If you are planning a trip to Switzerland and will be applying for tourist visa to visit the beautiful country – this page has all the information you need.
Links to the latest application form, documents required, visa costs, important contact numbers and much more.
Make sure you read the entire article to increase your chances of getting your Schengen visa to Switzerland.
Let us start with the documents checklist.
Switzerland Visa Documents Checklist
- Latest Passport.
- Old Passports (if any).
- Application Form (Click here to download)
- Two photographs.
- A cover letter with all details about your stay.
- Travel Insurance.
- Flight tickets from India and Return tickets.
- Itinerary of your trip in Switzerland or Europe.
- Hotel Bookings.
- Income Tax Returns for the last 2 years.
- Bank Statement for the last 6 months.
- Salary Slips for the last 3 months (If employed).
- Marriage certificate if travelling with spouse.
- Birth certificate if travelling with child.
- Optional: You can also attach property papers in your name or show proof of your investments (stocks / mutual funds) as support documents to increase your chances of obtaining a visa.
Preparing for your Switzerland Visa
A Schengen visa requires you to submit a lot of documents. Below we have a step-by-step guide on accumulating the necessary documents and preparing for your visit to a nearby VFS center.
- Book your flight tickets. It is better to have fully paid confirmed tickets.
- Make sure your passport isn’t expiring within 3 months from the date of your return flight back to India. Example: If your return flight is on January 1 2023, the expiry date on your passport should be April 2 2023 or later.
- Download the application form (link), take print outs and fill all the details. If you have a minor child, they will also need a separate visa application.
- Visit a local photo studio, tell them you need photographs for Schengen visa. There are some strict requirements for the photos (more details below).
- Buy travel insurance from an approved travel insurance company (list below). The minimum coverage must be 30,000 Euros or 50,000 US dollars.
- Take printouts of your hotel bookings. These need not be paid in advance. Websites like Booking.com offer ‘free cancellation’ bookings without paying for the reservation. You can pay once your visa is approved.
- If you are sponsoring the trip, visit your bank and ask for bank statement for the last 6 months. Get these copies sealed and signed by the bank.
- If employed with a company, attach 3 months salary slips and 3 months statement of your account where your salary gets deposited. Also, get leave letters from your company for the dates of your trip, along with a ‘no objection statement’.
- If self-employed, attach your company documents – which could be business registration certificate, GST registration, Partnership deed or Proof of proprietorship.
- If retired, attach bank statement of your pension account or proof of regular income from property ownership or business.
- If minor, attach original birth certificate.
- If married and travelling with your spouse, attach marriage certificate.
- It is mandatory to attach Income Tax Report (ITR) for the last 2 years of the person who is funding the trip.
- After all of this is done, write a clear Covering letter giving the embassy a clear idea of your trip, that you can cover your individual expenses of the trip – along with that of your family if you are sponsoring the trip.
- Next, visit the VFS website and book an appointment. With relaxation of Covid rules the world over, many people are travelling all over the world. Appointments are hard to get. Make sure you book appointments well in advance, it could be hard to get if you have just 1-2 months left for your trip.
- While booking the appointment, VFS will ask you to pay the convenience fee. Do note, this is not the Visa fee which the Embassy of Switzerland charges, this is the fee VFS charges to collect, verify and send your documents to the embassy.
- You are now ready to visit the VFS center with your documents.
Switzerland Visa Fees
There are two types of charges. One is the ‘visa fees’ which is paid to the Embassy of Switzerland in India.
This fee has been paid in ‘cash’ at the VFS centre when you submit your documents.
Charges are as follows:
- Above 12 years – 80 Euros (Approximately 6800 rupees)
- Children between 6 to 12 years – 40 Euros (Approx 3400 rupees)
- Child under 6 years – Free.
The second charge is from VFS, which collects your documents, verifies them, and sends them over to the Embassy of Switzerland.
These charges are to be paid online, in advance, when you book your appointment. You can use your credit card, debit card, UPI or Net banking to make this payment.
VFS charges are as follows:
- Service Fees – 1869 rupees
- Convenience Fee – 150 rupees
- Courier* – 690 rupees
- SMS charges* – 345 rupees
- Total – 3054 rupees per application (children under 6 also have to pay)
The total Switzerland Visa price including Embassy and VFS charges would be around ₹ 10,000 for an adult. Children between 6-12 years pay around ₹ 6500. And kids below the age of 6 will pay around ₹ 3000.
Note: Courier fees is optional, you do not have to pay if you can visit the VFS office to collect your passport. SMS charges are also optional, and it isn’t very useful either. You can opt out of it.
VFS also offers other conveniences like ‘Form Filling’ at ₹ 2600 per application, Premium Lounge at ₹ 3020 and Courier Assurance at ₹ 1035.
Switzerland Visa Processing Time
Usually, it takes 15 working days or less for the Embassy of Switzerland to process your visa application and return your passport.
However, there can be delays. It can be pretty stressful if your travel dates are close and you do not receive your passport a few days earlier.
We suggest you apply for your Visa as early as possible. You can submit your visa applications 180 days (6 months) before your flight to Switzerland.
Applying early gives you enough time to re-apply for a visa, just in case your Visa gets rejected.
Switzerland VFS centre timing
All VFS centres are open from Monday to Friday, except national or state holidays. The timing can vary. But make sure you reach the VFS centre about 15 minutes before your appointment time.
| Ahmedabad | 9AM – 5PM |
| Bengaluru | 9AM – 1PM |
| Chandigarh | 9AM – 2PM |
| Chennai | 9AM – 1PM |
| Hyderabad | 8AM – 3PM |
| Jalandhar | 9AM – 2PM |
| Kochi | 9AM – 1PM |
| Kolkata | 9AM – 2PM |
| Mumbai | 9AM – 3PM |
| New Delhi | 9AM – 2PM |
| Puducherry | 8AM – 1PM |
| Pune | 8AM – 2PM |
Switzerland Visa Photo Size and Requirements
VFS is extremely strict when it comes to photo size and requirements for Schengen visa.
Here are the guidelines:
- The photo you submit should not be older than 6 months.
- The size should be 35mm – 40mm in width (3.5 cm to 4 cm).
- It should not a scanned copy. The quality has to be good.
- It cannot be printed from a photo taken on a mobile phone. Make sure you get the photo clicked and printed from a professional photo studio.
- The background colour of the photo has to be white or off-white.
- The photo must contain your full face – without a smile, no sunglasses, no cap. Nothing that covers your face.
- Your face and eyes should be straight – pointing towards the camera – and your ears should be visible.
- Stick one photo on the application form (do not staple or pin it). Other photo has to be given at the VFS centre.
Approved companies for Schengen Travel Insurance
You can only buy travel insurance from the following companies:
- Apollo Munich
- Bajaj Allianz
- Bharti AXA
- Cholamandalam MS
- Cigna TTK
- Go Digit
- Future Generali
- HDFC ERGO
- ICICI Lombard
- IFFCO Tokio
- National Insurance Company
- Reliance
- Religare
- Royal Sundaram
- SBI General
- Shiram
- Star Health & Allied
- Tata AIG
- Travel Guard
- The New India Assurance Company
- The Oriental Insurance
- United India Insurance
- Universal Sompo
Switzerland Visa Contact Numbers
A few important contact numbers and email addresses are mentioned below:
- VFS Switzerland Visa Customer Care Number – 022-67866035 (8AM to 5PM, Monday to Friday)
- VFS Switzerland Email Address – infoswiss@vfshelpline.com
- Embassy of Switzerland (New Delhi) Phone – 011 – 49959500 (They will not respond to visa queries on phone, contact VFS instead).
- Embassy of Switzerland (New Delhi) Email Address – newdelhi.visa@eda.admin.ch
Switzerland Visa FAQ
Q. Should hotel bookings be paid in advance?
A. Not necessary. You can book Hotel rooms or AirBnB’s with free cancellation. Just incase your visa application gets rejected, you can cancel your bookings.
Q. What is the balance required in bank account for Switzerland trip?
A. Ideally, you should have around 70-100 Swiss Francs per day, per person in your bank account. If you are a couple planning a trip for 10 days to Switzerland, then maintaining a consistent average balance of ₹ 1.2 lakhs to ₹ 1.75 lakhs would be great.
Do note, visa approval depends on various factors – including the mood of the Embassy officer who is handling your visa application. You can have less than adequate funds and your Visa could be approved, or sometimes you could have much more and your visa could be rejected.
Q. How to increase chances of getting Switzerland visa?
A. Below we have highlighted some of the important points that could help you increase chances of getting your visa approved.
1. A strong application includes a decent travel history, proof that you have adequate funds to cover the expenses of your trip, a clear itinerary, a well-written covering letter and it helps if you are a family (married with kids). We have seen in the past that people who are single, have higher chances of getting their visa rejected.
2. Your 6-month bank statement should be consistent with a balance of more than ₹ 1 lakh. A lot of people who get their visa rejected tend to deposit a big sum of money just before they take copies of their bank statement. This is a major red flag that the funds could be borrowed from someone and not your own. Before you plan your trip to Europe, try to maintain as high as bank balance as possible for 5-6 months.
3. You could include your property documents along with your application, this tells your officer that you have investments here in India which will make you get back to the country.
4. You could also attach your investments – like Fixed deposits, Demat account statement, or mutual fund investments. These documents make your application stronger.
5. Like mentioned above, married couple seem to have a higher chance of obtaining visa than unmarried solo travelers. Also, if you are traveling as a family with your kid, the chances of visa approval increase further.
6. Do not submit a vague or uncertain itinerary. After analyzing a few rejected visa applications in the past, it gave us the impression that tentative itineraries have a higher chance of rejection – especially if you are planning the trip on your own. Don’t just say you are planning to stay for 7 days in Zurich and attach a ‘free cancellation’ hotel booking along with it. Instead, show a more detailed itinerary with different places that you actually intend to see and visit. Once you get your visa approved, you can change your itinerary if you want to.
7. Do not apply for the visa at the last moment. You can now apply for Schengen visa 6 months before your trip. Try to apply as early as possible. Getting an appointment with VFS has become difficult during Covid times and applications are also taking longer to process. Applying early will also give you ample time to re-apply for a visa, if your visa gets rejected the first time you apply.
Q. Can I travel to other countries with Switzerland visa?
A. Yes, Switzerland comes under the Schengen area shared between 26 countries. If your Switzerland visa is approved, you can travel to all those countries including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and obviously Switzerland.
If you have any questions related to Switzerland Visa for Indian Tourists, feel free to ask in the comments section below. If you want your Visa application to be verified and analyzed for loopholes before you submit it to the VFS center, contact us. We charge a fee to go through your documents.