Schedule an Appointment

Updated 5.8.2022

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. INCOMPLETEsupporting documentation means we will have to turn you away. We strive to help everyone get their passport, 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 eight to ten weeks to arrive. Express processing takes 4-5 weeks and the fee is $38,00. 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. A children’s passport usually takes one to three weeks. 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.

Please note, that children’s passports are valid for one year and only under age 12, they are always sufficient for travel to EU Schengen States, but may not work with visa applications for certain countries.

The demand for passport appointments is extremely high and we have limited capacity. Please help us and help all travelers to avoid appointment slots going unused and delaying access to all others!

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.

https://www.germany.info/blob/906792/620b2f0ed1a225afdc0c5f6e3bcb3783/passport-child-consent-pdf-data.pdf

 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 ORIGINALdocuments listed below plus one copy to the appointment! We will scan your originals into your application and immediately return them to you.  The necessary supporting documents will be:

• your most recent German passport
• if you are non-US citizen, then your valid US permanent resident permit (green) card OR your valid US visa OR your visa extension Notice of Action letter from USCIS (if your visa has expired and you have recently re-applied).
• your birth certificate
• and for married applicants: ALL as applicable; marriage certificate(s) and all divorce decree(s), if divorced or death certificate if spouse(s) is/are deceased. For multiple marriages and divorces, we need ALL certificates and ALL decrees. Proof of current name usage such as German marriage certificate or certificate of current name usage issued by the registrar’s office in Germany.
• your local drivers’ license, or some other proof that shows your current address and state of residency, such as utility bill
• if you have a doctorate degree, you must bring your diploma (and if non-German diploma then also transcript) to have your title in the passport.
• for dual US-German citizens please bring also as applicable your US passport (thus, no visa, obviously) and either a US birth certificate or a US Dept of State Consular Certificate of Birth Abroad, or a US certificate of naturalization or US certificate of citizenship together with German Beibehaltungsgenehmigung!

For a MINOR'S passport, the requirements are:

• child’s birth certificate, child’s US passport or US permanent residency card, at least one German parent’s birth certificate, one German parent’s German passport, one German parent’s US passport OR permanent residency card OR valid visa, the parents' marriage certificate (marriage license is optional - if in doubt, bring both certificate and license), the other parent’s birth certificate, the other parent’s driver’s license to show state of residence and the other parent’s passport (if have). 

BOTH parents need to sign the passport application in front of us. There are two exceptions:

• One parent may have a court order decreeing sole custody
• Only one parent can make it to the appointment and the other parent cannot - in that case use the special consent form (link above) to be notarized by a public notary near you before the appointment

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 (and address) of the hospital, order a so-called long-form birth certificate which will show the birth town.

If you are applying for your FIRSTGerman passport (Erstaustellung-Pass) ever, adults or children’s cases - please call or email for additional instructions IF the MINOR’s paragraph (see just above!) instructions may not seem to apply to your situation.

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 above, 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 also 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.

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!

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, hopefully!

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.

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

As mentioned, for any name declaration, please provide two sets of photocopies (See paragraph above, under ‘minor’s passport’ for required supporting documentation).

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 be attempting 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!

The fees are paid in two parts at the time of appointment:

Fee part 1 for Passport Printing & Return Postage: the passport application fee for printing and for the return postage will need to be paid with a Money Order issued to the “German Consulate General”, if you would like to pay in cash, or with a debit card, there will be a $5.- check fee added to your total. We will then issue a check on your behalf to the CG.

The exact fees can vary as often as every one to four weeks, depending on our EUR-USD exchange rate (this rate is an internal rate at the German foreign office and may actually not match current forex market rates).

Note, the actual cost on your week of your appointment will wary slightly from these!

1a) return postage for one new passport: $35.-

• if you need to apply for temporary passport and for a biometric passport, then you will need to calculate two (2) times $35, since you will be receiving two separate shipments.

1b) passport printing (indicative, only):

• passport 32 pages for adult applicant over age of 24 - $98
• passport for person under the age of 24 - $71
• for a Kinderreisepass (non-biometric!), it is $32 for per child
• for express service add an additional $38 per person (express is seldom recommended and only with the prior permission of the CG in Los Angeles)
• temporary one-year passport $47
• extra surcharge for person still registered (Angemeldet) as resident in Germany: $71 for adult 24 years or older, $44 for 24 years and younger, $31 for temporary passport application, or $15 for Kinderpass

When we take your fingerprints here, we will provide you an exact total.

Fee part 2 for Local Processing and Handling:

the local processing fee and handling costs, which is payable in cash exact change or per debit card:

• passport processing per each person $121.
• name declaration (if applicable) is $116.

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 Bundesdruckerei 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 4100 E. Mississippi Ave. Denver, CO 80246! We are located on the 4th floor in Suite 410.

The Parking garage has some visitor parking as well as on the north side of our building facing Mississippi, if there are no open spaces in either of the visitor parking, please drive to the back side of the Hyatt Place Hotel and park there. If you park in front of the hotel, you may receive a ticket or be towed.

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.

Note, if you arrive more than 20 minutes early, we ask that you wait in the downstairs / ground-floor lobby of the Elevate Building. There you will find nice a nice lounge area to relax in.

Unfortunately our 4th-floor reception area is not large enough to handle many visitors at once, so congregating there is not an option. Please keep in mind that the 4thfloor is neither a public space nor a government facility, but a professional services office. 

For after the appointment, there are great variety of restaurants are in the area. We look forward to your visit, and we are eager to help you get your new German passport.

We ask that at least twoadults must accompany any young children ages five or younger. No exceptions, please! We share office space in the building with other private and commercial businesses and ask that you please help maintain the professional atmosphere! The consulate has received complaints in the past from the building management unfortunately due to the behavior of some unruly children. Personally, however, we welcome child applicants, as we always need to see them for their German passport application!

The Consulate General of Los Angeles 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 Bundesdruckerei in Berlin prints all biometric passports and will send the passport to the CG Los Angeles which will then mail it to you. Temporary passports and the Kinderreisepass are printed directly in Los Angeles 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.

For inquiries about your passport status, please email: visa-passport@losa.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 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 when 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.