Switzerland has quietly committed to adopting a fully digital embarkation-and-disembarkation (ED) card system, placing the country in the same vanguard as Mexico, Canada, Thailand and the United Kingdom. Announced in an international round-up of border-technology initiatives on 6 March 2026, the plan involves replacing the last remaining paper arrival forms still issued at certain regional airports and land crossings. Although the Alpine nation already takes most traveller data through the Schengen Advance Passenger Information platform, the new ED card will let leisure and business visitors upload biographic and customs information before they board the aircraft or train to Switzerland. Border officials will simply scan a QR code at the control booth and verify biometrics already captured by the EU’s forthcoming Entry/Exit System (EES).
![Switzerland joins global move to paperless borders with new digital immigration platform]()
For travelers unsure about pre-clearance requirements, VisaHQ’s Switzerland portal (https://www.visahq.com/switzerland/) offers a one-stop interface to complete the ED card, check ETIAS status, and receive real-time alerts on documentation changes. The service can streamline bulk submissions for corporate mobility teams and provide individual tourists with step-by-step guidance—all before they even head to the airport.
Because Switzerland is part of Schengen but not the EU, Bern must build a «Swiss layer» that can talk to EES while observing the country’s strict data-protection rules. Pilot tests are scheduled for Zurich and Geneva airports in October, followed by the land border at Chiasso in early 2027. For global-mobility managers the change is significant: staff on short-term assignments will be able to clear immigration minutes faster, while corporate travel teams gain access to the pre-clearance dashboard the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) will make available. Larger companies will be able to bulk-upload traveller data, reducing manual errors that frequently trigger secondary inspections. Swiss officials are also framing the initiative as a sustainability win. SEM estimates the country still prints roughly 1.2 million paper arrival cards a year, the equivalent of 12 tonnes of paper. Scrapping them fits Switzerland’s 2050 net-zero strategy and spares airlines the cost of stocking multilingual forms. The digital ED card will coexist with the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), which the EU has delayed until Q4 2026. Travellers from visa-waiver countries will therefore face a two-step process: obtain ETIAS online, then complete Switzerland’s ED card 24 hours before departure. SEM says the two platforms will eventually merge, but only after the first year of real-world experience.
For travelers unsure about pre-clearance requirements, VisaHQ’s Switzerland portal (https://www.visahq.com/switzerland/) offers a one-stop interface to complete the ED card, check ETIAS status, and receive real-time alerts on documentation changes. The service can streamline bulk submissions for corporate mobility teams and provide individual tourists with step-by-step guidance—all before they even head to the airport.
Because Switzerland is part of Schengen but not the EU, Bern must build a «Swiss layer» that can talk to EES while observing the country’s strict data-protection rules. Pilot tests are scheduled for Zurich and Geneva airports in October, followed by the land border at Chiasso in early 2027. For global-mobility managers the change is significant: staff on short-term assignments will be able to clear immigration minutes faster, while corporate travel teams gain access to the pre-clearance dashboard the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) will make available. Larger companies will be able to bulk-upload traveller data, reducing manual errors that frequently trigger secondary inspections. Swiss officials are also framing the initiative as a sustainability win. SEM estimates the country still prints roughly 1.2 million paper arrival cards a year, the equivalent of 12 tonnes of paper. Scrapping them fits Switzerland’s 2050 net-zero strategy and spares airlines the cost of stocking multilingual forms. The digital ED card will coexist with the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), which the EU has delayed until Q4 2026. Travellers from visa-waiver countries will therefore face a two-step process: obtain ETIAS online, then complete Switzerland’s ED card 24 hours before departure. SEM says the two platforms will eventually merge, but only after the first year of real-world experience.
