Switzerland passport

Swiss passport
The front cover of a contemporary Swiss biometric passport
Type	Passport
Issued by	Switzerland
First issued	10 December 1915 (first version) 1 January 2003 (machine-readable passport) 4 September 2006 (biometric passport) 1 March 2010 (current version)
Purpose	Identification
Eligibility	Swiss citizenship
Expiration	10 years for adults, 5 years for minors up to age 17
Cost	CHF 140 (adult) / CHF 60 (minor)[1]

A Swiss passport is the passport issued to citizens of Switzerland to facilitate international travel. Beside serving as proof of Swiss citizenship, they facilitate the process of securing assistance from Swiss consular officials abroad. Contact us to buy Switzerland passport for sale.

The passport, along with the Swiss identity card allows for freedom of movement in any of the states of EFTA^[2] and the EU. This is because Switzerland is a member state of EFTA, and through bilateral agreements with the EU.^[3]

History of Swiss passports

The first Swiss passports were issued on 10 December 1915. The characteristic red Swiss passport was created in 1959.^[4] Until 1985 the Swiss passport included only the national languages of the time (French, German, and Italian) as well as English. Romansh was added in the later Pass 85 after it was declared the fourth Swiss national language following a referendum. The order of the languages was then changed to German, French, Italian, Romansh, and English.

Structure of the Swiss passport

Later Swiss passports (Pass 03, 06, and 10) contain 40 pages (instead of the previous 32) and a data page. 36 pages are provided for foreign visas and official stamps. The first page contains the bearer signature, as well as field 11 “Official observations”. The pages 2–3 contain translations of the field labels of the data page in 13 (Pass 03) and 26 (Pass 06 and Pass 10) languages, respectively. Each page has a unique color pattern, as well as an incomplete Swiss cross which registers with the matching incomplete cross on the reverse side when held to light. On pages 8–33, the incomplete Swiss cross contains the microprinted name of a canton and the year it joined the Swiss Confederation, with the canton’s coat of arms and a famous landmark in the top outer corner.

Biometric passports

Since 15 February 2010, non-biometric passports (Pass 03, 06, and 85) are no longer issued.

From 1 March 2010 and according to the Schengen Agreement, Swiss passports are all biometric. This is required for visa-free travel to the United States.^[5][6]

Data page

The Swiss passport includes the following fields on the polycarbonate data page ^[7]

• Photo of the passport bearer (also microperforated in the polycarbonate card)
• Type (PA – without biometrics, PM – with biometrics, PD – temporary passport, PB – diplomatic passport)^[8]
• Code (CHE)
• Passport number
• 1 Surname
• 2 Given name(s)
• 3 Nationality
• 4 Date of birth (dd.mm.yyyy)
• 5 Sex (M/F)
• 6 Height (cm)
• 7 Place of origin: (municipality and canton) (NB: birthplace is not indicated in Swiss identity documents)
• 8 Date of issue
• 9 Authority
• 10 Date of expiry

The bottom of the data page is the machine-readable zone.