Swiss passport

Swiss passport
The front cover of a contemporary Swiss biometric passport
Date first issued	March 1, 2010 (current biometric version)
Issued by	Switzerland
Type of document	Passport
Purpose	Identification
Eligibility requirements	Swiss citizenship
Expiration	5 years of issuance for citizens up to the age 17; 10 years for adults
Cost	CHF 140 (adult) / CHF 60 (minor)

A Swiss passport is the passport issued to citizens of Switzerland to facilitate international travel. For traveling inside almost all of Europe, Swiss citizens can use an identity card.

The first Swiss passports were issued in 1915. Those were not yet in the famous red colour, but were bound in a grey-green cover. The famous red Swiss passport was created in 1959. Until 1985 the Swiss passport was only printed in the national languages of the time: French, German, Italian; English was included in addition to the aforementioned national languages. Romansh was added in the later Pass 85 after it was declared the fourth Swiss national language following a referendum. The ordering of the languages was then changed to German, French, Italian, Romansh and English.

The Swiss passport is red in colour and raised Swiss crosses on the outside cover (relief print). On the cover in the right upper corner are the words «Schweizer Pass» (German), «Passeport suisse» (French), «Passaporto svizzero» (Italian), «Passaport svizzer» (Romansh) and «Swiss passport» (English). Immediately below the writing there is a white Swiss cross. The "Pass 06" and "Pass 10" respectively issued in 2006 and 2010 additionally feature the biometric symbol on the right lower side of the cover.

The new Swiss passports (Pass -03 -06 and -10) contain 40 pages instead of the previous 32 and an information page. For foreign visas and official stamps there are 37 pages provided. The first page is used for the bearer to sign the passport and beneath it is the 11th field: "Official observations." On the 2nd page there are the translations of the information page into 13 languages (Pass 03) and 26 (Pass 06 and Pass10) respectively. Each page is designed differently. The Coat of arms of the Cantons and an architectural element (famous landmarks of each Canton) are printed on the right upper hand side of the pages, and between pages 8 and 33 colours of background motifs and the Swiss cross are printed in "printing registration". Within the incomplete Swiss cross in the printing registration, there is tiny micro printing with the name of the Canton and the year of its entry to the Swiss Confederation. This can only be read with a magnifying glass, or microsope.