Descent Gives You Citizenship at Birth or It Gives You Nothing, and It Expires at Twenty-Five
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Honduras on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
195 exceptions recorded across 74 countries · none match Honduras to Switzerland · Residency through ancestry
Switzerland has no residence permit for people of Swiss descent. Descent operates on citizenship instead, and it operates at birth: the child of married parents one of whom is Swiss is Swiss from birth, as is the child of a Swiss mother not married to the father. One generation, no grandparent rule, and no application. What there is instead is a trap for the generation born abroad. A child born abroad to a Swiss parent who also holds another nationality forfeits Swiss citizenship on completing their 25th year unless, before then, they have been reported to a Swiss authority at home or abroad, reported themselves, or declared in writing that they wish to keep it - and if they forfeit it, so do their children. Someone who has lost Swiss citizenship may apply for reinstatement within ten years, or after that if they have had three years of residence in Switzerland. For a foreign child of a Swiss national who cannot use the family reunification articles, the admission ordinance offers a residence permit - but only where reinstatement or facilitated naturalisation is a possibility.
At a glance
- A residence permit for descent as such
- None in chapter 5 of the Ausländer- und Integrationsgesetz, which contains every admission category; descent is dealt with by the Bürgerrechtsgesetz as a question of citizenship
The nearest provision is VZAE article 29, a permit for the foreign child of a Swiss national who cannot rely on family reunification, and it is conditioned on reinstatement or facilitated naturalisation being possible.
- How far descent reaches
- One generation - the child of a Swiss parent, from birth
BüG article 1(1). There is no grandparent or great-grandparent route in the Act.
- Forfeiture for a child born abroad
- On completing the 25th year, unless reported or declared before then
BüG article 7(1). It applies only to a child born abroad who also holds another nationality.
- Effect on the next generation
- A child who forfeits under article 7(1) takes their own children's Swiss citizenship with them
BüG article 7(2). This is why the rule matters a generation later than it bites.
- Reinstatement after loss
- Within ten years of the loss, or after that on three years of residence in Switzerland
BüG article 27(1) and (2). Article 28 restores the cantonal and communal citizenship the applicant last held.
- Former Swiss nationals
- A residence permit may be granted to a person released from Swiss citizenship who is closely connected with Switzerland
VZAE article 30(1), made under article 30(1)(b) of the Act. Gainful activity may be authorised on the conditions of article 29(2) or (3).
Requirements
- For citizenship by descent: one Swiss parent, married to the other, or a Swiss mother not married to the father
- For a child born abroad with another nationality: registration with a Swiss authority, or a written declaration, before completing the 25th year
- For reinstatement: application within ten years of losing citizenship, or three years of residence in Switzerland
- For a residence permit as a foreign child of a Swiss national: that reinstatement or facilitated naturalisation is possible
Country-level policy
No country in this corpus distributes migration decisions the way Switzerland does, and nothing else about the Swiss system makes sense without it. The Confederation writes the Act and the ordinances; the cantons grant the permits. Article 40(1) of the Foreign Nationals Act says the permits under articles 32 to 35 and 37 to 39 are granted by the cantons, reserving federal competence for the quota, for derogations from the admission conditions and for the approval procedure. Where there is no right to work, the labour-market pre-decision is a cantonal act too. The federal migration secretariat sits behind it rather than in front: the Federal Council decides which cases must be submitted to it for approval, and it may refuse approval of a cantonal decision, time-limit it, or attach conditions. The same split runs through naturalisation, where the Confederation authorises and the canton decides, through health insurance, where the cantons enforce the duty and may reduce premiums, and through the quota itself, which is divided among the twenty-six cantons before anyone applies.
Swiss federal law is published simultaneously in German, French and Italian, and for enactments the three versions are binding in the same way. No version prevails, which is the opposite of the arrangement in Malta, where the Constitution makes the Maltese text prevail over the English. That decides what this site quotes and how: any one of the three is the law, so the quotations in these records are in German, and the French and Italian versions of the same articles say the same thing with equal force. The second question the publication Act settles is the status of the platform. Article 1a says publication happens centrally through one publicly accessible online platform; article 15 then says the version published in the official compilation is authoritative for federal enactments, and that the version published on the publication platform is authoritative. Swiss consolidated texts are therefore not unofficial in the way Austria's RIS consolidations are, where the authentic text is only the one in the federal gazette.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Honduras
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«das Kind, dessen Eltern miteinander verheiratet sind und dessen Vater oder Mutter Schweizer Bürgerin oder Bürger ist;b. das Kind einer Schweizer Bürgerin, die mit dem Vater nicht verheiratet ist.»Our translation - not official
the child whose parents are married to each other and whose father or mother is a Swiss citizen; b. the child of a Swiss woman who is not married to the father.
Acquisition is automatic and at birth - "von Geburt an" in the opening words of the paragraph. There is nothing to apply for and nothing a later generation can apply for.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Das im Ausland geborene Kind eines schweizerischen Elternteils, das noch eine andere Staatsangehörigkeit besitzt, verwirkt das Schweizer Bürgerrecht mit der Vollendung des 25. Lebensjahres, wenn es nicht bis dahin einer schweizerischen Behörde im Ausland oder Inland gemeldet worden ist oder sich selber gemeldet hat oder schriftlich erklärt, das Schweizer Bürgerrecht beibehalten zu wollen.»Our translation - not official
A child born abroad to a Swiss parent who also holds another nationality forfeits Swiss citizenship on completing their 25th year of life, unless by then they have been reported to a Swiss authority abroad or at home, have reported themselves, or have declared in writing that they wish to retain Swiss citizenship.
A deadline rather than a condition of entitlement: the citizenship exists all along and goes at 25. Article 7(3) is generous about what counts as a report - any communication from parents, relatives or acquaintances with a view to registration, enrolment or issue of papers - and article 7(4) gives a year after an obstacle falls away.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Verwirkt das Kind das Schweizer Bürgerrecht nach Absatz 1, so verwirken es auch seine Kinder.»Our translation - not official
Where the child forfeits Swiss citizenship under paragraph 1, their children forfeit it too.
One sentence that ends a line of descent. A grandchild who would otherwise have been Swiss from birth is not, because a parent passed 25 without registering.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Wer das Schweizer Bürgerrecht verloren hat, kann innert zehn Jahren ein Gesuch um Wiedereinbürgerung stellen.»Our translation - not official
A person who has lost Swiss citizenship may apply for reinstatement within ten years.
Paragraph 2 reopens the door after the ten years for anyone with three years of residence in Switzerland. Article 26 adds the substantive conditions, which differ according to whether the applicant lives in Switzerland or abroad.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Ausländischen Kindern von Schweizerinnen und Schweizern, die sich nicht auf die Bestimmungen über den Familiennachzug nach Artikel 42 AIG berufen können, kann eine Aufenthaltsbewilligung erteilt werden, wenn die Möglichkeit der Wiedereinbürgerung oder der erleichterten Einbürgerung im Sinne von Artikel 27 Absatz 2 sowie»Our translation - not official
Foreign children of Swiss nationals who cannot rely on the family reunification provisions of article 42 AIG may be granted a residence permit where reinstatement or facilitated naturalisation within the meaning of article 27(2) and
The sentence ends by naming article 51(1) and (2) of the citizenship Act. The permit exists to make a citizenship route usable, not as a route of its own, and it is a discretion - "kann".
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«An Personen, die aus dem Schweizer Bürgerrecht entlassen wurden (Art. 37 BüG»Our translation - not official
Persons released from Swiss citizenship (article 37 BüG
The sentence continues: such a person may be granted a residence permit where they are closely connected with Switzerland. Paragraph 3 excludes people whose citizenship was annulled or withdrawn, who fall under the ordinary admission conditions.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The negative claim here rests on two texts read in full for their admission provisions: chapter 5 of the Foreign Nationals Act, which contains every admission category, and chapter 3 of the VZAE, which implements it. Neither contains a category defined by ancestry.
The registration deadline is the thing most often discovered too late. It falls on a 25th birthday, it applies only to someone born abroad who holds another nationality, and the consequence reaches their children - so a family that assumes the citizenship is safe can find two generations outside it.
Article 51 of the citizenship Act provides facilitated naturalisation for a child of a Swiss parent in certain cases, and it is the provision VZAE article 29 points to. It has not been read in full for this record.
This is not a route for grandchildren. Where the line was broken - by forfeiture at 25, by release from citizenship, or because the Swiss ancestor was a grandparent rather than a parent - the Act offers reinstatement to the person who lost it and nothing to anyone further down.
- consolidatesBürgerrechtsgesetz (BüG), SR 141.0, consolidated text in force from 1 September 2023
Fedlex, Bundeskanzlei der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft · consolidated to 2023-09-01
About this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesVerordnung über Zulassung, Aufenthalt und Erwerbstätigkeit (VZAE), SR 142.201, consolidated text in force from 1 October 2026
Fedlex, Bundeskanzlei der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft · consolidated to 2026-10-01
About this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source