All about the new Swiss passport

All about the new Swiss passport

Do you own a Swiss passport? It’s soon going to be a thing of the past. There will be a new ID at the end of October with the latest design. Fedpol (Federal Office of Swiss Police) announced that the design has been completely refurbished without changing the performance process and functionality.

Fedpol writes that the existing Swiss passport design is roughly 20 years old. Passports were last updated to conform to the security standards of the time in 2006 with the introduction of biometrics. According to a Federal Police Office statement, “Current security standards now make it necessary to renew the Swiss Passport family.” It adds, “the Swiss passport will continue to appear with the famous red cover.” However, one of the visa pages will still represent the 26 cantons and the “Fifth Switzerland” which represents Switzerland abroad.

If you are excited to see the new design, you will have to wait until October 31. And, to be able to travel abroad, you do not need a new passport. All previously issued passports will remain valid till their validity dates. For those who want a passport in the new design, an appointment must be made by 31 October for the collection of biometric data with responsible Swiss missions abroad and passport offices. The issuance process remains the same.

Federal Office for Building and Logistics will continue to personalize and dispatch passports. And you can still order combinations of ID and passport that will continue to be made from the existing identity cards.

Inclusions of the new Swiss passport family are ordinary passports, service passports, diplomatic passports, passports for foreigners in Switzerland, and travel documents (“refugee passports”).

A redesigned emergency passport will be introduced at a later date and will replace the current temporary passport. Recently, Norway also changed its passport design. On November 19, 2020, Norway issued the new passport design.

The primary reason for renewing passports is to increase their security by making them harder to forge.