Swiss Naturalization Test
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Transparency — Catalogue update commitment

App: Swiss Naturalization Test · Developer: Vincenzo Casini · Last updated: 14 September 2026

This application is a study companion, not an official preparation tool. For the actual naturalization test, candidates must always refer to the official platform of their canton, linked in the table below.

Why this page exists

This app covers all 26 Swiss cantons. For each one we verified the official sources: in 13, exam preparation is dedicated; in the others we serve the official federal civic base (basic preparation, not that canton's real exam). Because each canton publishes its catalogue differently and updates it on its own schedule, users and institutions need a way to verify how this app keeps its data in sync with official sources. This page documents the verification process, the declared service level, the reporting channel for discrepancies, and the audit trail available on request.

This commitment is voluntary. The app is not affiliated with any government authority. It is independently developed by a naturalization applicant.

Service Level — what we promise

Source verification: all 13 official cantonal sources are checked once every 24 hours via an automated continuous-integration pipeline. Checks run on a staggered schedule (between 03:00 and 07:00 UTC) to avoid concurrent writes to the audit log.

Drift detection latency: a change in any official source is detected within 24 hours of publication.

Standard refresh window: when a change is detected, the updated catalogue is published in a new app version within 7 days.

Emergency refresh window: critical issues (factual errors flagged by users or canton authorities) are addressed within 72 hours.

Metadata review: the legal basis and procedure scope for each canton is manually re-verified every 6 months or on-demand if the canton announces a procedural change.

How verification works

The pipeline is built in four layers:

  1. Scraping — automated parsers read the official PDF or API for each canton, normalize the question and answer content, and produce a structured snapshot.
  2. Refresh orchestration — when a refresh is triggered, the parser re-runs from scratch. Existing question IDs are preserved; new questions get fresh IDs; questions removed by the canton are marked deprecated (never silently deleted).
  3. Drift detection — a nightly job computes a content hash of every official source and compares it against the previous baseline. If the hash differs, the job flags a drift event.
  4. Audit log — every verification run, drift or not, is recorded in an append-only structured log (one JSONL file per canton). Each entry includes timestamp, source URL, response status, content hash, previous hash, and any detected changes.
  5. No auto-acknowledgement — a drift event stays flagged as unresolved until a human reviews the change, updates the question set if needed, and commits a new baseline hash. The pipeline never silently resets the drift flag on its own.

Per-canton coverage

CantonWhat we serveOfficial sourceOfficial material
Aargau Written + oral Official questionsThe official exam questions, unchanged. Every possible question is here. www.gemeinden-ag.ch
Appenzell Ausserrhoden Written Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. ar.ch
Appenzell Innerrhoden Oral Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. www.ai.ch
Basel-Landschaft Oral Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. www.baselland.ch
Basel-Stadt Oral Written from official sourcesWritten from the official content; the real exam is an oral interview. The federal part uses official questions. Other questions are possible at the exam. bgbasel.ch
Bern Written + oral Official questions · partial setThe official exam series (past editions). Other questions are possible at the exam. www.einbuergerung.sid.be.ch
Fribourg Oral Written from official sourcesWritten from the official content; the real exam is an oral interview. The federal part uses official questions. Other questions are possible at the exam. www.fr.ch
Geneva Written Official questions · adaptedThe official exam content, as multiple-choice. Other questions are possible at the exam. www.ge.ch
Glarus Oral Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. www.kbsglarus.ch
Grisons Oral Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. www.gr.ch
Jura Oral Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. www.jura.ch
Lucerne Oral Written from official sourcesWritten from the official content; the real exam is an oral interview. The official catalogue alongside it is the facilitated-naturalisation one. Other questions are possible at the exam. gemeinden.lu.ch
Neuchâtel Oral Official questions · adaptedThe official interview questionnaire, turned into multiple-choice by us. Closed list; our coverage is not guaranteed complete. www.ne.ch
Nidwalden Oral Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. www.nw.ch
Obwalden Written Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. www.ow.ch
Schaffhausen Oral Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. www.stadt-schaffhausen.ch
Schwyz Written Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. www.bbzp.ch
Solothurn Written Written from official sourcesWritten from the official content. The federal part uses official questions. Other questions are possible at the exam. so.ch
St. Gallen Written + oral Written from official sourcesWritten from the official content. The federal part uses official questions. Other questions are possible at the exam. Question count and duration are estimates (not published). www.arge.ch
Thurgau Written Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. hz.tg.ch
Ticino Written Written from official sourcesWritten from the official content. The federal part uses official questions. Other questions are possible at the exam. Question count and duration are estimates (not published). www4.ti.ch
Uri Written Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. www.ur.ch
Valais Oral Official questions · adaptedThe official interview questionnaire, turned into multiple-choice by us. Other questions are possible at the exam. www.vs.ch
Vaud Written Official questionsThe official exam questions, unchanged. Every possible question is here. www.vd.ch
Zug Oral Federal baseBasic preparation: the official federal questions borrowed from another canton — not this canton’s real questions. zg.ch
Zurich Written Official questionsThe official exam questions, unchanged. Every possible question is here. Question count and duration are estimates (not published). www.zh.ch

Federal-level reference: State Secretariat for Migration (SEM).

Per-question provenance

Every question in the app carries structured metadata that records:

This metadata makes every question independently verifiable against its source.

Reporting discrepancies

If you find a question that is outdated, incorrect, or missing relative to its official source, please report it. Reports are processed within the SLA above — 72 hours for critical issues, 7 days for standard updates.

Audit log access

Every verification run is recorded in append-only structured logs (one JSONL file per canton). Logs include timestamp, source URL, response status, content hash, and any detected changes. Logs are kept indefinitely on a dedicated git branch.

The audit log is not published openly because it lives in the application's production repository. It is available for inspection by cantonal naturalization authorities, the State Secretariat for Migration, accredited researchers, or journalists on written request at swisscitizenshiptest@gmail.com. Inspection requests are honoured within 5 working days.

Versioning policy

Each catalogue snapshot is identified by:

Historical snapshots are preserved so any past version can be inspected and compared against the live one.

About this app

Swiss Naturalization Test is a free, ad-free study tool (with optional sign-in to sync across devices) for the Swiss naturalization knowledge test. It is independently developed by a naturalization applicant living in Switzerland. It is not affiliated with any government authority. Its purpose is to complement official preparation tools — not to replace them.

For questions about this transparency commitment or to discuss institutional collaboration: swisscitizenshiptest@gmail.com.

Note for institutions: if you represent a cantonal or municipal naturalization office and want to verify the audit trail or discuss how this app references your canton's catalogue, please reach out at the email above. We are happy to demonstrate the pipeline live, share the audit log for your canton, and document any wording adjustments you require.