Can I join the Swiss military if I become a citizen or legal resident?

Question

Can I join the Swiss military if I become a citizen or legal resident?

Answer 1

You just cannot join the army in Switzerland like in the US.

It is mandatory when you reach 20 yrs old (male).

Must be Swiss citizen, not a legal resident.

Answer 2

age

Answer 3

You can't just come to switzerland and join the army. Besides, there are lots of swiss who don't want to, and so why do you want to?

Answer 4

who cares...the point is all u get to defend urself is a swiss army knife....and what good is a bottle opener in the face of the enemy?  mind u, the swiss dont get involved in anything anyway, so u might be alright

Answer 5

There is no possibility for foreign residents to join the Swiss army.

You would have to join the Swiss army if you became a Swiss citizen. To apply for a Swiss Citizenship you need to have lived several years in the country and meet numbers of other hard requirements. Therefore I assume that you would be too old for the Swiss army by the date you would qualify for a Swiss citizenship.

Answer 6

Citizen, yes, if you are under 35 when you get your citizenship, and you want to, or if you are male and under about 25, whether you want to or not.

Legal resident, no.

To correct a previous answer, Swiss citizens residing abroad do not pay military tax, but male Swiss citizens between 20 and 35 who reside in Switzerland do have to pay tax if they do not do their service for whatever reason. My husband has been in both these situations. He was 29 when we moved to Switzerland, and the army didn't want him, but he had to pay the tax. I think he could have protested their decision to not take him but we didn't really know what was going on at the time.

Answer 7

I don't believe you can. Every Swiss male, upon turning 20, is required to undergo 15 weeks of military training. If you are a Swiss male, and live in another country, you must tithe 2% of you income for you military exemption.

If you wanted to become a Swiss Guard first and foremost you must be Catholic. It is a very highly sought after position and must be born in Switzerland.