Canton rules foreign woman was wrongly denied Swiss citizenship

Nearly a year ago, in December 2025, a woman from Turkey, who had been living in Neuenhof for 13 years and passed her German proficiency tests, nevertheless had her application for naturalisation turned down. 

During a meeting with the committee made up of local residents – as is usually the case in small communities – she was asked a series of questions.

Following the interview, her bid for naturalisation was rejected. The committee cited various reasons for the decision, including that she confused the names of local castles with names of rivers.

READ MORE: How your Swiss commune plays a key role in your citizenship application

‘Downhill’ from then on

But the answer that was decisive in the committee’s ruling had to do with skiing.

Asked what a ‘typical’ Swiss sport was, she said ‘skiing.’

Wrong answer, it turned out.

To justify their rejection, the committee pointed out that ‘skiing’ doesn’t distinguish Switzerland from, say Austria, and the answer they expected was ‘Schwingen’.

This could have been the end of the story. But it wasn’t.

Canton to the rescue

The woman appealed the committee’s decision to the Aargau Parliament, which reviewed the case and has now handed down the ruling – in her favour.

It overturned Neuenhof’s decision, pointing out that ‘skiing’ was not a wrong answer and countering the committee’s other arguments concerning the woman’s integration as well.

She is now cleared to become a Swiss citizen.

This decision follows closely another recent ruling in which a German primary school teacher in canton Schwyz was rejected for naturalisation by her local committee because she she could not answer a question relating to little-known local lore.

She too appealed the decision to the canton, which had just ruled in her favour, saying that the story in question is so obscure that even Swiss residents would not be able to answer it correctly.

READ MORE: The bizarre reasons applicants have been denied Swiss citizenship