Apply for an identity card for German citizens with permanent residence abroad

You must apply for your identity card in person:

• Make an appointment at the diplomatic mission or consular post or with the honorary consular officer.
• Fill in the application form as far in advance as possible. You only sign the application form at the appointment on site.
• Bring all the necessary documents with you to the appointment.
• You must appear in person to submit your application, identify yourself and give your fingerprints.
• When submitting an application, you are required by law to provide fingerprints for storage in the chip of your ID card from the age of six:
  • a flat print is taken, usually of the left and right index finger.
• • Children under the age of 6 do not have to give a fingerprint.
• They receive a five-digit one-time PIN and the ten-digit number to remove the PIN blockade (PUK) in a sealed envelope.
• When the ID card has been produced, it will be sent to you together with the blocking password, provided you agreed this when you applied, or you will be notified by telephone or e-mail that your ID card and blocking password have been collected.

• You are a German citizen or German national.

• You can identify yourself.

When applying, you must submit

• biometric passport photo. The photo must be up-to-date and meet the requirements for ID documents. When applying in Germany, the passport photo must be digital, taken on site at the authority or by a registered domestic photo service provider (photographer).
• Certificate of deregistration from the last German place of residence, if a German place of residence is still entered in the current identity document:
  • Persons who have moved away from Germany
  • persons without a place of residence
  • world travelers
• if your address abroad is to be entered in your identity card: Proof of your habitual residence abroad, for example:
  • Foreigner's identity card
  • Registration certificate from your host country
  • rental agreement
  • Telephone, electricity or gas bills
• Your previous identity card or passport or children's passport
• If you have lost the old document: police report of loss

If you are applying for an ID card for the first time

• Birth or parentage certificate
• if you are or were married or partnered:
  • Marriage or partnership certificate with a note on the name
  • or extract from the family register with a note on the name if married abroad
  • If applicable, name certificate according to German law
• if applicable, certificate of acquisition of German citizenship (naturalization certificate)
• if applicable, certificate of acquisition of a foreign nationality
• if applicable, doctoral certificate (in German or English, with name and date of birth) if the doctoral degree cannot be derived from a previous passport or identity card and the entry in the new identity card is desired

additionally for children under the age of 16:

• if born in Germany after 01.01.2000, if at least one parent did not have German citizenship at that time: extract from the birth register
• for children of married parents: Marriage certificate of the parents
• for children of divorced parents and sole custody of one parent: Proof of sole custody in the form of a custody order or divorce decree
  • If applicable, recognition of a foreign divorce decree for the German legal system
• for children whose parents were not married at the time of birth: Recognition of paternity and custody agreement according to the law of the child's country of residence

Please bring all documents with you in the original and as copies. In individual cases, it may be necessary to submit further certificates and documents.

A fee reduction or exemption is possible under certain conditions.

• § 1 Absatz 4 Nummer 2 Gesetz über Personalausweise und den elektronischen Identitätsnachweis (Personalausweisgesetz - PAuswG)
• § 5 Absatz 2 Nummer 9 Gesetz über Personalausweise und den elektronischen Identitätsnachweis (Personalausweisgesetz - PAuswG)
• § 7 Absatz 2 Gesetz über Personalausweise und den elektronischen Identitätsnachweis (Personalausweisgesetz - PAuswG)
• § 8 Absatz 2 und 4 Gesetz über Personalausweise und den elektronischen Identitätsnachweis (Personalausweisgesetz - PAuswG)
• § 23 Absatz 4 Satz 2 Gesetz über Personalausweise und den elektronischen Identitätsnachweis (Personalausweisgesetz - PAuswG)
• § 35 Gesetz über Personalausweise und den elektronischen Identitätsnachweis (Personalausweisgesetz - PAuswG)
• § 2 Gesetz über die Konsularbeamten, ihre Aufgaben und Befugnisse (Konsulargesetz - KonsG)
• G.5.2.1 und G.5.2.2 Allgemeine Verwaltungsvorschrift zur Durchführung des Personalausweisgesetzes und der Personalausweisverordnung (Personalausweisverwaltungsvorschrift - PAuswVwV)

If your application for an identity card is rejected:

• File a complaint with the Berlin Administrative Court

• Please enquire beforehand at the diplomatic mission or consular post in whose district you are staying whether it can issue ID cards, as not all diplomatic missions and consular posts are responsible for legal and consular matters and therefore ID card matters.
• As a rule, you can only use the online function of the ID card if a foreign address is recorded.
• If your ID card is stolen or lost, you must report this to the local police. You can have the online ID card blocked yourself by calling the blocking hotline; you will need to know the blocking password for this.

14.07.2025