Plain guides to the questions people ask most, and a person who answers. Every guide names the office that is competent and the date it was last checked.
Open a guide for the steps.
Register with the Embassy within 90 days of leaving Switzerland.
Apply online; your biometric data is taken in Pretoria or in Switzerland.
Registered Swiss abroad can vote in federal ballots.
Voluntary insurance is open to Swiss living outside the EU and EFTA.
Events abroad are recorded in the Swiss civil register.
The magazine and the network of the Swiss abroad.
The FDFA's two apps for travel and life abroad.
The usual cases, from the first step to the last. Where an office decides, it is named; the Desk helps you prepare.
When enough members are interested, a member of the Desk will answer questions at the Club and by video call. If you would like to take part, let us know through the Swiss Desk.
Honorary Consul General of Switzerland in Windhoek
Urs Gamma represents Switzerland in Windhoek as its Honorary Consul General. A trained mechanical engineer, he joined Restaurant Gathemann in Windhoek in 1988 and became its owner and chef; for many years he brought Swiss cooking and Namibian produce together at one table. He served on the committee that prepared the club’s fiftieth anniversary in 2019, and he is an honorary member of the club.
The club’s Swiss Desk works alongside his office. Questions come to the Swiss Desk first; it answers everyday matters and refers to his office whatever only that office can do.
Short answers to the questions that come up again and again. Each one names the office that decides.
Yes. Swiss citizens who settle abroad register with the competent representation. For Namibia that is the Embassy of Switzerland in Pretoria, through the FDFA's online desk.
Register the birth with the Embassy promptly. A Swiss born abroad who also holds another nationality loses Swiss citizenship at 25 unless they have been registered with a Swiss authority or have declared that they wish to keep it.
Apply to the Embassy in Pretoria or in Switzerland. Biometric data must be taken in person. For urgent travel, the Embassy can issue an emergency passport.
Yes. Once registered with the Embassy, ask to be entered on the electoral roll of your commune. Voting papers come by post, and some cantons offer electronic voting.
Living outside the EU and EFTA, you may join the voluntary old-age insurance if you were insured for five years in a row before leaving; apply within one year. The Swiss Compensation Office advises.
Basic Swiss health insurance ends when you leave Switzerland. Arrange international or Namibian private cover before you need it.
Civil status events abroad must be reported to the Swiss civil register through the Embassy, with the Namibian documents.
Visitors drive with their licence and an international driving permit. Residents should ask the Desk about conversion under Namibian rules.
In danger: Namibian Police 10111. For Swiss citizens in difficulty: the FDFA Helpline, +41 58 465 33 33, day and night.
No. The club guides and points the way; the Embassy and the Swiss authorities decide and issue.
Write your question in your own language. A member of the Swiss Desk reads it, answers from the guides or tells you which office to contact.
We answer within a few days. We do not handle documents or official procedures ourselves.
