Identity card (Switzerland)

Identity card (colloquially ID ; French Carte d'identité , Italian Carta d'identità , Rhaeto-Romanic Carta d'identitad ) is an official form of identification issued by Switzerland that is used to establish identity . Assign it is exclusively Swiss citizens receive in Switzerland Foreigners living instead the residence permit . The identity card was introduced in the 1940s. Since 1995 it has been designed as a plastic card in credit card format and has a bluish base color on both sides. The counterpart in Germany and Austria is the identity card .

In Switzerland there is neither an identification requirement nor an obligation to carry one . H. no one needs to have or carry an identity card or passport with them. The identity card is a “less strong” document than the passport, but it fulfills the same purpose in many areas: e.g. B. suffices from 2018 for trips in the EEA / CEFTA area , as well as in the small states of Europe , French overseas territories , the Channel Islands , the Faroe Islands , Greenland ( de facto ), Montserrat (up to max. 14 days), Turkey and for organized package tours to Tunisia the identity card as identification.

Form and validity

Since 1995 the identity card has been a plastic card in credit card format ISO / IEC 7810 ID-1 . In 2003 it was slightly revised. Until 1994 the identity card was a 4-sided paper ID in the format A7 (A6 paper, folded once).

The identity card is valid for 10 years for adults and 5 years for children.

The identity card was produced by Trüb AG in Aarau until 2015 , when the production operations were taken over by the Dutch company Gemalto .

Information on the identity card

The headings are written in five languages: German , French , Italian , Romansh and English .

On the front side

• photo
• serial number
• Surname
• First names
• Date of birth
• signature

In addition, the citizenship "Swiss Confederation" (in the four official languages German, French, Italian and Romansh as well as in English), the coat of arms of Switzerland and a kinegram in the form of a crystal, which is reminiscent of rock crystal .

On the back side

• Body size, only for adults
• Gender (since January 1, 2003 instead of eye color)
• Hometown
• Issuing authority
• date of issue
• expiry date
• Machine readable lines
• Kinegram with serial number and expiry year

Structure of the machine-readable lines

example

IDCHE1234123457<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
0109110M1001015CHE<<<<<<<<<<<2
MUSTERMANN<<MAX<OTTO<<<<<<<<<<

1st line:

IDCHE 1234 12345 7 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
      +--+ +---+ +
        1    2   3

1. Authority number (4 digits, can contain letters A – Z, which have to be converted into decimal values ​​for the check digit A = 10, B = 11, C = 12,…, Z = 35)
2. Additional number (5 digits)
3. Check digits of 1 and 2

2nd line:

010911 0 M 100101 5 CHE<<<<<<<<<<< 2
+----+ + + +----+ +                +
   1   2 3    4   5                6

1. Date of birth (6 digits, year / month / day)
2. Check digit of 1
3. Gender (M / F)
4. Validity date (6 digits, year / month / day)
5. Check digit of 4
6. Check digit above 1, 2 (with "0" after it, if 2 only has four digits) and 3 of the first line, as well as 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the 2nd line

3rd line:

MUSTERMANN << MAX < OTTO <<<<<<<<<<
+--------+    +-+   +--+
    1          2     3

1. Surname
2. First name
3. Other Names

Calculation of the check digit

Starting from left to right with the first digit, the digits are repeatedly weighted with 7, 3 and 1. The respective products from both numbers are calculated. The final digits of the products are totaled. The checksum is the last digit of the sum.

An example based on the above date of birth: 010911September 11, 2001:

${\displaystyle 0\cdot 7=0}$

${\displaystyle 1\cdot 3=3}$

${\displaystyle 0\cdot 1=0}$

${\displaystyle 9\cdot 7=63}$

${\displaystyle 1\cdot 3=3}$

${\displaystyle 1\cdot 1=1}$

Summation of the last digits:

${\displaystyle 0+3+0+3+3+1=10}$

The last digit of 10 is 0, which is the check digit.

See also

• Swiss passport
• SuisseID

Web links

• Information on the passport and identity card on the website of the Federal Office of Police

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Visa and passport requirements for visitors
2. ↑ http://www.visitfaroeislands.com/Default.aspx?ID=8951 ( Memento from May 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 12, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ http://visados.com/en/visa-for-Montserrat
5. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ [1]  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.