Lifelong Switzerland Resident Fails Citizenship Test

Switzerland is baffled over its citizenship test procedures after a lifelong resident failed it Tuesday, according to The Guardian. Funda Yilmaz, the 25-year-old who was unsuccessful with the test, was born and raised in Switzerland by Turkish parents.

Yilmaz's fiancée convinced her to apply for citizenship, proposing that she should get more involved in the referendums that shape the country's democratic system. She works in Switzerland as a draughtswoman in Aarau, a German-speaking town in the country.

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"I was born here. I don’t know any other life," Yilmaz said to a panel of examiners following the written portion of the test, according to the Guardian. "I don’t have plans to emigrate either."

Following two interviews and over 100 written questions, the jury voted in opposition to Yilmaz, rejecting her by a 20 to 12 vote. The examiners cited her gap in knowledge of the country's recycling system, lack of recognition for Swiss stores and unfamiliarity with Swiss sports as reasons Yilmaz was denied citizenship.

The rejection of naturalization is reportedly very rare in the country, according to Swiss newspaper Basellandschaftliche Zeitung. From 2013 onward, only a handful of aspiring residents has been rejected annually. However, Yilmaz now belongs to a small percentage of unsuccessful applicants.

Switzerland's direct democracy system allows for local residents to decide the fate of aspiring citizens, bestowing the power to ask a variety of questions on the citizenship test to determine one's Swiss-ness. According to Swiss-based news publication The Local, Yilmaz had to answer the following questions — among others — on Switzerland's citizenship exam: Do you go on holiday within Switzerland? What are the names of your local cinemas? What would you say is typically Swiss?

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Yilmaz isn't the only person with a Swiss background that has failed the country's citizenship test. A family of long-time Switzerland residents from Kosovo were denied passports in 2005 partly because of their sweatpant-wearing habits, according to Basellandschaftliche Zeitung. The Halili family received support from fellow Swiss neighbors, which ultimately allowed for their initial rejection to be overturned in 2006. This is a rare occurrence, however, as most denied applications don't get a second chance.

A Dutch woman was denied citizenship for the second time in 2017 for her views on animals rights and other Swiss traditions, according to The Local. Nancy Holten, a Netherlands-born woman who grew up in Switzerland, is vegan and a vocal animal rights advocate. She opposed the use of bells on cows because she believed it was damaging to their health, which caused tension amongst local residents who opposed her un-Swiss views.

A 75-year-old American-born man, who worked as a professor at a top Swiss university and lived in the country for 39 years, was also denied citizenship in 2014 for reportedly lacking knowledge of the region, according to The Local.

While citizenship rejection isn't a new practice in Switzerland, Yilmaz's story has allowed residents to fight for the naturalization process to be modified because the procedures have no relation to modern life in the country.

"They should be replaced by normal authorization procedures...the mood or political attitude of a member of the public authority does not decide on an applicant, but objective, comprehensible criteria such as the criminal or administrative register," the Tagesanzeiger, a Swiss newspaper, reported in July. "The fact that arbitrariness plays a role in today's system is un-Swiss."

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