and civil-status documents for the applicant. RESIDENT TRACK additionally requires documentary proof of five years' total Swiss residence and one year immediately before application (residence-registration confirmations / permit history under AIG, the underlying permit framework being ), plus the residence-counting rules of BüG Art 33 where periods abroad are involved. ABROAD TRACK substitutes close-ties evidence: prior Swiss residence, family ties, Swiss schooling, professional links, language maintenance, registration in the Auslandschweizerregister and participation in Swiss-abroad community life. ALL tracks require: a recognised national-language certificate (oral B1 / written A2 per BüV Art 6) unless an exemption applies; a current criminal-record (VOSTRA) extract; a debt-enforcement (Betreibungsregister) extract and proof of no social-assistance dependency for economic participation (BüV Art 7 logic); and the signed joint declaration of marital community. Documents establishing the genuineness and duration of the marital union (shared address history, joint civil/financial life) support the genuineness assessment.

Art 21 is a federal-competence procedure: the SEM decides and consults the canton (Art 25(1)); there is no cantonal commission decision or communal merits vote. Step 1 — Dossier assembly: marriage certificate (certified translation if not in German/French/Italian), identity documents, proof of total and immediately-prior Swiss residence (resident track) or close-ties documentation (abroad track), a recognised national-language certificate at oral B1 / written A2 (BüV Art 6), criminal-record (VOSTRA) extract and debt-enforcement extract, and evidence of economic self-sufficiency (no social assistance in the look-back, BüV Art 7 by analogy via Art 20). Step 2 — Filing: the application (SEM facilitated-naturalisation form) is lodged with the SEM, in practice via the cantonal migration authority (resident track) or the competent Swiss representation abroad (abroad track). Step 3 — Joint declaration of marital community: applicant and Swiss spouse jointly declare that they live in a genuine and stable marital union; this declaration is a substantive condition derived from the genuineness requirement, and a false declaration exposes the naturalisation to later annulment (Nichtigerklärung, Art 36 — CH-CBN-01). Step 4 — SEM examination: integration, language, security and genuineness review; the canton is consulted (Art 25(1)). Step 5 — Decision (Verfügung); on a grant, Swiss + cantonal + communal citizenship is acquired and the civil register (Infostar) is updated; the applicant takes the spouse's Heimatort (Art 21(4)). A refusal must be reasoned and is appealable to the Federal Administrative Court.

The controlling statute is BüG SR 141.0 Art 21 ('Ehefrau eines Schweizers oder Ehemann einer Schweizerin'), decoded verbatim: Art 21(1) sets the resident track ('seit drei Jahren in ehelicher Gemeinschaft.. lebt; und.. sich insgesamt fünf Jahre in der Schweiz aufgehalten hat, wovon ein Jahr unmittelbar vor Einreichung des Gesuchs'); Art 21(2) sets the abroad track ('seit sechs Jahren in ehelicher Gemeinschaft.. und mit der Schweiz eng verbunden ist'); Art 21(4) governs the cantonal/communal effect ('Die eingebürgerte Person erwirbt das Kantons- und Gemeindebürgerrecht des schweizerischen Ehegatten') with the choose-one option for multi-citizenship spouses. The material-conditions gate is Art 20 (integration per Art 12(1)-(2) + security; Art 20(3) analogy for non-residents). Procedure and competence are Art 25(1): the SEM decides and hears the canton. The federal language operationalisation is BüV SR 141.01 Art 6 (oral B1 / written A2). The constitutional anchor is BV SR 101 Art 38(1), under which the Confederation regulates acquisition of citizenship by descent, marriage AND adoption (/072). Federal SEM fee for an Art 21 decision is CHF 500 (BüV Art 25(1)(b)) — higher than the CHF 100 ordinary-naturalisation authorisation fee, reflecting the federal-only decision burden. Tri-level structure (BV Art 37) still applies to the resulting citizenship, which cascades to the spouse's canton and commune.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: following the marriage-for-all reform (Ehe-für-alle, in force 2022-07-01), same-sex couples marry directly and use the Art 21 spouse track on identical terms; no new registered partnerships are concluded, so CH-MAR-02 (Art 10) now governs only pre-2022 partnerships. DUAL CITIZENSHIP: there is no renunciation requirement — Switzerland has freely permitted multiple nationality since 1992-01-01 (domestic reform BG 1990-03-23, NOT a treaty event; CH NEVER party to ETS 043 and NON-SIGNATORY to ECN CETS 166, /096/095). SHAM MARRIAGE / ANNULMENT: the joint declaration of marital community is a substantive condition; where facilitated naturalisation was obtained by false statements or concealment (e.g. a marriage of convenience), it can be declared null (Nichtigerklärung) by SEM within two years of SEM learning the facts and at most eight years from acquisition (Art 36, CH-CBN-01), with the child-extension and statelessness carve-outs of Art 36(4). MARRIAGE DISSOLUTION DURING PROCEEDINGS: if the marital union ends (divorce, or genuine breakdown) before the SEM grant, the Art 21 basis falls away and the applicant must pivot to ordinary naturalisation (CH-NAT-01) if the Art 9 residence conditions are met. CANTONAL-LANGUAGE CONTEXT: the national-language requirement is satisfied in any national language; in Graubünden a Romansh idiom or German/Italian is accepted, in Ticino Italian (BV Art 70, /110).