As per decision of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), from 6 July 2020, travelers entering Switzerland from South Africa will have to spend 10 (ten) days in quarantine.
For further information please click here.
The following repatriation flight is planned:
- SWISS on the 25th of July 2020 from Johannesburg
Further information will follow.
The following repatriation flight is planned:
- SWISS on the 25th of July 2020 from Johannesburg
Further information will follow.
The following repatriation flights are planned:
- KLM on the 11th, 18th and 25th of July 2020 from Cape Town
- KLM on the 12th, 19th and 26th of July 2020 from Johannesburg
KLM Flyer (PDF, 608.5 kB, English)
Please consult regularly the Homepage of KLM (www.klm.co.za) in South Africa or contat the Airline via phone +27 10 205 0100 or +27 10 205 0101 for bookings and enquires.
If you were able to purchase a flight ticket, kindly send the copy to: southernafrica@eda.admin.ch
Only afterwards the Regional Consular Center in Pretoria will be able to issue your Laissez-passer (travel permit from your current address in South Africa to the Assembly point).
The following repatriation flights are planned:
- Air France on the 11th and 25th of July 2020 from Johannesburg
- Air France on the 12th of July 2020 from Cape Town
Flyer Air France (PDF, 784.7 kB, English)
Please consult regularly the Homepage of Air France (www.airfrance.co.za) in South Africa or contat the Airline via phone +27 10 205 0100 or +27 10 205 0101 for bookings and enquires.
If you were able to purchase a flight ticket, kindly send the copy to: southernafrica@eda.admin.ch
Only afterwards the Regional Consular Center in Pretoria will be able to issue your Laissez-passer (travel permit from your current address in South Africa to the Assembly point).
The following repatriation flights are planned:
- Lufthansa on the 17th and 31st of July 2020 from Johannesburg
- Lufthansa on the 14th and 28th of August 2020 from Johannesburg
Important: On (www.lufthansa.com) you must select the access code com "LGFLYBACK20" when making your booking online, as these are special flights and not regular commercial flights.
Once you have made a confirmed booking for the repatriation flight, it is mandatory that you complete the passenger information excel sheet (XLSX, 48.5 kB) and return it as an attachment to the following email address: jnbrepatqueries@dlh.de
For further details kindly read the attached Lufhansa Flyer (PDF, 242.8 kB)
If you were able to purchase a flight ticket, kindly send the copy to: southernafrica@eda.admin.ch
Only afterwards the Regional Consular Center in Pretoria will be able to issue your Laissez-passer (travel permit from your current address in South Africa to the Assembly point)
The Swiss Regional Consular Center (RCC) in Pretoria and the Consulate General in Cape Town will resume their regular consular activities from the 2nd of June 2020. Please check the exact opening hours for Swiss citizens or consular affairs.
For Swiss passports, please check and submit your applicaton on www.schweizerpass.ch; the appointment for the recording of biometric data will take place directly via the corresponding application.
The Swiss Federal Council decided, that entry at the Schengen external borders is generally prohibited (with few exceptions).
For that reason the Regional Consular Centre (RCC) in Pretoria is no longer accepting any Schengen visa applications until further notice.
Interesting links are:
The Federal Council calls on Swiss tourists and business travellers to return to Switzerland as soon as possible and to organize their journey independently. It cannot be ruled out at this point in time that flight connections to and from South Africa could be affected due to the travel ban issued by the local authorities. Please note that Switzerland is on the South African and WHO list of high risk countries. We recommend that you contact your airline and/or travel agency urgently.
Further, we recommend to all Swiss nationals who are currently travelling or living in South Africa to follow closely the information and recommendations of the local authorities as well as of the World Health Organisation WHO.
On state level, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health has information about the new coronavirus and publishes updates of the current situation and measures to be taken.
IMPORTANT: If you are currently travelling abroad, please make sure you download the EDA Travel Admin App and register or update your travel plans and contact details. By doing so you ensure that you can be contacted by the relevant Swiss representations if necessary.
National Institute of Communicable Disease
COVID-19 General Hotline for the public: +27 800 029 999 / National Health and Laboratory service COVID-19 Hotline: +27 82 883 9920
WhatsApp Coronavirus Support Line from the National Department of Health: +27 60 012 3456
Other relevant sources of information are
Infoline Coronavirus Switzerland: +41 58 463 00 00
The Embassy of Switzerland are aware that South African Authorities currently require from their own nationals who want to leave the country a
“… Proof that confirms your admissibility in the form of a letter from the embassy or other diplomatic / consular representative of your country of normal residence, confirming your right of residence in that country and that you are permitted to return thereto under the current circumstances. If returning by road or connecting flights, the proof submitted to us needs to include each transiting countries permission for your travel.”
Please note that the Swiss representation abroad are not in a position to issue such letters of admissibility. However, for serving the purpose, you may find the confirmation useful, which you can download here (PDF, 51.3 kB, English) .
As the official representation of Switzerland, the embassy covers all matters concerning diplomatic relations between the two countries. It represents Swiss interests in the areas of political, economic and financial affairs, legal arrangements, science, education and culture.
All consular services for the South African provinces of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North-West and Free State, as well as for the states of Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, have been provided by the Regional Consular Centre Southern Africa in Pretoria, which is attached to the local Embassy of Switzerland.
The Consulate General in Cape Town continues to be responsible for the South African provinces of the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape.
All Visa applications are handled by the Regional Consular Center Southern Africa in Pretoria.
Information can be found on the websites concerned:
Services – South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mauritius
Visa – South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mauritius
Visa applicants, which have to submit their visa application at the Regional Consular Centre (RCC) in Pretoria, are required to prior schedule an appointment. Therefore please call the Visa Section from Monday to Thursday from 14:00 to 15:30. No walk in clients.
Swiss citizens living in South Africa have lately become victims of banking frauds. The perpetrators get access to details from Swiss or Liechtenstein banking accounts (names, addresses, signatures, credit balance, etc.) and use this information to forge orders to transfer money to bank accounts in Asia. To prevent such cases, the Embassy of Switzerland recommends Swiss or Liechtenstein bank account holders to be vigilant with their banking identity details and to request their bank not to send correspondence via postal service and not to process any written money transfer order without prior consultation of the bank account owner via the telephone number that is lodged with the bank (not the one on the instructions).
The Embassy of Switzerland in Pretoria has become aware of a scam including a fraudulent contract of the company Fibre Ring and Youth Empowerment Project, based in South Africa making reference to the official Swiss Representation in South Africa. Neither the Swiss Embassy in Pretoria nor the office of the Swiss Development Cooperation based in Harare do host any connection with this contractor.
