Renewing an American passport from Germany

howdy, just back from cow-land and 35°C temperatures and 75% humidity. was great! had my dose of taco bell, cornbread, no shiner (alas), and air conditioning to last me a year. wasn't sure about those low-carb nacho cheese doritos though.

anyhow, just occured to me that my passport expires in july. checked out US Embassy in DE site for information and i have a few q's:
(1) anyone had experience with a photographer who can do us passport regulation photos. my old photos (done for job interviews) are unfortunately only 4 cm, not the regulation u.s. size. most run-of-the-mill passport photo places have their template and that's it.
(2) my visa for d-land will be in the old one which will be cancelled and returned to me. do i need to get my visa for d-land put in my new passport? if so, anyone got any experience doing this?

that's it for now. cheers.

as far as the via thing is concerned they will trasnfer it for you no probs...from my experience you don't need to fill out any forms etc. just go in and explain and they pop a new one in the new passport. Same expiry date though, of course...

The consulate should be able to tell you who makes US size passport photos if you call them...

Hi Elf. Were ya down in San Marcos? Man i could hit that outlet mall and then eat me a chicken fried steak right now.

I had to look into this before...I ended up getting it renewed in the US (using one of those quickie passport agencies.)...but over here its just through the consulate. There are some forms to fill out. Info here.

Not sure about the photos but there are photo booths I think in the station at the marienplatz that might work.

No, Marienplatz photo booths will not work -- those are for European passport picture requirements -- American photo sizes are different. I had mine done earlier this year at Optik-Foto Robra at Rotkreuzplatz -- they are aware of the special specifications the Americans require and are very reasonable in price. Tel. 134606 or 166019

I used the photo booth in the consulate for my passport. Not hte best pictures, but the easiest.

Still in cow land myself - the northern one (Wyo) - what low carb nachos? Eekkk.

Re: your Aufenthaltstitel: no problem -- just have the people at the consulate cancel your old passport and give it back to you and then go to the KVR and get your new sticker -- easy as pie!

definitely recommend using the photo booth in the consulate. It's the only way you can be sure they'll accept the photos. It was €5 last thursday.

you betcha! was in bobcat land cause my bro just graduated from TxState and had a quick walk around the old stomping grounds. and of course i had to drop a few hundred $'s at the outlet mall. that place just keeps on getting bigger! but the deals. wow!


exactly the info i was looking for. thanks lisl. will go down there next week!

The US consulate has a booth in the building that does the photos in the right size and it's no more expensive than other booths -- €5 or 6. Quick, easy, right there where you have to go anyway.

woof.

Elf,

I'm so jealous...family and friends floated the "Lupe" this weekend, and the first time in 10 years I wasn't there

Thanks for starting the thread, I have to do the same thing soon.

hiya, just an update.
the photo machine is indeed EUR 5, but it does not make change. it takes coins or a 5 euro bill. photo wasn't the hottest, but it worked. and yeah they cancelled my passport righ there and gave it back to me.
also to save time, fill out the forms online, then print them out. then i didn't have to wait in line twice.
also, they are only open from 8-11, mo-fri. i got there at 9 and wasted a whole hour. wasn't so bad.

cheers.

last update. i got my new passport in the mail 4 days later. thought it would take 3 weeks. granted, it expired on july 2, but i doubt they hurried just for me.

okay really the last update:

i had to get my residence permit transferred to my new passport. went to the immigration office at Poccistr., presented them my new passport, paid €10 and was out of there. just popped in this morniing at 9.30 or so. took about 1/2 hour.

I'll add to this since I just did the same thing but a year later.

I got my new passport back from the Munich Consulate a week after I applied.

I went to the Munich KVR to get a new residence permit and there are 2 things they asked for that I wasn't expecting: a photocopy of my new passport (I should have known from before) and one of the new biometric photos (I thought I would not need one since I renewed my residence permit in April 2005 and the paperwork/permit is still valid). The girl said something about the photo being older than a year so I needed a new one. Anyway they have photo machines there so it was not a problem. Be aware that they will actually put the picture on your permit now (they didn't when I got permits before)!

And they gave me the previous permit expiration date on my new permit-- that date was based on the expiration date of my old passport which was not the full time limit I was entitled to, but all they could give me at that time b/c of the passport expiration (I got a new passport for name change not b/c of expiration. Make sure you go to the section that serves your new name!). I think they would have adjusted this date since it now doesn't mean anything but I don't care since I am leaving Germany shortly anyway so I didn't ask. I am not sure if it would then have cost me more than 10 euros in that case or not.

ah, that explains why it says "valid without photo" on my residence permit. i got it in summer 2004 or 2005. tja, these things can change quite a lot in just one year.

I too got my US Passport in record time after applying at the consulate: 6 days (4 business days) shipped to my door! I think the total cost was 90 Euros or so. I was even in and out in under 30 minutes. Color me impressed by US Federal Gov't efficiency - for now.

While at the consulate I learned something that may be of use to some TTers: As of last month they can issue an emergency passport on the spot. It's only valid for a year but clearly that's more than adequate in a pinch. I forget the cost but it wasn't unreasonable (under 100 Euros comes to mind).

HEADS UP CONSULTAE HOURS HAVE CHANGED!

Just want to add to the chorus of how efficient the Consulate was at renewing my passport. Got it back in one week without any rush on it.

The only thing I found strange is that they send your old and new passport in an envelope marked "U.S. Consulate Passport division" Makes me think that it would be just too easy to pinch a passport from the mail.

Anyway, I plan to write them and commend them on their efficiency. The wait doing it through the base was 12 weeks!!!

Also for the ultra paranoid, the US has begun to issue the RFID chipped Passports to everybody now, not just the Diplomatic Passports. So from now on if you need a new PP, it's gonna be chipped..

So is mine chipped? How does one know and what does that mean?

Really? Interesting since that technology is not really out on the market yet and the US passport photos are not biometric/compatible with biometric scanners.

Regardless if the Tech. is mature or not, has be cloned/copied and is widly seen as a security risk.
The deployment has gone forward. The full roll-out of RFID PP's began on 1 Aug. Also keeping in mind that this will do absolutely
nothing for adding security.. Remember the 9/11 Guys all had valid/Legit IDs..

Does you PP have this symbol anywhere in/on it? If it does then you've been chipped.
Some companies have begun selling Tinfoil lined cases for the new PP's to block reading by remote readers.

then I guess they'd better hurry up with implementing the facilities at various border checks...
(and my job is safer )

Edit - thanks for the photo-correction

Guess who the U.S. contracts out to for the new passports! Infineon to Provide Chip for U.S. E-Passport

And the German company Schlumberger does all the Smartcards for the DOD,DHS, and most other Govt. Depts.

I guess SIM and a few others here are not working for "the man"'s man after all...

I just returned from the US Consulate in Munich after getting an 'emergency passport'. Mine was lost and I'm flying to the US on Friday, so I was given a limited-validity passport. It cost 84.52 EUR/ 97 USD. To get one, you'll need to provide two photographs (you can take them in the booth on-site, though the machine is apparently often broken - call the Consulate before you go to make sure it's operational), proof of US citizenship (birth certificate etc), proof of identity (US driver's license) and fill out forms DS-11 and DS-64.

The passport is only valid for a year, but you can apply for a regular one via mail without any additional charge.

Service was fast, friendly and efficient. Go America.

Note to non-Munich peeps: I'm not sure if this service is available at all US Consulates throughout Germany - check with your local Consulate to find out.

So what do non-drivers do??

(as a non-driver, I am constantly bothered by this question...)

What you need is proof of identity, which according to the passport application needs to contain your signature and physical description or photograph - i.e. Certification of Citizenship, or other government-issued ID card.

A driver's license is just an example of acceptable proof of identity. What did you use when you originally got your passport, Aelfwynn? You can use the same when re-applying or getting an emergency passport.

I used some things that I no longer have, such as my mother and her drivers license (back in the states still...), plus my school ID and transcript... rules have also changed, as that was several years ago. For my most recent passport, of course, I used the previous one (name change when I got married). This is a hypothetical question, since I don't need an emergency passport (yet). It's just something I struggled with for years before I got my first passport. The passport people, by the way, wouldn't accept a non-driver's state ID, which I had at the time.

Luckily, it seems that an identifying witness doesn't have to be a US citizen, so there are some options.

*getting off her soapbox now...*

It actually seems pretty flexible to me. If you don't have any other acceptable form of photo identification, the 'identifying witness' can be a US citizen, a non-US citizen national, or permanent resident alien, and only needs to provide proof of their identity. The witness is supposed to have known you for at least two years, but the government doesn't require proof of that.

My main problem is the assumption of driving on the part of the government in terms of ID (note that state-issued non-drivers' ID is NOT accepted, even though it has the same requirements in terms of identification to get it as a driver's license, and the same level of fraud protection, too).

Edit: The DMVs issue the non-driver's IDs, too.

Well Aelfwynn, I'm not here to defend the government's policies, I'm just trying to help people out by sharing some information.

So for those who want to know what other forms of ID are accepted (other than driver's license, sigh) you can go to the US Department of State website.

Three years ago I was issued a Emergency Passport in Munich that was good for year,but extendable to ten years when lost passport is found (and expired). I found the old one and have been traveling on the Emergency Passport since. I bit of a hassle,as I have to always point out the extenions..

Just had my passport renewed as well. All of the information provided above remains accurate as of last week. Photo machine and postage machine were both in perfect working order (thankfully) and I received the new one in the mail in 9 days. It certainly wasn't the fastest queue I've ever had to sit through, but not too bad for a government office.

Also note that security procedures prevent you from bringing any electronic devices into the building. You'll need to leave them with the guards to claim when you are finished.

Anyone know if the photo booth and postage machine are still located in the Consulate?
Seems to be the easiest solution but the last post on this thread is over a year old.

Thanks!

I was at the Frankfurt consulate last month, no photo booth or postage machine seen there. We did have to leave electronic devices with security guards (cell phone, cameras). I'd recommend taking everything with you that you need and put it in a file folder. Most train stations have passport photo booths in them and charge 5 euros.