Guidance

Switzerland: Knowledge Base profile

Published 11 June 2025

Version 5.0

1. About: Switzerland

This document contains useful information about Switzerland which will assist His Majesty’s Passport Office staff process passport applications.

1.1 Contacts

If you have any questions about the document and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the document has factual errors then email the Guidance team.

If you notice any formatting errors in this document (broken links, spelling mistakes and so on) or have any comments about the layout or navigability of the document then you can email the Guidance team.

1.2 Publication

Below is information on when this version of the document was published:

• version 5.0
• published for Home Office staff on 2 June 2025

1.3 Changes from last version of this document

This document has been updated with minor formatting changes.

2. Switzerland: names

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in Switzerland.

Names in Switzerland consist of:

• forenames
• surname – either a family surname or a chosen surname

2.1 Change of name

Name changes are allowed in Switzerland.

The law on change of name following marriage or civil partnership changed on 1 January 2013.

Spouses married before 1 January 2013:

• can continue using their maiden and spouse’s surnames together as a double surname, without a hyphen
• do not have to change their surname and can:
  • continue to use their birth surname
  • can tell the register office that they would like to revert to their maiden or birth name at any time

If the couple entered into a civil partnership and changed their surname, they can:

• continue to use their new name
• tell the register office that they would like to revert to their maiden or birth name at any time

On or after 1 January 2013:

• married spouses or couples in registered civil partnerships can either choose to:
  • keep their birth surname; or,
  • take either spouse or partner’s name as the family
• married spouses can create a hyphenated surname using their birth and spouse’s surnames
• surnames made by combining both spouses’ surnames without a hyphen are not official names, the:
  • Switzerland authorities will not enter the surname in the civil code register
  • customer can use it for official purposes and can ask for it to be recorded on their identity documents
• customers who remarry:
  • will keep their married surname, even if they changed it by marriage
  • cannot use their married surname as a shared surname in their new marriage

When parents are married or in a registered civil partnership children are given:

• their parents’ shared surname (if their parents are married and have a shared surname)
• the surname the parents chose for their future children when they married (if the parents did not change their surname following marriage)

Parents can change the surname of their first child to the other parent’s surname, if both the following apply:

• the parents do not have a shared family name
• the child is less than 1 year old

The surname chosen for the first child becomes the surname for all future children of the same parents.

The authorities in Switzerland will add combined surnames (a surname of both spouses’ surnames without a hyphen) to passports and identity cards if both the following apply:

• the customer asks them to add it to their passport or identity card
• the customer created the name by combining their own and their spouse’s surnames after marriage

2.2 Name alignment

A person can align their name on a Switzerland passport without travelling to Switzerland.

3. Switzerland: nationality

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about nationality in Switzerland.

Dual nationality is recognised in Switzerland from 1 January 1992.

4. Switzerland: legitimacy and parental responsibility

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy and parental responsibility in Switzerland.

4.1 Legitimacy

Switzerland recognises a difference between legitimate and illegitimate births.

A child will be considered:

• legitimate:
  • if the parents are married at the time of birth
  • if the parents never marry and the father acknowledges the child as theirs
  • if the court issues a judicial decree
  • from the date of marriage if the parents get married after the child is born
• illegitimate if the parents never marry and the father does not acknowledge the child

4.2 Parental responsibility

For children born on or after 1 July 2014, both parents have parental responsibility regardless of whether they are married or not.

For children born before 1 July 2014, if the parents are:

• married at the time of the child’s birth, both parents will have parental responsibility
• not married, the mother will have parental responsibility and for the father to get parental responsibility they must submit a declaration of joint custody at the civil registry office

5. Switzerland: adoption

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about adoption in Switzerland.

Adoption is legal in Switzerland.

Foreign nationals can adopt children in Switzerland. They must be habitually resident in Switzerland.

6. Switzerland: surrogacy

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about surrogacy in Switzerland.

Surrogacy is illegal in Switzerland.

7. Switzerland: gender recognition

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about gender recognition in Switzerland.

Transgender citizens are recognised in Switzerland if the customer’s change of gender is accepted by a court.

Where the courts accept the change, the register office will reissue the customer’s documents in the customer’s new gender.

8. Switzerland: civil partnerships and marriage

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about civil partnerships and marriage in Switzerland.

Civil partnerships and same sex marriages are legal in Switzerland. Couples who enter a civil partnership will have the same rights as married couples.

If a same sex couple marry outside of Switzerland, their marriage will be recognised as a civil partnership in Switzerland.

Civil marriages are legal in Switzerland.

9. Switzerland: documents

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents in Switzerland.

9.1 Birth certificates

Birth certificates are issued following the registration of birth in Switzerland.

Each district has its own registry office and hospital births are automatically registered. Home births are normally registered within 3 months.

There are 2 types of birth certificates in circulation including:

• Acte de naissance; acceptable for HM Passport Office purposes
• Extrait de l’acte de naissance; not acceptable for HM Passport Office purposes

The birth certificate will show the date it was issued and not when the birth was registered.

9.2 Marriage certificates

Marriages in Switzerland are recorded at the registry office and a certificate is issued at the time the marriage takes place.

9.3 Death certificates

Death certificates are issued to everyone. The death should be reported within 2 days.

There is more than one type of death certificate, this includes L’acte de décès international CIEC, which is a multilanguage death certificate.

9.4 Identity documents

There is a voluntary identity card scheme.

The authorities in Switzerland will add combined surnames (a surname of both spouses’ surnames without a hyphen) to passports and identity cards if both the following apply:

• the customer asks them to add it to their passport or identity card
• the customer created the name by combining their own and their spouse’s surnames after marriage

Switzerland passports show the holder’s ‘place of origin’ rather than ‘place of birth’. The place of origin could be their place of birth if they were born in Switzerland or, if the holder was born outside of Switzerland, it will show the place of birth of their last descendant who was born in Switzerland (parent or grandparent).

Switzerland nationals cannot change the ‘place of origin’ on their Switzerland passport or identity card to match the place of birth on their birth certificate.

HM Passport Office will not ask the customer to align the place of origin on their Switzerland passport. HM Passport Office will add an observation to the British passport to show the difference.