Switzerland is a member of the Schengen Agreement. Citizens of Russia and the CIS countries need a visa to visit the country. Get it without resorting to the help of travel agencies, perhaps thanks to our detailed life hack.
If you plan to apply directly to the Swiss Embassy, then keep in mind that this can only be done in Moscow, you must be present in person. In addition, as practice shows, it is not so easy to make an appointment at the Embassy for the required dates, there are a lot of people willing. The main advantage of applying for a visa at the Embassy is that there is no need to pay a service fee, as required by visa centers. With a multiple-entry Schengen visa, you can travel and freely cross the borders of all Schengen countries. Also, many tourists are worried about the "first entry" rule.
Be aware that it is not at all necessary that Switzerland be the country of first entry, because it is not always possible to purchase tickets with a direct flight. Often, in order to save money, tourists prefer to fly with transfers, which means that the passport may not have the stamp of the country where you will spend most of your vacation. In confirmation of your intentions to spend a vacation in Switzerland, you will provide enough documents so that no one in the Embassy doubts it, but more on that later.
How to get to Switzerland on your own - read our article.
You can submit a package of documents in Moscow to the address: Prechistenskaya embankment, house 31. Contact phone: +7 (495) 995-85-12.
In other cities: St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don and Novosibirsk there are also visa centers that accept documents on weekdays from 9 to 15 hours. You can get your passport on weekdays from 11 to 16.30.
Currently, the delivery of documents to the Swiss Embassy is carried out by the outsourcing company TLScontact, for whose services you will have to pay an additional 22 euros + visa fee. All addresses of visa centers can be found on the website www2.tlscontact.com. Here you will need to create an account (register). It is possible to make an appointment online and track your passport.
In Samara, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa and Vladivostok, courier delivery by local companies is possible.
In Kaliningrad, it is possible to submit documents to the Embassy of Latvia. You can ask questions to a specialist by phone: (4012) 56-55-01.
What are the visas
If you are planning to spend your vacation in this country, and you will stay in a hotel, hotel or hostel, then you need to apply for a tourist visa. For those who travel by invitation and plan to stay with relatives or friends in Switzerland, a visitor visa will be required. It is also possible to obtain a business visa, a visa for participation in cultural or sports events, for official visits, medical services, for study or work, for family reunification.
The algorithm for obtaining a visa is as follows: preparing a package of documents, submitting them to a visa center or the Embassy and paying fees, obtaining a passport.
To obtain a tourist visa, you need:
- Fill out the application form, which can be downloaded on the official website of the Swiss Embassy or the Visa Application Center. Keep in mind that you will have to fill it out not in Russian, but in English. The staff of the visa center can also help you with this. If a minor is flying, then the parent must sign for him.
- The original passport and a photocopy of all its pages, where there are any marks. An important point! Make sure you have a blank spread on your document and that your passport will be valid for at least another 90 days when you leave Switzerland or any other Schengen country.
- A copy of the 1st page of the civil passport of the Russian Federation and other pages that contain notes on marital status, registration and issued passports.
- Two photographs to which certain requirements are imposed. The size must be strictly 3.5X4.5cm, the photo must be colored and taken no more than six months ago.
- A copy of your health insurance policy. Medical insurance is compulsory, and its validity should cover the entire period of stay in the country. The minimum admissible insured amount is 30 thousand euros. You can get a policy from any insurance company. Many of them provide an opportunity to apply for a policy online. You will only need to print the document and put your signature.
- Confirmation of booking a hotel, hotel, hostel. It can be a voucher, a fax from the hotel, an email. If you are driving on your own, simply contact the hotel with a request to confirm the request. If you booked through the website, then the confirmation document is sent to e-mail after payment, or is available for download in your personal account.
- A certificate from the employer on letterhead, which must indicate the details of the company, information about the position held by the applicant, the amount of his salary.
- Confirmation that you are financially secure for the duration of the trip. This point should be given special attention, since the Embassy must be sure that you have enough money for food, housing, travel, entertainment, and you are not going to illegally stay in the country to earn money. As financial guarantees, you can provide a bank statement on the movement of funds for the last 90 days or a statement of the account balance. You can also provide receipts confirming the purchase of currency. An important point! Your account must have an amount of at least one hundred Swiss francs for each day of your stay. So, if you are going to this country for a week, then your bank account must have 700 Swiss francs or 29,024 rubles (the rate is valid on the day of publication).
- A copy of the flight booking (round trip), if you plan to get to Switzerland by plane.
Additionally, minor citizens must provide:
- A photocopy of the birth certificate.
- If the child flies with only one of the parents or with a representative (for example, to a camp, to a competition, etc.), then you need to prepare a written and notarized consent from one or both parents for the child to leave. An important point! The document must be translated into English.
- If the parent (s) or accompanying person has a Schengen area, a copy must be provided.
For persons of retirement age or non-working citizens, if it is not possible to provide confirmation from the bank about the availability of funds for the trip, then a sponsorship letter is required. Keep in mind that not everyone can be a sponsor, only a close relative. Prepare a copy of the document that confirms the relationship. Students in higher or professional institutions must provide a copy and original of the student card.
If previously issued foreign passports had Schengen visas, it is recommended to attach copies of them.
If you yourself cannot personally hand over the documents, then your close relatives can do it. To do this, they will need to provide a document that confirms the relationship, and an identity document.
To obtain a guest visa, you will need to prepare a similar set of documents. The only difference is that instead of confirming the reservation of accommodation, an invitation is provided, a copy of a Swiss passport or residence permit, and in the case of kinship, an additional copy of the documents confirming this. The original invitation is sent to the invited person by mail.
If you apply to the visa center in Moscow, you will be issued a receipt for payment of the visa fee.You can pay at Raiffeisenbank cash desks: Smolenskaya-Sennaya, Smolenskoye, Pyatnitskoye, Ostozhenka. Their addresses and necessary payment information are printed on the back of the receipt. When paying, the bank charges a commission of 150 rubles. The receipt with the bank's mark must be kept until the visas are received. The visa department specialists start processing documents only after receiving confirmation of payment. It is sent from the bank automatically at the time of the payment.
If you are applying for a short-term Schengen visa with a stay of less than 90 days, then you will need to pay a visa fee of 35 euros. The same amount is paid for issuing visas for children from 6 to 12 years old. Only children who have not yet turned 6 years old, as well as children under 16 years old, are exempted from payment, provided that they are entered in the passport of their parents. Please note that despite the fact that the cost of the visa is indicated in euros, payment is accepted only in rubles. The service fee of the visa center is 1090 rubles and is mandatory.
It is important to know one more nuance: if the embassy returns the passport with a refusal to issue a visa, then the money paid for fees, including service fees, cannot be returned. After submitting the documents and paying the fees, you need to wait for a decision. On average, the processing time can take from three to seven business days. The Swiss Embassy has the right to request additional documents or invite you for an interview.
