The temporary passport is often called an "emergency passport." Under Swiss law regarding identity documents, it may be issued only when there is no time to apply for a regular passport, or a regular valid passport could not be presented (if the regular passport was lost, destroyed, or stolen for example), or if a valid passport does not meet the necessary requirements for travel (for instance when the time of passport validity is not long enough to enter a foreign country, e.g., Russia and China require more than 6 months of validity).