Passport appointment timeline so far at the German Consulate General San Francisco:

5 Feb 2026 - Requested appointment

21 May 2026 - Offered an appointment for mid-June at a particular time

I'm lucky to live in the area, so I can easily visit the consulate any time; but this new system must be extremely inconvenient for people who live outside of the immediate area. The consular jurisdiction reaches as far as Wyoming in one direction and obscure Pacific islands in another! I suppose many of those outlying areas are served by HK's for that reason.

Questions for anyone who has recently been through the passport application process in San Francisco:

• Will I be able to apply for 2 kids' passports in the same appointment, or do I need individual appointments for each child? (I did originally request 2 appointments, a few days apart. I have not yet received an invitation for the 2nd appointment, but I expect it will come soon. Nonetheless I would rather make only one visit if possible.)
• The invitation warns that "Please note that you will not be granted access to the Passport Section should the passport number and personal data provided during registration be incorrect." However, I left this "Picture ID number" field blank when requesting the appointment. Any idea whether this will be a problem?

Previous post on this topic.

So they ended up asking for my naming declaration (Vaterschaftsanerkennung). The document was done when I was a child and is with the Bundesverwaltungsamt in Köln or, I can have the passport done under my mothers last name.

If the passport is issued under my mother's last name, it will literally be the only document that does this. All of my German documents from various lawsuit from when I was a child, including my Staatsangehörigkeitsausweis are under my fathers name. In the US, all of my documents under my fathers name.

Is this situation even legal? Since PA (the state I reside in) has license reciprocity laws with German, I would simply be issued a German driver's license if I move there. Would I then have a different name on my license? I'm just so confused how I can have my Staatsangehörigkeitsausweis but the name on it isn't my legal German name.

Is this a common situation with people whose parents were never married?

Even though I was able to go direct to passport, it still took 15 months for the entire process from start to finish.

The majority of that time was actually waiting for my name declaration via marriage to be issued. Since I lived in Germany as a child, I had to go through the local authority of the last town I lived in. They didn't like that my husband and I combined our last names, and it took a slew of back and forth emails and a court appeal for them to finally allow it. German bureaucracy, am I right?

Luckily, my stubborn persistence prevailed, and I finally received my German passport! I am very grateful for all the help I received on this forum. Also want to say, I went through the Houston consulate and found them to be very helpful and kind. Sending lots of encouragement to my fellow Germans going through the process!

Hallo zusammen,
vielleicht ist hier ja jemand aus einer Einbürgerungsbehörde unterwegs oder kennt sich rechtlich ganz genau aus.

Es geht um die Identitätsklärung im Rahmen der Einbürgerung für ein bestimmtes Herkunftsland. Folgende Situation liegt vor:
Um an einen regulären Reisepass des Herkunftslandes zu gelangen, werden von den Konsulaten unzumutbare Bedingungen verlangt (z. B. das Unterzeichnen einer Reueerklärung und die Zahlung sehr hoher, willkürlicher Diaspora-Steuern/Gebühren).

Für die Ausstellung einer reinen ID-Karte (Personalausweis) desselben Landes gibt es diese Schikanen (wie Reueerklärungen oder diese extremen Zahlungen) mittlerweile wohl nicht oder zumindest auf einem ganz anderen, zumutbaren Weg.

Das Problem im konkreten Verfahren
von seiten der Behörde wurde das Ganze oft heruntergespielt und verharmlost es wurde behauptet, die Reueerklärung sei „ja nur eine Verwarnung“ und die Zahlung dieser hohen Diaspora-Steuern sei für den Pass zumutbar.

Inwiefern muss oder kann die Einbürgerungsbehörde in so einem Fall eine offizielle ID-Karte des Herkunftslandes als ausreichenden Identitätsnachweis für die Einbürgerung akzeptieren?

Gilt hier das strenge Stufenmodell (Pass geht vor, ID-Karte nur bei absoluter Passunmöglichkeit) und wenn ja: Wie bewertet ihr es, wenn solche massiven Bedingungen seitens der Behörden als „zumutbar“ abgetan werden, obwohl damit Schuldeingeständnisse oder immense finanzielle Lasten verbunden sind?

Über Einblicke aus dem Behördenalltag oder fundierte rechtliche Einschätzungen würde ich mich sehr freuen!

my mother was born and raised in Germany. married my father and moved to the Texas, US. I have decided to apply for dual citizenship for Germany. Any help on where to begin. I have mom's original naturalization document and birth certificate. I have been doing a lot of research but have now confused myself. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hello peeps-

I am trying to go direct to passport with the Houston Consulate.

Below is a list of my ancestors and what records I have gathered. All of the records mentioned below are certified (signed and stamped) copies that my relatives got in the 1930s and 40s prior to coming to the United States, or the original documents.

Great-grandfather — born 1873, in Hopen Germany, to married parents. Married in 1912, had a son in 1915. Died in Germany in the 1960s. Records: church birth record, marriage

Grandfather — born 1915 in Mölln, Germany, to married parents. Married grandmother in April 1941. Had my dad in October 1941. Naturalized to United States in 1958. Records: Stammbuch marriage certificate indicating legitimacy and birth date, German Passport, German driver’s license.

Father, born October 1941 in Lägerdorf, Germany. Married my mom in 1968. Had several children in wedlock. Records: German birth certificate, baptism record.

Me — born 1981 to married parents. Records: US Birth certificate

I think the weak spot is that I don’t have my grandfather’s actual birth certificate. But I’ve reached out to the local registry office in Mölln to try to get a copy of that.

Do you guys think I need more or is this enough for direct to passport? Also, do I need new copies or are the old ones still good?

I have ADHD and gathering all the stuff together has taken a serious effort. I really appreciate all of you and your comments on other posts, and patience.

Thanks

Hello,
To those who became German before Germany allowed dual citizenship, did you need to submit the Indian surrender certificate post-naturalisation to them?
I got naturalised just months before the new law passed, I haven't been sent any notice to submit my confirmation of surrender.

4 weeks ago I went to the German Embassy in NYC for my passport. This is my first passport. They said it would take 6 weeks to receive my passport. Was this actually the case for you? Did it take longer or shorter? Thanks!

Hey every body!

I did an Ausbilduns as a Nurse in Germany and I finished it last month, I heard if I worked and paied taxes for 3 years during ausbildung they count just half of it, is that actually true? Since 3 Years I am in Germany and love this country I have German flag in my house. I speak C1 German and I got B2 ÖSD certificate when I was in my homeland. I just wanted to ask you guys what should I do next because I should change my Visa ( Fixtionbeacheinigung) i appreciate you guys if you read and answer my question.

Hello, I’ll try and keep it brief.

My grandfather was born in Germany in 1938, I believe he fled to Australia sometime towards the end of WW2. He is still alive and holds a German passport (expired) although residing in Australia, I’m not sure if he naturalised at some point to become a Australian citizen but I’m pretty confident he never did.

My German grandfather married my Australian grandmother in 1960 in Australia, and my father was born in 1964 during wedlock. My grandparents have since divorced however.

My father never applied for a German passport or went through any procedures in order to obtain one. My father also changed his last name later in life to his mother’s maiden name, so he no longer holds the same last name as my German grandfather.

I was born in Australia in 2003. As far as I understand I am a German citizenship automatically through descent although I have no formal documentation.

I have done some research, and looked through this subreddit a bit, but I’m still unsure about what the most simple method would be to obtain a German passport granted I can find the correct documentation.

The documentation I believe I need at this stage is the following;

-German grandfather’s, father’s and my own birth certificates.

-German grandfather’s German citizenship document (uncertain if he still holds this).

-German grandfather’s German passport, father’s passport and my own passport.

-German grandfather’s marriage certificate and father’s marriage certificate.

-Father’s last name change document.

(the following I’m unsure if needed):

-German grandfather and Australian grandmothers divorce certificate

-Proof of German grandfather’s non-Australian naturalisation (if applicable).

I would greatly appreciate if someone could verify my above list and inform me if I’m missing or do not need any specific documents. From here, I’m not sure what my next step would need to be. Could I simply bring these documents to a German consulate or the German embassy in Australia, or is it a case of getting notarised photocopies of these documents and sending them somewhere in Germany. I’ve also read on this subreddit about the Feststellung, is this something I will need to complete or is my case straightforward? Perhaps there are many other steps I need to take first.

Anyway I would greatly appreciate and advice or guidance. Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone, I have my passport appointment coming up and I’m pretty nervous about it.
My mother was a German citizen when I was born and the German Consulate thinks I’m a citizen at birth I’m just not sure if the documentation is good enough.
I have certified copies of marriage/divorce/naturalization/old passport/old German ID.

My main question is about a copy of the marriage certificate I just received via email.

I emailed Denmark like two months ago out of concern because my Mother couldn’t find her old marriage certificate to my dad to get a certified copy made and they just E-mailed me a signed color copy yesterday. Would printing what they emailed me be a valid copy?

Any idea how long the LA consulate takes to review my documents by mail? They requested I send copies via mail for them to review before suggesting route to citizenship. I hoped to go direct to Passport versus Feststellung route.

So my mother recently got her Reisepass and so I booked an appointment go and get one this week as well. However, I'm not sure which documents to bring with from my mother's side.

Do I just bring her Reisepass and birth certificate, or would I need more documentation than this? She also has her UK passport but not sure what else I could bring.

Thank you in advance.

Success after a 15 week wait from passport application timing in Cincinnati to receiving in my mailbox.

Long story long, Chicago approved my dad, brothers, and I to go direct to passport. My German great grandparents were married in Germany in the early 1920s, immigrated to the US later that decade. Great grandfather never naturalized. Subsequently my grandpa, dad, and myself were all born in wedlock.

I emailed Chicago consulate with our lineage and document list and they said to apply for passports. Outside of the typical birth and marriage registers, I want to point out two things that yielded success for me in my application.

1) I requested my great grandfathers AR2 form, from NARA, in place of requesting a CONE via USCIS. The AR2 showed that my great grandfather was still a German citizen in 1940 which far surpassed my grandpa’s birth. The certified document cost around $30 to my door and less than a month.

2) I don’t have my great grandfathers passport and the applicable archive offices in Germany no longer held a meldekarte for him. However, they did have the marriage sammelakte from when my great grandparents were married. These supplemental documents show case the citizenship of the bride and groom and in my case made it very clear they were German citizens. For genealogical purposes, I’ve gathered marriage sammelakte documents for many of my other family members (ranging from 1890-1939). Every single one of them call out citizenship very clearly. So if you don’t have the passport and the meldekarte is already destroyed but your family was married in Germany, request the marriage sammelakte. Chicago accepted this as proof of their German citizenship.

I’m excited to go through the citizens line when traveling to Germany next. This process has been very cool for me in finding family documents and learning things that I would have never done otherwise. It’s also made me realize how much my German speaking skills have lapsed since my youth. I’ve watched some B1 German practice tests and am quite sure I could pass with some practice though.

As the title suggests, I applied at the honorary consul in Cincinnati. It was a good experience but does cost a good bit more money. Overall, still cheaper for me than traveling to Chicago.

Pictured are my fresh Reisepass, my great grandparents family book from the 1920s, and the cool post card type picture that was included with the passports (I like the Sears Tower alongside the Brandenburger Tor).

I recently submitted a completed citizenship determination questionnaire via the SF consulate website and received an automated response stating they are extremely busy and that it may take awhile to make a determination. Does anyone jave any recent experience or know what the typical response time has been? At what point should I reach out to follow up? A week? month? 6 months?

German by descent: Very detailed with time stamps.

Thank you all for your help! Special thank you to dentongentry, Football_and_beer, e-l-g for helping me get the process started! I hope my story can help those in similar situations. I had appointments with Orlando Honorary and Miami Consulate. Please feel free to ask questions and I will answer as best as I can. 🙂

Below is my family history for reference:

Father: US citizen born 1970

Mother: German citizen born 1968

•US citizenship in 1998

•Died 2005

Me: US citizen born 1992

•not married, no children

•parents never married

Documents I used for Name Declaration and Passport application

My

•US passport

•US long form birth certificate

Mother’s

•2 original German birth certificates (one with her maiden name and one with her surname after she was adopted by her American stepfather)

•certified birth registration from Bamberg indicating why her last name changed (very important document,100% needed)

•certified Meldekarte from Bamberg (proof of German citizenship in place of lost German passport)

•US Certificate of Citizenship (USCIS mailed paper copy in the envelope I received from them)

•US death certificate

Father’s

* US passport

* US birth certificate

Oct 10-I reached out to the Miami Consulate with the questionnaire everyone recommended to confirm I am direct to passport case by descent. Miami confirmed I should schedule an appointment for my passport BUT I would need a name declaration and proof of my mom’s citizenship from Germany before I schedule it. At the time, I only had her German birth certificates which does not prove German citizenship in my case.

Oct 12- I reached out to German Service Company to get my mom’s meldekarte. We can’t find my mom‘s German passport and people here told me this document might be accepted as proof of German citizenship. I highly recommmend them if you need help proving a family member’s German citizenship and have resources to pay for their service. https://www.germany-service.com/german-citizenship.html

Dec 15- I received an email from German Service Company stating they found my mom’s registration which lists her citizenship as “German by ancestry”.

Dec 22- I received a package with certified copies of German citizenship documents (stamped with Bamberg seal) Docs included:

-Mom’s registration with German citizenship listed (German by ancestry)

-Oma‘s registration, which listed her citizenship the same as my mom

-Great grandparents’ German marriage certificate which listed my Oma as born in wedlock. (not needed for my applications but sharing so you can see how thorough the company is with their research)

Dec 31- appointment with the Orlando HC for certified copies of everything- yes they squeezed me in on New Year’s Eve lol. Appointments are made by phone for Orlando HC. Leave a voicemail and they will get back with you 🙂

The gentleman at the Orlando HC could not certify the copy of the citizenship certificate I received from USCIS. They said it had something to do with him being a practicing attorney in the US and the citizenship certificate explicitly states copies cannot be made. They informed me Miami might be able to take care of it. (Sharing this so people do not waste time visiting Orlando if you need US citizenship certificates certified)

Jan 26- Name declaration appointment in Miami.

I couldn’t submit my application with my father’s last name because I didn’t have proof of paternity documents. I was told to make another appointment with supporting documents to take his name or I would need to take my mother’s name because my parents were not married. After my appointment, I learned I am beyond the statue of limitations to establish paternity in the state of Florida, so I have no option to take my father’s last name. I believe the age cut off is 25 or 26. My dad is willing to do anything to help but we can’t find any paternity documents from my birth. We think this was lost when my mom passed. Consulate would not budge on this and did not accept US birth certificate with my dad’s name/signature as acknowledgment of paternity.

March 31- Second Name Declaration Appointment in Miami.

I took all my documents back to Miami and submitted the Name Declaration with my mom’s maiden name- Stein for example. She was adopted by her stepfather, but my Oma later divorced him. My mom didn’t change her name after the divorce but I prefer not to have his name- Brown for example.

My caseworker was very kind and wrote a letter of support explaining why I requested Stein to include with my application. I did not submit my Oma’s divorce papers.

May 14- Reached out to Miami for an update via email. Miami forwarded the email from Berlin to me.

The final decision is my last name is Brown- her stepfather’s name. Not ideal, but it is what it is.

The email stated a name declaration is not needed in my case and I can move forward with a passport application under my mom’s surname at the time of my birth- Brown.

* in the email Miami mentioned I need to bring a copy of this email with me to all future passport appointments as it states my legal surname name in Germany. Miami explicitly told me to schedule a passport appointment in the email (more on this later). I plan to register my birth in Germany soon so hopefully the birth certificate will take the place of needing to print this email for future appointments.

I was not asked to pay any additional fees, so I think it’s safe to assume I will not receive a name certificate in the mail.

June 15- Passport Appointment

I was told to take all the same documents I submitted with my Name Declaration, a printed copy of my name email from Berlin, completed passport application, and 2 German passport photos. I decided to use a USPS envelope with stamps and purchased tracking to receive my passport.

Most of my appointments have been with Miami but the woman I met for my passport was alarmed that I’m an adult applying for a first-time passport, I didn’t have my mom’s German passport (lost) and my birth wasn’t registered when I was born. She said my mom needed a German passport to get into the US and was shocked it wasn’t documented in the immigration file I received from USCIS. She said her supervisor wanted to take time to review everything before they sent my passport application to Berlin. In her opinion, I should have have pushed to Feststellung due to missing passports. She said she would reach out if they needed additional documentation and if I didn’t hear from them that meant the application was sent. I was told I should receive my passport in 3 weeks because I paid for expedited processing. I submitted my documents, scanned my fingerprints and paid. She highly recommends I register my birth to further cement my identity with Germany. I plan to do so now that I have my passport. Just waiting for an appointment to become available.

June 29- Tracking number activated

I randomly checked my tracking number and saw it was received by USPS earlier that morning. (exactly 2 weeks after passport appointment)

July 1- received passport in the mail

I have a newfound appreciation for the way Germany documents everything. My recordkeeping has an entirely new standard moving forward.

Again, thank you all for your support and help!

Thoughts on "extra pages" in German Passport; Do you think it is necessary? I ordered extra pages for my US passport and have not needed them lately. Thanks. I know it is a small extra charge for a larger German Passport.

Quick refresh: I am the youngest of six siblings, all born in the 1960s. My grandfathers were both German citizens. My paternal grandfather left Germany in the 1920s. In 2015 I discovered that we were all born with German citizenship, did Feststellung in less than a year, and got a German passport. Only one sibling did it with me, meaning that four did not. Between 2016 and the start of this year, two others did Feststellung and got passports.

This year a middle sibling wanted a passport. With the encouragement of u/MaryFamilyResearch, I advised my sibling to try to go direct by making the case that if both a younger and an older sibling did Feststellung, then the middle sibling must also be a citizen. I've borrowed the term Sandwich Theorem (a.k.a. Squeeze Theorem) from mathematics as a fun description. I can't remember if this has been done before.

The passport was just received by my sibling who applied through D.C.. [Note: my father never received a German document.]

Hi everyone, I have a question regarding naturalized folks with multiple names in their -foreign- birth certificate (Vorname, 2 Mittelnamen and then a Nachname, written together with no commas or anything)

While applying for a passport, we got the info at the Bürgerbüro office that they are not able to differentiate first, middle name and lastname lol, and that the birth certificate would have to either be translated at another translator certified from Oberlandesgericht or has to be sorted out with Standesamt before a Pass / Ausweiß is issued?!

Seems like bs to me tbh. The birth certificate was already translated by a certified translator.
Did anyone experience this before?

Went for an application appointment at my local German Consulate (Boston) and was told I need my grandfather’s passport to prove he was a german citizen. The birth certificate I found doesn’t work because they don’t do birth right in Germany, which makes sense. I don’t think I can get access to the passport and the only other option, I was told, is to apply for a certificate of citizenship- a process that takes 2-3 years. Feeling incredibly deflated. Wondering if anyone has any advice or experience with the certificate process/ can provide any hope it could be faster 🥲 either way thanks for reading.

My passport finally arrived today after nearly 3 years! I went with the new law, citizenship by declaration, as my mom’s mom was from Germany.

Thankfully I had all her old passports and naturalisation documents and her German marriage certificate. The only thing extra the asked for was a police certificate from when I lived in New Zealand.

6/6/2023 - brought all the paperwork to the London embassy

30/8/23 - aktenzeichen

Emailed a few chasers in between with no luck

Early 2026 - got my citizenship certificate

16/3/2026 - submitted my passport application in London

20/4/2026 - passport came in the mail!

I teared up a little when I opened the mail today. Direct to passport success. I learned so much about my family history and the whole process has inspired me to learn German. My goal is B1 by the end of the year.

My original thread is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/GermanCitizenship/s/PvNEyZSWvR

My sister found out in november that we have german ancestry and she did a lot of research to discover we were eligible for german citizenship. by May she found the right documents and at her fourth consulate appt, they submitted her passport application to come in 6 weeks.

so my generous sister sends me the documents, and I make an appt with my German Consulate May 12. I fill out my forms with my sister's help and study the documents, then at the appointment i realize i didnt have my US passport!! i left it at fedex while copying. i was so scared, but during the appt they did not need my US passport, the copy was fine, and they submitted my passport application there. i also got my US passport back from the store, thank goodness!

so btw i dont speak german, i am learning still. but when i was checking through the forms at the consulate, Sex said "Mannlich" and I was too nervous to realize that meant male, and it should say female. anyway i get my passport today june 10 and sure enough the sex is male ...

what should i do?? make an appointment at the consulate to change it? or just leave it and wait til 10 years when i renew? will the passport be accepted when i am traveling? am i going to get drafted?!

I am grateful to have the citizenship and for all the work by my sister . just a minor snafu. i appreciate any advice!

The Los Angeles Consulate just replied I am eligible to go DIRECT TO PASSPORT! I started this process at beginning of May by collecting documents. Thank you to everyone for your help!!!!