Applying for a passport abroad

You must apply for your passport in person:

• Make an appointment at the diplomatic mission abroad.
• 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 always appear in person to submit your application, identify yourself and give your fingerprints.
• When making an application, you are required by law to provide fingerprints for storage in your biometric passport from the age of six:
  • a flat print is taken for this, usually of the left and right index finger.
• • Children under the age of 6 do not have to provide a fingerprint.
• When the passport is ready, it will be sent to you, provided you agreed this when you applied, or you will be notified by telephone or e-mail that your passport is ready for collection.

• List of German diplomatic missions on the website of the German Federal Foreign Office

• Help Desk (Bürgerservice)

• You are a German citizen or German national.
• You can identify yourself.

• Fully completed application form
• Valid or previous identity document, if available, for example
  • German passport
  • German identity card
  • German child identity card
  • German children's passport
  • foreign passport
  • foreign identity card
• current biometric photograph:
  • passport size (45 x 35 mm)
  • portrait format
  • frontal photo without border
  • usually without headgear
  • without covering the eyes
• Birth certificate or marriage certificate
• Proof of your habitual residence abroad, for example
  • foreign residence permit
  • Registration certificate from your host country
  • tenancy agreement
  • Telephone, electricity or gas bills.
• Further documents may be required. Please inform yourself in advance at the diplomatic mission abroad. Please also contact the diplomatic mission abroad if you are unable to prove your identity by presenting an identity document.

Passport by express order procedure

• Additional costs in the amount of 32,00 EUR

Passport with 48 pages

• Additional costs of EUR 22.00

Passport with 48 pages and express order procedure

• Additional costs of EUR 22.00 and EUR 32.00

When applying abroad to honorary consuls, the costs listed above apply:

• plus a fee for the services of the honorary consul of EUR 73.13 to EUR 88.43. The fee depends on the regional assignment of the superior diplomatic mission abroad.
• plus the reimbursement of expenses (e.g. costs for postage and business trips)

A fee reduction or exemption is possible in case of need.

• § 19(3) Passport Act (PassG)
• Verordnung zur Durchführung des Passgesetzes (Passverordnung - PassV)
• Allgemeine Verwaltungsvorschrift zur Durchführung des Passgesetzes (Passverwaltungsvorschrift - PassVwV)

Action before the administrative court

• Please contact the relevant diplomatic mission about the required forms.

If you lose your passport while traveling, you must report immediately to the nearest German diplomatic mission abroad. They can issue you with a travel document to replace your passport for entry into Germany. This travel document for return is issued for the duration of the intended trip, but for a maximum of one month. It only entitles you to return to Germany, but not to travel on to other countries. In individual cases, a temporary passport may also be issued if it is not possible to return to Germany with the travel document for return because its maximum period of validity is not sufficient or it is not recognized as a travel document by a country through which you are travelling. The same applies if an onward journey to other countries is planned and you can credibly demonstrate that you need a passport immediately and cannot wait for it to be issued using the express procedure.

13.06.2025