BERN. From Monday 2 November, Swiss citizens can apply for a biometric identity card. The card carries a chip with a facial image and two fingerprints, the same kind of data already stored in a biometric Swiss passport. It is not the electronic identity, the e-ID, which is a separate project and is not what opens today.
The Federal Council set the legal basis on 26 August, when it revised the ordinance on identity documents for Swiss nationals. That revision took effect on 1 November. Applications start the day after, at the cantonal offices that already issue passports and identity cards, and at Swiss representations abroad. In cantons that still let communes issue the card without a chip, that route stays open for the non-biometric version.
What the chip is for
The point of the chip is travel and forgery, not a new domestic identity. Since 2021, European Union member states have issued only biometric identity cards. Switzerland is not in the EU, but it is in Schengen, and the federal police say the new card is what keeps unrestricted travel inside the EU available to Swiss citizens. Fedpol recommends the biometric card for anyone who travels in the EU. For anyone who only needs to prove who they are inside Switzerland, the card without a chip is enough.
Cards without a chip that were issued before this change stay valid for travel to the EU until they expire. For an adult, that can be as long as ten years. Nothing already in a wallet is cancelled by the calendar. Sunday’s wider rule change renamed the provisional passport an emergency passport and said identity cards would come with a chip or without one. Monday is the day the counter actually offers the choice.
The fee, and where you apply
The adult fee stays at CHF 65, the same as the current card without a chip. The emergency passport, which replaces the old provisional passport from today, keeps the fee of the document it replaces. Fedpol says the biometric card will be issued only by the cantonal passport authorities and by Swiss missions abroad, because taking fingerprints and a facial image is not a job every commune counter is equipped to do.
Readers who need a document for a trip inside the EU should ask for the chipped card. Readers who are renewing a card they will use at a bank, a commune or a post office in Switzerland can still choose the card without a chip, and in many places can still do that at the commune. The federal text is explicit that the choice is the citizen’s. What changes on 2 November 2026 is that the choice is finally on the form.