The British Vice-Consulate in Zurich provides only a limited range of consular services to British Nationals in the Canton of Zurich and the following cantons within its consular district:

• Appenzell Ausserrhoden
• Appenzell Innerrhoden
• Glarus
• Graubunden
• St Gallen
• Schwyz
• Schaffhausen
• Thurgau
• Uri
• Zug
• Zurich

With effect from 15 September 2008, British nationals residing in or visiting the above cantons should first  contact  the Consular Section of the British Embassy in Berne should they require a consular services .

Our consular staff will assess your enquiry and advise you how we will deal with it.  For routine consular services or advice, we will often be able to deal with your enquiry remotely from the embassy, for example by telephone, email or post. However, in some cases, you will need to visit the consular section in Berne personally but the reasons for this, the documentation you will be required to produce and the fees that the service attracts will be fully explained to you.  You will also be given a firm appointment time at which your enquiry will be dealt with. In genuinely urgent emergency cases, we may ask our Honorary Consul in Zurich to assist you or we will visit Zurich to help him do so.  But your first point of contact should always be with the embassy in Berne.

Please note that the Honorary Consul position is currently vacant although we hope to announce the name of the new holder of this position in the near future.

You will be able to contact the Consular Section in Berne at any time during the working week between 0900-1200 and 1400-1600.  In a genuine emergency, for example in the case of bereavement in the family, you will also be able to speak to an Embassy Duty Officer during the hours when the Embassy is closed (Tel: +41 79 607 2570).  The Duty Officer will either deal directly with your enquiry or, depending on the urgency, will refer your case to the Consular Section on the next working day.

Mike Doig, H M Consul-General in Berne, has recently written to British community groups and others in Zurich and other cantons within its consular district to explain the above change in procedures in more detail. Click here to read a copy of the letter.

Please note that visas and passports are issued at the British Consulate General in Geneva only.
The British Embassy in Berne and the Vice-Consulates only provide an emergency passport service but only by prior arrangement with the consular section of the Embassy.