The Embassy might be closed without prior notice following the Snow & Dismissal Procedures for Washington, D.C. of the U.S. Office of Personnal Management. More information and the current status can be found also under the following link.

Application Procedure for long stays (stays of more than 90 days, Type D visa application)

Visa applications for long stays (stays of more than 90 days, Type D visa applications) have to be submitted to the competent Swiss representation. Only duly completed applications are accepted. Incomplete applications (items not presented/mising photocopies) will be returned to the applicant without being processed. The requirements to obtain a long term visa vary, depending on the reason of your travel. Please check the leaflet related to your reason of stay.

National visa requirements.

There are different types of long stay visas, e.g. family reunion, student, work, international organizations, general residence. Some long stay visas are preapproved by the Swiss authorities and can be collected using a simple process at our Embassy. Other long stay visa applications will need to be initiated at the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington DC. For more information, please see here: visa information: National visa for a stay of more than 90 days.

Please mail in your complete long stay visa application to our Embassy. The Swiss representation still reserves the right to ask the applicant to appear for a personal interview after checking the application. 

Your valid passport must have been issued within the last ten years, have at least two empty pages and be valid for at least six months after the intended date of departure to Switzerland. 

Mailing

Passports with issued visas will be mailed back (no pick-up possible).  Please provide a prepaid,  self-addressed return envelope at the time of your application. Please use a secure carrier (Fedex and UPS preferred, USPS at your own risk as they do not scan the envelope in front of our employees) with a tracking number. Applicants must indicate their name and address both as sender and recipient.

All  applications  must include a pre-paid, self-addressed envelope with a tracking number, which will be used to return the application if not complete or to return the passport once the application has been processed. Please indicate your name and address both as sender and recipient.

Important: The Swiss representation does not assume any liability for the loss of documents submitted or returned by mail.

The Embassy reserves the right to request the applicant to appear for a personal interview after reviewing the application.

Specific visa inquiries:

For specific inquiries regarding national visa contact the Embassy by email at was.visa@eda.admin.ch. No visa information will be given by phone.

The Embassy strongly advises to read the visa information before contacting the visa section.

Please do not contact the Embassy about the status of your application - as soon as your application has been submitted, no more contact from the applicants side should be attempted; the Embassy will contact you if needed. Please also do not inquire about the arrival of documents you might have sent - if you sent an email, you will receive an automatic reply confirming the receipt; if you have sent a letter, please track it with your tracking number.