A French citizen who saw his application for Swiss citizenship denied over his grass-cutting activity had his day in court — and won.
Even though the 50-year-old Frenchman had lived in Clos du Doubs in canton Jura for more than a decade, his request for naturalisation was denied in 2024.
The community assembly in the French-speaking municipality nixed the man’s request, basing the refusal on his decidedly ‘un-Swiss’ behaviour: he routinely disturbed public peace by mowing his lawn and doing yard work on public holidays.
Members of the assembly also complained that he had been renovating his house for many years, with debris littering the property, “which clearly showed that he is not integrated.”
Another sign of lack of integration cited by the community: the Frenchman was reportedly “rarely seen” out and about in the village and did not participate in community events.
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Justice is served
The unlucky applicant didn’t give up hope, however.
He filed an appeal against the decision in a local court, which recently overturned the community’s decision.
Judges ruled that the man met all the legal requirements for naturalisation — including the length of residency and local language proficiency — and that no formal complaint had ever been filed against him.
As for the “lack of integration,” it was contradicted by the favourable feedback he apparently received, as well as by a clean record and a stable professional situation.
Therefore, the man will be now be able to obtain his Swiss passport after all — though he may have to adjust his grass mowing schedule to avoid disturbing his neighbours.
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Not the only one
This case, though bizarre by foreign standards, is not unique in Switzerland.
There are others where applicants were denied Swiss citizenship for what could be deemed as arbitrary reasons.
Perhaps one of the most widely publicised cases, both in Switzerland and abroad, involved a Dutch woman, whose citizenship attempt was denied because she complained about the noise of cow bells in her village in Aargau.
However, she too appealed her community’s decision and was eventually granted citizenship.
Another case involved an Italian man whose naturalisation was denied because he failed the bear necessities — answering questions about local zoo animals.
The man, who had lived in Switzerland for more than 30 years, was judged by his local naturalisation committee not to be socially and culturally integrated enough to be granted citizenship, based on his failure to answer a question about bears and wolves at the local zoo
You can read more about there and other similar cases here:
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