A resident of the canton of Lucerne, Switzerland, tried to take advantage of administrative flexibility to carry out a scam for public aid. He changed sex in the civil registry in order to receive a retirement pension a year earlier, reports the Lucerne newspaper.
The sixty-year-old took all the necessary steps in early January to be considered a woman by the Swiss state, in order to receive old-age and survivors’ insurance (AVS) a year earlier, relays Le Figaro. This retirement pension is paid to women from the age of 64 and to men from the age of 65.
Risks of abuse
The Swiss took advantage of a simplification of the procedure for changing sex in the civil status, introduced on January 1, 2022. From now on, such a change only requires the payment of 75 Swiss francs and a ten-minute interview allowing the registrar to assess the “capacity of discernment” of the applicant.
This relaxation of procedure has raised concerns about the possibility of abuse, particularly by men seeking to avoid military service. Not wishing to be accused of transphobia, the government would also have invited civil registrars not to “actively seek” abuse, specifies the Swiss version of 20 Minutes.
Source: 20minutes
