Swiss Passport Photo

A Swiss passport is a document facilitating international travel issued by Switzerland - or officially the Swiss Confederation - to citizens of this country. It serves as a travelling document and as proof of Swiss citizenship. It is written in the four official languages (French, German, Italian, and Romansch) and also in English. Fun fact is that the phrase "This passport contains 40 numbered pages" is written in 26 languages. Since March 2010 all Swiss passports are biometric which means that they contain biometric data - a biometric photograph and fingerprints - and the data page is machine-readable.

Temporary (emergency) passport

This is not a regular document and it is issued only if there is no time to apply for a regular passport or a valid passport cannot be presented (is lost, stolen or destroyed). The other condition to issue an emergency passport is the presence of special circumstances. This is possible to apply for a temporary passport at any Swiss consulate or the embassy or of course any domestic passport office. You can do it also at the airport in Zurich, Basel and Geneva. Be aware that a temporary passport issued at the airport costs a minimum of CHF 150.

This document is not biometric and you cannot for example travel with it to the United States and some other countries which require biometric data but you can come back to Switzerland if the validity of your passport ends where you are abroad. 

Applying for a Swiss passport

You can fill in the passport application online or in-person in the passport office. Once your application is approved, the passport office employee will invite you for a meeting to record your data (photo, signature and fingerprints).

In certain cantons, you are allowed to bring your own digital photo. Check before a meeting if this applies to your local passport office. After the interview, you will receive your passport within 10 working days in Switzerland or within 30 days if sent to an address outside of Switzerland by registered post.

Biometric passport data protection

Your biometric data are stored on the chip integrated with the passport. This data cannot be altered or read without going unnoticed. 

That means that if you lose your document for some reason, your encrypted data as fingerprints is still safe and can be processed only by scanners used by immigration officers and agencies authorised to check the people’s identity.

Validity and costs

The validity of regular passports is ten years for adult’s documents and five years for children passports. For a temporary passport is a maximum of 12 months but can vary. Please keep in mind that Swiss emergency passports are not recognised as valid travel documents by all countries. 

The costs of issuing a Swiss passport vary depending on the type of the document. A passport for an adult person is 145 CHF with the postage and 65 CHF with the postage for children and minors up to 18 years old. Temporary passport’s issuing is minimum of 100 CHF regardless of its type. If an emergency passport is issued at the airport, the cost is higher - up to 150 CHF.

The cost of documents abroad is calculated according to the current exchange rate of that country and must be paid in the currency of the country, including any postage or delivery costs.

Consider applying at the same time for a passport and an Identity Card. You may save you money and time. In such a case the cost of issuing these documents is 158 CHF for adults and 78 CHF for children with the postage.

Swiss Passport Photo Guidelines

If you live in certain cantons, you can bring your own digital photo instead of taking it in the Passport Office. This gives you a great opportunity to control how you actually look in your photo. If you take it in the office, you have no big choice. You are expected to accept the first shot they will take because there is no time for corrections. So if you want to like the picture you will show to many people all over the world for the next 10 years, consider the option we named “take your passport photo at home”. All you need are:

• smartphone or a digital camera
• photographer (ask somebody to help as selfie is not acceptable)
• tripod if you prefer to do it on your own
• list of the Swiss passport photo requirements
• Passport Photo Generator to properly resize, crop and adjust your picture

How to take a correct passport photo?

Actually, this is much easier than you may think. Every day thousands of people worldwide decide to save their time and money and take the passport photo at home instead of tracking down photo booths or professional photo studios. With the little help of our intelligent photo app you are perfectly able to create a photo which is the same as a professionally taken one in terms of quality. Take a while and read our short guidelines. In 5 minutes you will know how:

• must be the biometric photo
• is the required size and crop for the Swiss passport photo
• to pose, where to look and what do to and not to do
• to verify if your photograph is correct
• to pay less and save time while taking a passport-style photo

Biometric passport photo DIY

Nowadays every country issues only biometric passports. It does mean that the page with data and photograph must be readable for facial recognition programs used by immigrations services and border guards. This photo, what is obvious, must meet certain requirements which strictly set:

• size and crop
• resolution (if the photo is digital)
• color of background
• head position
• composition of the picture
• what is allowed and forbidden in the photo

As artificial intelligence must be able to identify the passport holder comparing the person’s face with individual features visible in the photo, there is a requirement of a neutral face expression. In practise: the candidate must not smile or make grimaces. This could be a little bit awkward because the photograph in the biometric passport looks a bit like a mugshot but if you smile, your photo will be automatically rejected. 

Anyway, even if you must not smile, you still can create a correct and attractive photo of yourself. Read the article and have fun capturing a photo by yourself.

Swiss passport photo requirements

Before you face the camera, read carefully what are “musts” and “mustn’ts” for a digital passport photo taken at home. This knowledge guarantees you that the photo will be approved by the Passport Office.

Photo validity

Your passport photo must represent your current appearance so it cannot be taken more than 6 months before you submit your passport application. Remember that once you get a passport-style photo with our Passport Photo Maker you may use it as many times as you want. Maybe you want to apply for the ID card together with your passport? After ordering a photo template on our website, you will receive it on your email in JPEG format. You can upload it to different online applications or print it if you wish. Just watch out for its “expiration date”.

Size and crop

The demanded dimensions for a passport photo in Switzerland are 35 mm x 45 mm. There must be 5 mm space left between the top of the head and the edge of the photo. The head must be positioned in a central spot of the image. It cannot be too big or too small. Acceptable size of the head from the chin to the crown is 29 mm minimum and 34 mm maximum. But the great news is that you don’t even need to know all those details! Once you pick up the template for a chosen document (eg. Swiss Passport) and upload the picture, our program automatically resizes and crops the image to the required dimensions.

Background

The background must be light-grey, plain, free of patterns and shadows. There must be some space left between both sides of your face and the edges of the picture so if your hair is voluminous, consider to wear it up. No other persons or objects must be visible with you in the picture - only your face, neck and the upper part of your shoulders. But it does not mean that you have to paint your wall now! Actually, you can take your picture wherever you want and then use our background removing photo tool. It erases an unsuitable background in one second and exchanges it into a light-grey, plain one.

Facial expression

As you already know, you must not smile in your biometric photo. The specification calls it “a neutral facial expression”. It means that you need to close your mouths (but don’t tighten them), open your eyes and relax your facial muscles. Look straight at the camera. Do not tilt your head in any direction, make sure that the camera lens is on the level of your eyes. Smiling, frowning or making grimaces cause rejection of photos.

Glasses in the passport photo

If you wear eyeglasses every day, you may keep them while capturing a photo for a passport. Just make sure that their frames do not obscure your eyes and do not drop shadows on your face. The glasses must be transparent - sunglasses and tinted glasses are prohibited. There must not be a glare from glasses.

Headgears (fashion and religious)

In the passport photo, you cannot pose in the head covered by a fashion headgear, for example a cap, a hat or a headband. However, if you cover your head for religious reasons and you travel internationally with the head covering, you may keep it while capturing a photo to passport. But there are some rules about head coverings: they cannot obscure your face or drop shadows on the skin. Do not wear headgear in the same color as the color of the background.

Passport picture quality

If you print your photos, don’t use a home inkjet printer. Passport photos must be professionally printed on photo-quality paper. You may send them or send the template to a one-hour photo store. You may also bring your picture on USB-stick. In both cases, your photo must meet certain technical requirements. It must be:

• properly exposed (overexposed and underexposed photos are rejected)
• sharp and clear
• well-focused
• showing your skin tones naturally

Switzerland Passport Photo Originality

You probably have a lot of very pretty photos from holidays or parties and maybe you ask yourself: can I use one of those pictures as my passport photo?

The answer is: you can do it if the photo is not a selfie and its crop is correct. This is not allowed to cut out the crop from the bigger photo and use the zoom function. Another condition about the originality says about computer software alteration. Remember that you must not interfere in your picture with any computer programs or filters. Artificial intelligence validation pictures recognize immediately any kind of interferation and such a photo is automatically rejected.

Passport Photo Lights 

As your face must be evenly illuminated, our advice is to use daylight. The best option is to stand or sit down facing the window, taking a 1,5-2 m distance. Do not use a flash lamp because it may cause unnatural effects such as “the red eyes effect” or glares on your skin. Both of them disqualify the picture.

Swiss Passport Photo - the biggest mistakes made by candidates

Swiss passport processing time is not long but may be extended if you make some mistakes in your application form or submit a photo which does not meet all the requirements. To avoid this last situation, read about the most common mistakes people make just to be sure you will not do that. As we have been informed in many passport offices in the world, the most often disqualifying mistakes are:

• not an en-face view
• a selfie or with head tilted
• “smiling” photos
• face partly covered - by a headscarf or hair
• the head not centred in the picture
• shadow on the face or on the background
• wrong size of the photo
• eyeglasses obscuring pupils

Remember also  that your Swiss passport photo must be:

• properly exposed (not underlit or overlit)
• not washout or blurred
• focused, sharp and clear
• printed on the photo-quality paper

Swiss Passport Photo Maker

Of course you can book a session in a professional studio, drive there and pay for at maximum three different shots which you will not necessarily like. But is it not easier to stay safe at home (especially now, in coronavirus times), find a convenient moment and take as many shots as you wish? Everybody likes to have a choice and when you use the Passport Photo Maker you can try many outfits and hairstyles, experiment with makeups and lights. Every photo shot you take is verified by artificial intelligence and you can decide whether to order it or take more pictures. All of this is totally free of charge and you pay only for what you buy. Once you statet “yes, this is it!”, you simply order your favourite photo and get it on your email address.

Passport Photo Editor for iOS

We have good news for Apple products lovers: you can download our Photo App from the AppStore. This app will let you prepare and store your photo shots and use them more than one time. You may upload them to online applications or print them in for example one-hour photo service. But if you don’t need at the moment a passport or visa photo, you can use this app to prepare your portrait-style photograph which could be a wonderful gift for somebody you like.

Passport Photo App for Android 

For models of smartphones like Samsung, LG, Huawei, HTC, Lenovo and Sony you can download Photo Editor from Google Play Store. Use this app to create, store and correct your passport-style (but not only) photos. You pay only once and you may use your photo template multiple times, whenever you need or create a new one for new documents. In our App we offer more than 100 photo templates to different documents such as visas, passports, driving licences etc. Just find the one you need, upload the photo and the program will do the rest!

Swiss Passport Photo with a guarantee

Do you know how to order a passport photo with 100% warranty of acceptance by the Passport Office? That is easy: on our website! Every photo you create with us is validated and if the artificial intelligence marks it as correct, you can be 100% sure that this picture will not be rejected by the office employees. If for some reason it is (but it has never happened before!) your photo is rejected, we return you money. Why? Because all we care about is your satisfaction!

Last update: 10/1/22