Appointments are booked online. For unusual urgencies and emergencies, please email us at denver@hk-diplo.de Your new biometric passport with normal processing will usually take eight to ten weeks to arrive, but often in as little as five weeks. Express processing takes 4-5 weeks. A variety of internal and external factors can influence the turn-around time. A temporary one-year passport may be possible within about one to two weeks’ time. For critical travel urgencies, applicants normally will simultaneously apply for a temporary and a biometric passport - with the temporary passport, one will travel and upon return to the U.S. exchange it for the biometric passport.
The demand for passport appointments is extremely high and we have limited capacity. Please help us and all travelers to avoid appointment slots going unused and delaying access to all others, by rescheduling or canceling your appointment at least 3 days in advance! Thank you.
Updated 2.14.2024
Please prepare thoroughly, IN ADVANCE. Do not hesitate to email beforehand with any questions to help your preparation. Inadequate materials and information at the day of your appointment WILL result in needing to reschedule your appointment. INCOMPLETE supporting documentation means we will have to turn you away. We strive to help everyone get their passport, name declaration and all other services we offer, but we have limited resources to do so. SOME items in the instructions below may not apply to your situation, so in that case do not worry or email your questions to denver@hk-diplo.de if in doubt.
Appointments are booked online. For unusual urgencies and emergencies, please email us. Your new biometric passport with normal processing will usually take 8 to 10 weeks to arrive. Express processing takes 4-5 weeks, and the fee is $36,00. A variety of internal and external factors can influence the turn-around time. A temporary one-year passport may be possible within about 1 to 2 weeks’ time. For critical travel urgencies, applicants normally will simultaneously apply for a temporary and a biometric passport - with the temporary passport, one will travel and upon return to the U.S. exchange it for the biometric passport.
The demand for passport appointments is extremely high and we have limited capacity. Please help us and all travelers to avoid appointment slots going unused and delaying access to all others, by rescheduling or canceling your appointment at least 3 days in advance! Thank you!
Please complete the passport application form for ADULTS in advance, and bring it with you to sign in front of us.
https://www.germany.info/us-en/service/02-PassportsandIDCards/passport-adult/951294
For all MINORS (under 18 years of age), please both parents complete in advance the minor’s application form.
https://www.germany.info/us-en/service/02-PassportsandIDCards/passport-minor/951296
The statement of consent is absolutely necessary for every minor passport application and can be signed in front of us by both parents. If one parent cannot make it to the appointment, such parent must execute the consent statement in front of a notary public beforehand to have their signature notarized.
In general, documents written in the German or in the English language are acceptable. Documents in a third language need to either be translated into German or into English in advance by a certified translator.
Please bring all the following ORIGINAL documents listed below plus one copy to the appointment! We will look at your originals and immediately return them to you.
For an ADULT passport, OVER 18, the requirements are:
For a MINOR'S passport, the requirements are:
BOTH parents need to sign the passport application in front of us. There are two exceptions:
Note: if the child’s birth certificate doesn’t list a city of birth, then please also include a statement of live birth or delivery from the hospital which shows/includes the city of birth, please order a so-called long-form birth certificate.
If you are applying for your FIRST German passport (Erstaustellung-Pass), the requirements are:
• recent biometric passport photos (Please do not cut the photos yourself!)
• your birth certificate stating the exact place of birth (it is not sufficient if only the county is mentioned on the US birth certificate, a “proof of birth letter” issued by the hospital with the name of the town must then also be provided). Please note that the birth certificate must state the parents' names (“long version”)
• US passport
• passports of both parents (data page with photo)
• valid residence permit in the US of the German parents (US Resident Alien Card or US residence visa)
• parents' marriage certificate (if parents were married in Germany: “Stammbuch” of the parents)
• proof of the parents' current name usage (i.e., one of the following: German birth certificate, German marriage certificate or if married outside of Germany, certificate of current name usage issued by the registrar’s office in Germany)
• if you were born out of wedlock, proof of acknowledgement of paternity
• if applicable, certificate about the validity of a name declaration (“Bescheinigung über die Namensführung”)
• if applicable, German Naturalization Certificate
• if applicable, German parents US Naturalization Certificate with “Beibehaltungsgenehmigung”
• US driver's license or a utility bill of the parents as proof of residence
IF your most recent passport was issued directly in Germany (because you had lived there then), please also bring the Abmeldungsbescheinigung (a certificate of de-registration from your last German residence)! This will move along your passport processing turnaround more quickly. Note, if you are still registered in Germany, your passport application will require an additional surcharge (see fee schedule below). You could choose then to quickly contact the local authorities in Germany and de-register, or you may have good reason to stay registered. If, however your most recent passport was issued through a German consulate in the United States, then you do not need to worry about the de-registration (unless you happened to have moved to Germany between then and now!).
Passport applications requiring a name declaration cannot be processed until the appropriate declaration has been submitted and name usage is granted.
It is therefore essential that you check whether you are required to submit a name declaration. For example, a name declaration is required if you have married since your last passport was issued and you changed your surname. A name declaration is also required if this is the first time you are applying for a passport for your child and you, and your spouse do not share the same surname. Additional information can be found on our website at:
https://www.germany.info/us-en/service/04-FamilyMatters/name/902854
Please fill out the entire document and only leave the areas on which you have questions blank, we will help you complete those sections here with you. Note: newlyweds should not enter their new U.S. name on the top of that form (but only “birth/old” name), since the German authorities have not been able to formally accept the new US name yet.
For a name declaration, please provide two sets of photocopies of the supporting documents listed below, since we need to create two files for you). The supporting documents will also include the spouse’s documents (their birth certificate and passport) and the spouse needs to accompany you to the appointment here in Denver for the German name declaration procedure to be executed here in front of us. A divorced person may typically make a name declaration back to maiden name, but for the US divorce to be acknowledged in Germany may take some time to process.
Name Declaration for Spouses:
Please Note:
The Registrar’s Offices in Germany have the right to request apostilles and translations of all foreign documents. It is up to the discretion of the competent Registrar’s Office whether the documents are accepted with or without an apostille and translation.
Based on our experiences, depending on the individual Registrar’s Office, the requirements for the documents that have to be submitted vary considerably. This applies to how the documents are being certified (notarized by a U.S. Notary Public or a German Consular Officer), as well as to what kind of documents need to be presented (certified copies or originals/with or without an apostille/with or without a translation into German). To expedite the processing of your declaration, we recommend that you contact the appropriate Registrar’s Office in Germany prior to submitting your declaration. This would also include inquiring about the possibility of sending the documents directly to the Registrar’s Office without involving us.
The complexities associated with such German name declarations, and the high hurdle for the German authorities to formally acknowledge such, is in our local experience the most common cause for delays. Please prepare well in advance and, since our goal is to help you get the name declaration right the first time!
Therefore, if you need to travel soon and your current passport has expired, we recommend usually that you will apply for BOTH a temporary passport (under the same name as your current German passport) with the new name declaration. So, first you will either travel with your existing passport if it still is valid, or you will first receive a new temporary passport for your immediate trip. Then, after you come back from your trip, and your name declaration has been processed in Germany, you will turn in your temporary passport and apply for your new biometric passport with your new name.
NOTE: Marriages, divorces and re-marriages in the U.S. and Germany follow different laws and regulations. New since 2017 is the requirement for new name changes that ALL divorces (including those of U.S. marriages) must have been recognized in Germany! Please email us for instructions for Scheidungsanerkennung!
For Information regarding the Recognition of a Divorce Decree please use the following Link:
https://www.germany.info/us-en/service/04-FamilyMatters/-/2126060?view=
First-time-ever passport applicants (NOT born in Germany) whose parents carry or carried different LAST names in their marriage will also need to make a Name Declaration of the last name of your child for the German authorities (unless you, as a first-time ADULT applicant - have married here and taken a new name as an adult through YOUR spouse - then simply see the section above on Name Changes
Depending on an individual applicant's circumstances, the passport processing section at the Consulate General in Los Angeles reserves the right upon review of your submitted application file to ask for additional documents. In that case, the passport specialists will attempt to contact you via email. We advise you in the weeks following your passport application appointment to check your email spam or junk folder regularly for possible messages from the domain named "@losa.auswaertiges-amt.de”. Because of certain email providers’ aggressive spam filters, sometimes unfortunately applicants do not notice the attempt by the consulate general to contact the applicant! The consulate general only attempts to send an email to you if they have a request from you, not otherwise!
Passport fee for adults over 24 years of age as of today is $121,00 and must be in form of a Money Order issued to the German Consulate General to avoid a $5,00 check fee.
Our application fee is separate and is $128,00, both fees can be paid in cash, by check or credit card.
The fees can change at a moment’s notice due to being hooked to the Euro exchange Rate and therefore without guarantee.
The Passport fee for minors and under 24 years of age $85,00 and should be in form of a Money Order issued to the German Consulate General to avoid a $5,00 check fee.
Our application fee is separate and is $128,00, both fees can be paid in cash, by check or credit.
Note: the fees posted at www.germany.info are not necessarily all applicable
To have German passport photos taken in the United States is very difficult to accomplish correctly. On average, only about 50% of photos that applicants bring in are good and correct. Perhaps another 40% or so are tolerable but of questionable quality resulting in a printed passport with a poorly looking photo, and about 10% of photos fail outright and we to have to send applicants away to get new photos taken.
Please take your photos in advance at a professional photographer but know that the photos can be a difficult aspect, since German passport photos are slightly different from standard US passport photos. Please instruct them after taking the photo but before printing to resize the photo on the machine to make your head size match the maximum US head size requirement (the outside profile dimension). The German minimum head size requirement is about that of the US maximum one! Note that the various Walgreens locations have identical photo printing equipment, with a list of Countries and their specific photo requirements, but not always the staff with the proper knowledge. Most Walgreens photo processing machines will have a country setting for Germany. AAA sometimes takes suitable photos, other times not! Other providers like CVS may be possible. Some internet websites will format your own digital photo to match the German passport parameters.
To assure getting the correct photos, you must mention that you need GERMAN passport photos. It is very advisable to print out the photo template in the link below and take the document with you to the photographer AND compare the finished photo against the samples and template. If you neglect to do this, you might wind up with the wrong photos.
Many Walgreens Stores have a photo program that enables the photographer to print passport photos according to the specification of different countries. However, many of their employees are not aware of it and insist that they can only take US passport photos. To solve this problem, you might want to write the instructions down or show them this document:
The employee needs to click on “Passport photos” in the photo program, then on “Settings” on the right side, and then on “USA”. This will open a list of countries, showing all the different templates. Then he can choose the German Template. The problem is that at first, only USA is visible, and it is not at all obvious, that a country list exists.
The two most common passport photo mistakes are usually either too small in head size or too bright (too bright is when background is pure bright and the face shows white-colored areas, while the neck area is dark). The Bundesdurckerei in Berlin will reject passport applications with improper photos, or you may end up with a new passport which will show a possibly a faint or ghostly-looking photo image.
NEVER grin or show an open mouth in a passport photo.
Photos of babies 1 year or younger are subject to the least strict parameters of enforcement. For young baby photos, please bring a white or light-colored monochromatic blanket that will need to serve as a background while you hold your child.
By the way, we will cut the photos to size -- don't let the photographer worry about that!
Please see additional details for photo guide lines and the useful templates, both for adults and for children.
https://www.germany.info/blob/906790/6e3eee9fd4d86e16aaefe0e92d809332/dd-sample-photos-data.pdf
Please first ask yourself before traveling if you made photocopies for us of all your required supporting documents.
Please with your GPS or navigation system input our address 1123 Auraria Parkway, Denver, CO 80204! We are located on the 1st floor in Suite 100.
You may park in one of the empty parking spots to the west of our building or a meter on 11th street. You must leave the parking spots after your appointment; they are not for long term parking. If you need long-term parking, then you can park across the street on Campus.
The appointment usually takes 15 minutes per person and on most days, we keep on schedule to get you back on the road. Your preparedness for the appointment will help all of us with that.
We look forward to your visit, and we are eager to help you get your new German passport.
The Consulate General of Los Angeles if you reside in Colorado or the Consulate General in San Francisco if you reside in Wyoming is the actual processing office for your passport, and they will digitally store your personal data and documents, except for your biometric data which will not be stored anywhere except for on the chip in the biometric passport. The Bundesdurckerei in Berlin prints all biometric passports and will send the passport to the CG Los Angeles/San Francisco which will then mail it to you. Temporary passports are printed directly in Los Angeles/San Francisco and thus have quicker turn-around time.
For the status of your passport application, please allow the standard time expected processing time (as noted above) to elapse before contacting the Consulate General, unless they already contacted you for additional documents (check spam folder, as mentioned previously). There is no online tracking system as of yet.
For inquiries about your passport status, please email: visa-passport@losa.auswaertiges-amt.de or pass@sanf.auswaertiges-amt.de with your full name and date of birth. If you do not see a reply within a business day, check your spam or junk folder, or email me and I will forward your inquiry.
If you decide to keep your current passport when you come for your application here (because perhaps it is not expired and you may use it for an immediate trip), then when the new passport is ready, CG Los Angeles will email you alerting you that your new passport is ready at the CG Los Angeles. Then you must mail your current/old passport to the CG Los Angeles/San Francisco. Only then they will mail you your new one (together with the old one after invalidating it), or we can arrange for your new passport to be sent to us where you will have to pick it up with presenting your old passport. This process takes longer compared to turning in one’s passport when coming here for the new passport application. So, if you do not need your current passport for an immediate trip, we recommend you turn it in to us at the time of application, for faster turn-around time.