Administrative services A-Z

If your surname has changed (for example, due to marriage or divorce), your previous passport with the former name has an incorrect entry and has therefore become invalid. If you still need a passport, you must apply for a new document immediately.

Attention. You are obliged to present the invalid passport immediately to the passport authority, it will then usually be withdrawn.

Engaged couples can already apply for their new passport or also identity card after the registration of the marriage with a certificate from the registry office, so that it is ready on the day of the marriage. After the marriage, the passport can be collected on presentation of the marriage certificate.

The passport is issued by the passport office of the municipality or city council in which you have your place of residence. For important reasons, you can also apply for the document in another municipality. In this case, the passport authority will first obtain authorisation from the authority that is actually responsible for you to issue the passport. If this authorisation is granted, the passport can be issued, but the fees will double.

You can also apply for passports and temporary passports at German missions abroad. The additional costs in this case are EUR 21.00 for a passport or EUR 13.00 for a temporary passport.

You must not have any grounds for disallowance such as:

• non-fulfilment of a legal maintenance obligation
• endangering the internal or external security of the Federal Republic of Germany
• assumption that by leaving the country you intend to evade criminal prosecution, execution of a sentence or a legal obligation to pay maintenance.

A passport can also be withdrawn for the same reasons.

• old passport or other proof that you are a German citizen
• in case of marriage: marriage certificate
• in case of divorce: certified copy of the divorce decree
• a recent photograph in the prescribed size and condition

Notice: It is recommended to bring a civil status document (for example marriage or birth certificate) with you to the application. This will allow any problems that may arise, particularly regarding the spelling and order of inclusion of first and family names in the passport, to be clarified immediately. This may also be the case, for example, if there have been changes to your details since the last exhibitions or when applying for the first time after moving to the town or parish. In case of doubt, you should find out which documents you need to bring with you on the city or municipality's website or by telephone before applying.

• Reissue of a passport with 32 / 48 pages:
  • Persons who have reached the age of 24: EUR 60.00 / 82.00
  • Persons who have not yet reached the age of 24: EUR 37.50 / 59.50
• Re-issuance of the passport by express procedure with 32 / 48 pages:
  • Persons who have reached the age of 24 years: EUR 92,00 / 114,00
  • Persons who have not yet reached the age of 24: EUR 69,50 / 91,50
• Issue of a provisional passport: EUR 26.00
• Change of passport or temporary passport: EUR 6,00

In some cities and municipalities, the fee may be waived if the applicant can prove that he or she is in need. For example, the fee can be waived for recipients of social welfare or unemployment benefit II if they bring the respective notice of grant with them as proof.

The decision to waive the fee is made on a case-by-case basis and is the responsibility of the respective authority. Please ask your passport authority whether and under which conditions a fee waiver is possible.

• A passport is only issued upon application, which you must submit in person.
• In addition to the photograph, fingerprints are also stored on the electronic chip in the passport. Therefore, fingerprints in the form of the flat print of your left and right index finger will be taken when you apply.

Notice: In the absence of an index finger, insufficient quality of the fingerprint or injury to the fingertip, the flat print of either the thumb, middle finger or ring finger will be taken as a substitute. Fingerprints will only not be taken if it is impossible to take them for medical reasons that are not merely temporary.

• You may be represented at the time of collection. The representative must present a power of attorney from you and identify himself/herself with his/her personal document (usually an identity card or passport).
• You may keep an old passport that has become invalid, for example as a souvenir. For this purpose, the passport authority must indicate the invalidity of the passport by stamping or punching a hole in it.

Notification and application for a new passport at the competent office: without delay.

This applies if you still need a passport (for example, because you do not have an identity card).

Passport authority of the district-free city, the unincorporated municipality, the office, the co-administering municipality

• § 11 Passport Act (PassG)
• § 15 Passport Act (PassG)
• § 25 Passport Act (PassG)
• § 5 Passport Ordinance (PassV)
• § 15 Passport Ordinance (PassV)
• § 17 Passport Ordinance (PassV)

Express passport and temporary passport

If the regular processing time of two to six weeks is too long for your travel plans and you need the passport sooner, your passport office can also issue the passport by express procedure if it has the necessary technical equipment. Express passports take three to four working days to process. Provided that the application is received by Bundesdruckerei by 12 noon, express passports will be delivered to the respective authority within two working days (excluding public holidays and weekends).

Only if the passport cannot be delivered to you in time before you intend to use it for the first time, even in the express procedure, will a temporary passport be issued to you. You will receive this immediately when you apply, so you do not have to wait for it.

• Photo sample board Bundesdruckerei
• Passport Amt24-Information
• Registration of marriage Amt24-Informationen

Saxon State Ministry of the Interior