Stolen from P&CE: Bachmann becomes Swiss citizen

bjelle00

Can this be possible/true?  I thought Switzerland was ridiculously strict about who can get citizenship.

 ETA: changed subject - can't believe I substituted z's for s's

 

 Michele Bachmann is now a Swiss citizen.

The Minnesota congresswoman and former Republican presidential candidate was recently granted dual citizenship, Bachmann's office confirmed Tuesday night, according to CNN.

"Congresswoman Bachmann's husband is of Swiss descent so she has been eligible for dual-citizenship since they got married in 1978," spokeswoman Becky Rogness said in a statement. "However, recently some of their children wanted to exercise their eligibility for dual-citizenship so they went through the process as a family."

And, according to an interview with Swiss TV, Bachmann, who is currently seeking a fourth term in Congress after her failed bid for the White House, is now also eligible to run for office in the tiny European country.

Asked if she'd be interested in seeking office in Switzerland, Bachmann joked that "there's a lot of competition ... and they're very good."

dorothyinAus

Interesting. I wonder what the motivation was for her children to "exercise their eligibility for dual-citizenship."  The cynic in me is betting they either want to "do Europe" during a gap-year or they want to move to Europe for a while and being citizens of an EU nation will make it easier.  The cynic in me really does not think it has anything to do with family heritage or history.

bjelle00

What I can't figure out is why Switzerland would allow citizenship simply through marriage.  Are there no requirements to live in the country before acquiring citizenship? 

I agree with you Dorothy...I rather doubt family heritage was the real motivator.  

allibally

dorothyinAus:

Interesting. I wonder what the motivation was for her children to "exercise their eligibility for dual-citizenship."  The cynic in me is betting they either want to "do Europe" during a gap-year or they want to move to Europe for a while and being citizens of an EU nation will make it easier.  The cynic in me really does not think it has anything to do with family heritage or history.

Swiss is not EU actually. But you are extended the ability to live in EU nations. Along without EU being able to live/work in Switzerland.

I was frankly shocked when I read the breaking news tweet. Swiss citizenship is extremely hard to get. There are so many loopholes that can disqualify you if your just living there. Even living in Switzerland and being married to a Swiss citizen at the moment wouldn't give you automatic citizenship. Before the 90s apparently a women could lose citizenship for not marrying a Swiss citizen. And Immigration is even more of a hot topic in Switzerland then one would think.

This is what I got off Wiki.

It is also possible for the spouse of a Swiss citizen to apply for facilitated naturalisation while resident overseas after the following: six years of marriage to a Swiss citizen; and close ties to Switzerland. Spouses acquiring Swiss citizenship by facilitated naturalisation will acquire the citizenship of the community and canton of their Swiss spouse. a spouse of a Swiss national who lives abroad after six years of marriage, and who has "close relations to Switzerland" i.e. travelling regularly to Switzerland, being an active member of a Swiss club abroad and having close relations to the family of the Swiss spouse

dorothyinAus

allibally:

Swiss is not EU actually. But you are extended the ability to live in EU nations. Along without EU being able to live/work in Switzerland. 

I never can remember which countries are and which aren't EU nations.  And I tend to default to "are" for the major countries.  And I usually get it wrong.  

allibally

dorothyinAus:

allibally:

Swiss is not EU actually. But you are extended the ability to live in EU nations. Along without EU being able to live/work in Switzerland. 

I never can remember which countries are and which aren't EU nations.  And I tend to default to "are" for the major countries.  And I usually get it wrong.  

Don't blame you. It's easy to do! Especially because Switzerland plays along with most of the EU policy but won't join. Which works for them since the Euro crisis. The Swiss Franc has been going strong.

bjelle00

allibally:

 

 

This is what I got off Wiki.

 

 

It is also possible for the spouse of a Swiss citizen to apply for facilitated naturalisation while resident overseas after the following: six years of marriage to a Swiss citizen; and close ties to Switzerland. Spouses acquiring Swiss citizenship by facilitated naturalisation will acquire the citizenship of the community and canton of their Swiss spouse. a spouse of a Swiss national who lives abroad after six years of marriage, and who has "close relations to Switzerland" i.e. travelling regularly to Switzerland, being an active member of a Swiss club abroad and having close relations to the family of the Swiss spouse

Does Bachmann have such close ties to Switzerland.  I've never really read anything about her and Switzerland until this news.  Is her husband originally from Switzerland? 

ETA:  I just googled her husband and got this article: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76072.html. 

It says: "Marcus Bachmann, the congresswoman?s husband since 1978, reportedly was eligible for Swiss citizenship due to his parents? nationality ? but only registered it with the Swiss government Feb. 15. Once the process was finalized on March 19, Michele automatically became a citizen as well, according to Honegger."

This seems really strange to me that she would automatically received citizenship without having to jump through any hoops.  

 

allibally

bjelle00:

allibally:

 

 

This is what I got off Wiki.

 

 

It is also possible for the spouse of a Swiss citizen to apply for facilitated naturalisation while resident overseas after the following: six years of marriage to a Swiss citizen; and close ties to Switzerland. Spouses acquiring Swiss citizenship by facilitated naturalisation will acquire the citizenship of the community and canton of their Swiss spouse. a spouse of a Swiss national who lives abroad after six years of marriage, and who has "close relations to Switzerland" i.e. travelling regularly to Switzerland, being an active member of a Swiss club abroad and having close relations to the family of the Swiss spouse

Does Bachmann have such close ties to Switzerland.  I've never really read anything about her and Switzerland until this news.  Is her husband originally from Switzerland? 

From what I read. Husband is born to Swiss Parents. Parents left Switzerland ages ago to farm in WI (I personally want to hear that story) I don't know if husband was born in US or Switzerland. But they have all obviously been living in the US for over 20 years. I personally think if you never registered the birth of your children at a Swiss consulate and got them passports then you don't really have close ties to Switzerland. But before 1992 I believe you couldn't be dual citizens so perhaps if kids were born before that then they couldn't anyway. But if so why would you wait till 2012 to apply. The whole thing seems weird. I'm interested in reading the reaction in the Swiss Press.