Facts
[A.] resides in South Africa and submitted an application for facilitated naturalization in Switzerland. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) rejected her application by order dated January 9, 2018. The order was communicated to [A.] through the Swiss representation in Pretoria.
[A.] contested the order by filing a complaint with the Federal Administrative Court. The court dismissed the complaint as late in its judgment of April 4, 2018. [A.] then filed a public law appeal to the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court upholds the appeal. It finds that the SEM's order did not contain any information on the special requirements for compliance with the time limit for an appeal in an international context. According to case law, an administrative authority that issues an order to a person residing abroad must inform them precisely and completely about these regulations.
Since the appellant was neither visibly familiar with Swiss law nor represented by a lawyer, the authority should have informed her in an appropriate manner about the special legal requirements for compliance with the time limit…