The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, as part of resolving the overall status of Croatian nationals in Switzerland, has reached an agreement on annulling the obligation for Croatian nationals to hold passports for the purpose of tourist visits, which will come into force 11 March 2016. The agreement will allow Croatian nationals on tourist visit to enter Swiss territory with a valid ID card. Said right applies to stays of up to 90 days and not to extend 180 days per year.
On 4 March in Brussels, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the EU and President of the Council of the EU Pieter de Gooijer, on behalf of all member states and empowered by Croatia beforehand, signed with Switzerland and the European institutions Protocol III, expanding the Agreement on the Free Movement of People to include Croatia as well. Initialling said Protocol represents the first formal step towards a final resolution to the status of Croatian nationals in Switzerland, stemming from Croatia’s full-fledged EU membership. We have to recall that when Croatia joined the EU, Switzerland declined to sign the protocol covering the free movement of workers from Croatia, citing the results of the 2014 immigration quota referendum.
The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs welcomes the signing of the Protocol as well as Switzerland’s readiness to ratify it without delay. We also applaud the decision of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel the obligation for passports for Croatian nationals on tourist visit, reached on the same day the Protocol was inked, without waiting for its full ratification.