Glarus citizenship test

How the Glarus exam works

Glarus checks basic knowledge orally. The commercial vocational school (KBS) Glarus organises everything on behalf of the canton. There are three stages:

1. Compulsory information evening, offered in January, March and September.
2. Optional preparation course of six evenings. You receive the course material about a month beforehand.
3. Oral exam in the form of an examination interview. Anyone taking the exam without the course can sit it in March or October.

The exam covers history, geography, culture, civics, political rights and duties, and social insurance, for Switzerland, the canton of Glarus and your municipality. Exams take place in the evening. The number of questions and the pass mark are not published, and there is no public question catalogue.

Important for your planning: you must pass the exam before applying. The certificate is valid for four years. The exam costs 100 francs, the course 250 francs plus 25 francs for material.

What you should know about the canton of Glarus

Glarus is one of two cantons with a Landsgemeinde, and many questions revolve around this special form of democracy.

• Landsgemeinde: It is the canton’s supreme body and meets on the first Sunday in May on the Zaunplatz in Glarus. Votes are cast by raising the voting card, and the Landammann estimates the majority. With a Memorialsantrag, any voter alone can submit a motion to the Landsgemeinde. Glarus is the only canton with a voting age of 16, decided by the Landsgemeinde in 2007.
• Municipalities: Since 2011 Glarus has had only three municipalities: Glarus Nord, Glarus and Glarus Süd. The Landsgemeinde surprisingly decided to merge the 25 municipalities in 2006 on a motion from the floor.
• Authorities: The Landrat has 60 members, and the Regierungsrat has had five since 2006. The Landsgemeinde elects the Landammann for two years. Glarus has one seat in the National Council and two in the Council of States. The constitution dates from 1988.
• History: Glarus joined the Confederation in 1352. On 9 April 1388 the people of Glarus defeated the Habsburgs at Näfels, commemorated every year on the first Thursday in April with the Näfelser Fahrt. Zwingli was the parish priest in Glarus from 1506 to 1516. In 1861 a great fire destroyed two thirds of the capital, and in 1864 the Landsgemeinde passed a factory law with a 12-hour day. Anna Göldi was executed as a «witch» in Glarus in 1782.
• Nature: The highest mountain is the Tödi at 3614 metres, and the Linth flows through the whole valley. Lake Klöntal was formed by a landslide, and the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Twice a year the sun shines through the Martinsloch rock hole onto the church tower of Elm. Braunwald is car-free, and the Klausen Pass leads to Uri.
• Culture and economy: The coat of arms shows Saint Fridolin, and the «Fridlisfüür» bonfires burn on his name day, 6 March. Glarus is considered the most industrialised canton. Schabziger cheese and the Glarner Pastete pastry are well known. In 1845 emigrants founded the town of New Glarus in Wisconsin.

The naturalisation process in the canton of Glarus

First you attend the information evening and take the exam at the KBS. With the certificate you submit your application. The municipality and the canton assess your integration and decide on municipal and cantonal citizenship; in between, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) issues the federal permit.

The canton requires German at level B1 spoken and A2 written. The residence rule is five years in the canton, the last three of them without interruption in the municipality.

How to prepare

The KBS recommends the booklet «ECHO – Informationen zur Schweiz» and the textbook «Die Schweiz verstehen» (hep Verlag). If you attend the course, you receive the material a month before it starts.

Because the exam is oral, practise answering in your own words. Explain, for example, how voting works at the Landsgemeinde or why the Näfelser Fahrt matters to Glarus. Stories like these stick and are easy to tell in an interview. Know your municipality too: Glarus Nord, Glarus or Glarus Süd, and what is currently important there.

With the practice questions and the mock test on this page you can check your basic knowledge before the exam.