Indian passport renewal in Germany (2026): the missions after Alankit, euro fees, documents, children and lost passports

An Indian passport is valid for ten years for an adult and five years for a child (or until the child turns 18, whichever comes first; a 15-to-17-year-old may take a ten-year booklet at the adult fee). The four Indian missions in Germany accept a renewal — a "re-issue", in the portal's language — once the passport has less than one year left, or at any time if the pages are full, the particulars have changed, or it is lost or damaged. Nothing is gained by waiting, and the Consulate General in Frankfurt puts its expectation in writing: renew at least six months before the expiry date, because a renewal left late is not treated as an emergency "in any scenario" — and neither a booked flight nor a residence-permit appointment counts as one.

In Germany the passport is wired into your right to live here in ways it is not at home, which is why renewing early is the rule:

• Your residence card names your passport. The electronic residence permit (elektronischer Aufenthaltstitel, eAT) — the card that carries a Blue Card, an Aufenthaltserlaubnis or a Niederlassungserlaubnis — prints the serial number and the expiry date of the associated passport among its details (§ 78 AufenthG). A new passport therefore means a new card, and the federal fee schedule has a line for exactly that: €67 for a card re-issued because the passport expired (§ 45c AufenthV). The "after" section takes you through it.
• German law obliges you to renew in time. § 56 of the Residence Ordinance (AufenthV) requires every foreign resident to apply for a new passport early enough that it can be expected to arrive within the validity of the old one, and to report a lost passport to the Ausländerbehörde without delay.
• The Ausländerbehörde runs on appointments. Extending a permit, applying for settlement, transferring the permit to the new passport: each needs a valid passport and an appointment, and in the large cities those can be weeks or months away. A passport in its last months turns a routine extension into a race against two queues.
• Airlines want six months for India. Airlines flying to India, and the Gulf hubs most people change in, apply a six-months-validity rule in practice; a passport inside its last six months can mean a refused boarding.
• A child's five years go fast. A passport issued to a newborn in Düsseldorf expires before the child starts Grundschule. Put the date in the calendar the day it arrives.

The renewal is done entirely from Germany, with no trip to India — but the form must carry an Indian address, and in most cases the Indian police check it before the passport is printed. Frankfurt's FAQ says police verification "is now mandatory for reissue of passport in most of the cases". That check is the one part of the process no fee can hurry, and there is no tatkal in Germany to try.

What has changed in 2026 is who takes the file. From early 2025 the missions routed applications through an outsourcing firm, Alankit; with effect from 19 January 2026 Munich and Frankfurt ended that contract, and today all four missions take applications themselves — by appointment at the counter in Berlin and Frankfurt, by appointment or post in Hamburg, by post only in Munich. The Indians in Germany page has the events, groups, businesses and city pages around each mission.

India revised every passport fee on 1 July 2026 — the Passports (Amendment) Rules, 2026, notified by the Ministry of External Affairs in June 2026, the first increase in fourteen years: in India a 36-page booklet went from ₹1,500 to ₹2,500, and at missions abroad it is now US$125. The schedule for missions is fixed in US dollars and each mission converts it into local currency, revising the conversion with the exchange rate. In Germany the three consulates' fee tables — Frankfurt's and Hamburg's "w.e.f. 01.07.2026", Munich's "as on 01 July 2026" — agree to the euro, and every figure below already includes the €2 Indian Community Welfare Fund surcharge that Berlin's passport page says "shall be levied on all passport services". The Embassy links its own table from that page; check your mission's the week you pay.

What else you pay

• No service charge any more. While Alankit ran the application centres, every file carried its €4.53 fee on top (the Embassy's notice of January 2025). Now the missions charge the consular fee and the ICWF, and nothing else.
• Postage. Munich returns documents only in the envelope you send — A4, self-addressed, at least €4.50 in stamps, with Einschreiben tracking. Hamburg asks for €4.45 in stamps if you want the passport posted; Berlin wants a tracked C5 envelope with at least €4.45. Frankfurt posts nothing: you collect.
• Photographs printed at 35 × 45 mm on photo paper (the documents section explains the German catch).
• The German side. Re-issuing your residence card for the new passport costs €67 for an adult and €33.50 for a minor at a Berlin Bürgeramt — the federal fee in § 45c AufenthV — and a Fiktionsbescheinigung, if your permit runs out while an extension is pending, €13 (§ 47 AufenthV). A clean adult renewal in Berlin therefore costs about €109 plus €67, so €176 before photos and postage. The eAT is the line people forget to budget.

How you pay

• Berlin — in cash at the counter when you submit.
• Frankfurt — cash only: "debit/credit cards or online payment are not accepted at the counter"; bring the exact amount.
• Hamburg — cash at the counter, or a bank transfer at least two working days before the appointment, with your name, ARN and the service in the Verwendungszweck and the proof attached.
• Munich — bank transfer only, in advance (it takes two to three days to show), with the slip in the envelope. Munich warns that fees once paid will not be refunded "under any circumstances" and an excess amount "will stand forfeited": transfer the exact figure, once.

What nobody may charge you

No agent, website or caller can take the fee on a mission's behalf or shorten the queue for money, and there is no tatkal to sell. Munich and Frankfurt have warned in writing not to pay Alankit anything for services after 19 January 2026; money sent anywhere but the mission's own counter or account is gone.

Since January 2026 there is no outsourcing centre between you and the mission: no VFS Global, no BLS International, and no longer Alankit, whose contract Munich and Frankfurt ended with effect from 19 January 2026 and whose role the Embassy in Berlin and the consulate in Hamburg have also taken back to their own counters. The renewal is online first, then on paper.

1. Find your mission by the Bundesland of your registered address, in the table near the end of this page. Missions accept applications only from residents of their jurisdiction, and choosing the wrong mission on the portal heads Munich's list of common mistakes.
2. Register on the Global Passport Seva portal for missions — GPSP 2.0, at mportal.passportindia.gov.in/mission, which Berlin's page calls the "Global Passport Seva Online 2.0 Portal" and which went live for missions on 28 October 2025. Select your mission (Frankfurt's instructions say "GERMANY-Frankfurt"), choose re-issue, and give the reason: validity expiring, pages exhausted, change of particulars, lost or damaged. Munich adds a quirk: if you apply more than a year before expiry, pick "change in personal particulars".
3. Fill it exactly as the old passport reads. Parents' names, place of birth, spelling: a difference becomes a change-of-particulars file. Give an Indian address with its PIN code, district and police station — the portal has a police-station locator — and a relative's Indian mobile number, because that is where the police verification goes. The address printed in the passport can be the Indian or the German one.
4. Upload the photograph, the signature and every document. Mandatory at all four missions (Frankfurt has enforced it since 1 December 2025): the photo at 630 × 810 pixels, your signature (a small child's thumb impression), and each supporting document — at most five files of no more than 1 MB each, so combine pages into PDFs. Munich advises waiting 15 to 20 minutes for the uploads to appear in the downloaded PDF before printing.
5. Print and sign. The uploaded signature appears on page one; you sign only the last page, in blue or black ballpoint, never a scan. For a minor, Munich wants one parent's signature there and Frankfurt both. Nothing can be corrected in pen — Frankfurt "will not be able to make any correction once the application form is submitted" — so a mistake means a fresh form.
6. Pay the way your mission takes money (previous section), and put the proof in the file.
7. Submit as the table below says, with the mission's checklist ticked and on top (Berlin and Frankfurt both ask for it).
8. Track by ARN on the portal. Hamburg and Frankfurt ask you not to email or telephone about status.
9. Collect or receive. The old passport comes back cancelled with the new one, its visas and stamps intact; keep it.
10. The same week, start the German side — transferring your residence permit — covered in the "after" section.

Munich's postal address is Indisches Generalkonsulat, Widenmayerstraße 15, 80538 München, with "Passport Application" written on the right of the envelope; Hamburg's is the Consular Section, Consulate General of India, Kohlhöfen 21, 20355 Hamburg.

Each mission publishes its own checklist — Frankfurt's is dated 19 March 2026 — and the four agree on the core. For an adult renewing on expiry with no change of particulars, bring:

• The printed GPSP 2.0 application with its ARN, signed on the last page, the uploaded photo, signature and documents visible in the printout.
• The original passport — mandatory everywhere; Hamburg rejects an application without it, and Munich explains that it "is required to be cancelled before processing" — and a self-attested copy of the first and last pages.
• Your Aufenthaltstitel: a self-attested copy of the eAT card, front and back, and the Zusatzblatt (the supplementary sheet with the employment conditions). The checklists say "valid visa or Residence Permit"; Berlin wants the original shown for verification.
• Your Meldebescheinigung (the Anmeldung certificate from the Bürgeramt), self-attested, showing your current German address — this is the German address proof every mission asks for, and the form's German address must match it. Berlin again wants the original shown.
• Photographs, below.
• Proof of payment, for a transfer (Munich, Hamburg).
• The return envelope, if your mission posts (Munich, mandatory; Berlin and Hamburg, optional).
• The checklist, ticked, on top.

Add, where they apply: proof of the Indian address if it has changed — Frankfurt lists Aadhaar, an electricity, water or telephone bill, a driving licence, a voter ID or a ration card, and Munich's checklist goes further, making proof of the Indian address mandatory in every case, in your name or a parent's or spouse's; the tenth-standard certificate if the passport still says ECR; an affidavit for a change of signature (Berlin, Frankfurt) or of appearance (Hamburg, Frankfurt) — and for a changed appearance Hamburg and Munich want you there in person.

The photograph

All four missions ask for 35 × 45 mm, colour, recent, ICAO-compliant: a plain white background, the face filling 80 to 85 per cent of the frame (Frankfurt's guidelines), eyes open, mouth closed, both edges of the face and both ears visible, no glasses glare, no shadows; Munich adds dark clothing and photo paper — a "photograph in computer print will not be accepted". The print must be the same image you uploaded at 630 × 810 pixels. Hamburg asks for two; Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich one in a standard re-issue — bring two. This is the European size, not the 2 × 2 inch (51 × 51 mm) square that the missions in Britain and America ask for, so a photo made to an old checklist or a UK renewal guide will be the wrong shape here.

One German trap: since 1 May 2025 German authorities accept biometric photos only taken at the authority or created digitally at a studio and transmitted electronically (Berlin's service portal says so). That is fine for your eAT, useless for the Indian form. At the studio, ask for both: the digital transmission code for the Bürgeramt, and paper prints at 35 × 45 mm plus the JPEG for the Indian upload.

Self-attestation and annexures

Sign every photocopy as a true copy and — Frankfurt's reminder — "do not forget to write the date of attestation". Annexures and affidavits are filled in capital letters if handwritten. For minors, the parents attest.

If your residence permit is in transition

The checklists ask for a valid permit. If your eAT has expired and an extension is pending, you hold a Fiktionsbescheinigung, under which your old permit "gilt als fortbestehend" (§ 81 (4) and (5) AufenthG). Bring it with the expired card, and email your mission's passport desk first to confirm it will accept it; none of the checklists mentions it by name. If the eAT was lost, Hamburg asks for a certificate from the Ausländerbehörde stating your permit's validity.

What is not accepted

A copy without the original passport; a photograph in the wrong size, a computer print, or one that differs from the upload; a file where only one document was uploaded; a scanned signature; corrections in pen; an application from outside the mission's jurisdiction.

A change of particulars is a re-issue at the ordinary fee (€109 for 36 pages) with a longer document list, and it almost always goes to police verification in India — so make every change in one application, and expect the longer timeline.

Adding a spouse's name

Every mission asks for the marriage certificate issued by a government authority and a copy of the spouse's passport. Where the certificate came from matters: - An Indian certificate from the Registrar of Marriages is accepted as it is; a temple's or gurdwara's certificate is not a civil registration. - A German Eheurkunde from the Standesamt: Munich asks for an apostille only on a marriage solemnised in a third country, so a German certificate goes in as it is; Berlin's page asks for the apostilled copy of any marriage certificate "not issued in India". In Berlin's jurisdiction, email the Embassy before you go and ask which German certification it accepts: its checklist says apostille, but the Convention has no force between Germany and India (see the attestation section below), and most German offices will pre-certify a certificate for India instead. - A marriage in a third country — apostilled in that country. - No certificate at all: Munich lets husband and wife sign a joint affidavit in front of the consular officer, by appointment through passport.munich@mea.gov.in.

Taking a spouse's surname

Enter the new name in the online form. Munich asks for the certificate, the spouse's passport copy and an affidavit signed in front of the consular officer; Hamburg for the certificate and the husband's passport copy; Frankfurt for a name-change affidavit.

Divorce, and the rule that surprises people

If the marriage took place in India, a German divorce does not take the spouse's name out of the Indian passport. Munich: a decree issued "by any Court other than Indian Courts is not valid for passport services" where the marriage was solemnised in India. Hamburg: "foreign divorce judgments are not valid in India", and for a woman adding a new surname after remarriage it asks for the divorce decree "issued by an Indian Court". Frankfurt wants the decree with a certified English translation. A couple married in India and divorced at a German Familiengericht therefore needs an Indian court's order before the passport changes. After the death of a spouse, the death certificate — Munich accepts one from the German city authorities for a death in Germany.

A complete change of name

Anything beyond a spouse's surname — a new given name, a dropped or added surname — needs three things at all three consulates: the change advertised in two newspapers, one Indian and one German (Hamburg wants the original newspapers with every page and the notice highlighted; Munich rejects an advertisement more than six months old), or published in the Gazette of your Indian state; at least two public documents already in the new name — Munich calls this "mandatory as per the Ministry's guidelines", Hamburg specifies documents from Indian authorities; and the name-change affidavit, signed by both parents for a minor.

Why a German Namensänderung does not help

Germans change names at the Standesamt or under the Namensänderungsgesetz — but § 1 of that law opens it only to Germans, stateless people and recognised refugees, not to an Indian citizen. Your Indian name changes the Indian way, through the documents above, and Germany follows the passport: once the new passport is out, the residence card is re-issued in the new name (Berlin's immigration office lists a change of name, for example through marriage, as a reason the permit must be transferred).

Splitting a name, fixing a spelling

A single name split into given name and surname needs the name-split affidavit and two Indian public documents, other than the passport, in the split form (Frankfurt). A spelling error is corrected with the birth certificate and two public documents (Hamburg). A change in a parent's name, date or place of birth is not automatic: Munich asks you to write to passport.munich@mea.gov.in for an appointment before sending anything.

Appearance and signature

A beard grown or removed, a turban, a large change in weight: the change-of-appearance affidavit, with you present at the counter in Hamburg and Munich. A new signature: the signature-change affidavit (Berlin, Frankfurt) — which Berlin also asks for when a child moves from a thumb impression to a signature.

A child's application has rules of its own: both parents consent, the passport lasts five years (or until 18), the birth must first be registered with the mission, and since the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules 2026, notified on 30 April 2026, a minor may not hold an Indian passport and a foreign one at the same time.

Is the baby German?

Usually not. Under § 4 (3) StAG a child born in Germany to foreign parents is German at birth only if one parent has lawfully had their habitual residence in Germany for five years and holds an unlimited right of residence — a Niederlassungserlaubnis or an EU long-term residence permit. A Blue Card is not unlimited, so the baby of two Blue Card holders is not German, even in their sixth year here. Where one parent is German, the child is German under § 4 (1) regardless.

If the baby is not German: Indian first, then the German permit

The child is Indian by descent — but only once the birth is registered with the mission under Section 4 (1) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, within one year (after that Frankfurt's checklist asks for an explanation of the delay). Then comes the Indian passport, and then the German residence permit: under § 33 AufenthG it is granted von Amts wegen when both parents, or the sole custodian, hold an Aufenthaltserlaubnis, Niederlassungserlaubnis or EU long-term permit; otherwise it must be applied for within six months of the birth (§ 81 (2) AufenthG); and if a parent holds only a visa, the baby's stay is lawful until that visa runs out. The permit needs a passport, which is why the Indian passport is the first job after the Geburtsurkunde.

The two applications

1. Birth registration, online at indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in, Section 4 (citizenship by descent): the baby's photograph (Munich: 35 × 35 mm, under 20 KB), both parents' signatures, the German birth certificate, both parents' passports and the marriage certificate. Print it; both parents sign in ink. Fee €21; Munich quotes 21 working days.
2. The first passport, on GPSP 2.0 as a fresh passport with citizenship "by descent": a 35 × 45 mm photograph — eyes open, white background, nobody's hands in the frame — and the baby's left thumb impression in place of a signature. Fee €72 for a child up to eight.

The documents for both: the Geburtsurkunde from the Standesamt — not the special certificates printed for Kindergeld, Elterngeld or pregnancy benefits, which Hamburg tells you not to submit; both parents' passports and residence permits; the parents' marriage certificate; the Meldebescheinigungen of parents and child; Annexure D, the consent signed by both parents; and a declaration that the child holds no other nationality or travel document — Frankfurt's has the parents affirm they will surrender the Indian passport if the German authorities issue one. Appendix 12 covers a child born outside marriage or a parent with sole custody (Hamburg, Berlin), Annexure I surrogacy (Hamburg). Where one parent is not Indian, Frankfurt wants that parent's no-objection and proof the child has not acquired the other nationality.

Hamburg and Frankfurt want both parents and the baby at the counter, with an appointment and the originals; Munich takes both applications by post, and asks unmarried parents, or parents without a marriage certificate, to write for an interview first.

If the baby is German, or has a second nationality

Then the 2026 rule makes the choice binary: the Indian passport is issued only on the parents' declaration that the child holds no other, and a German passport taken later means surrendering the Indian one. Most families in this position take the German passport and, later, an OCI card for India.

Renewing a child's passport

Five years or to 18, 36 pages, €79; a 15-to-17-year-old who wants ten years pays the adult €109 (Munich's checklist). Bring the child's original passport; copies attested by both parents; both parents' passports and residence permits; the Meldebescheinigungen of child and parents; Annexure D signed in ink by both parents — Munich refuses scanned signatures — or Annexure C where one parent has not consented, with the custody papers where parents are separated. The child's signature or thumb impression is uploaded for page one; a parent signs the last page. The child need not attend a re-issue (Berlin, Frankfurt — except for a lost passport), but one parent must, with an original identity document of the other (Berlin).

And the German side again: the child's eAT refers to the passport too, so a renewed child's passport is a residence-card transfer — €33.50 for a minor in Berlin.

Two things decide the wait: whether the Indian police must report on your Indian address first, and how long the booklet takes to be printed in India and sent back. A third, peculiar to Germany, is that there is no way to pay to go faster.

There is no tatkal in Germany

Berlin's passport page says it for the whole country: "Tatkal facility is not available at Indian Embassy and Consulates." Hamburg and Frankfurt repeat it on their own pages, and the euro fee tables have no tatkal line. Frankfurt adds that there is no temporary passport or travel document while a re-issue is in process. The only accelerated document is the Emergency Certificate, a one-way travel document to India (the lost-passport section) — and at Frankfurt, taking one cancels a pending renewal without a refund.

What is not an emergency

Frankfurt spells it out: needing the passport for travel, or for "submission of visa/permit applications with German authorities", is not an emergency, nor is a renewal you left late; and you should not book tickets until the new passport is in your hand.

The timelines

Frankfurt explains why the floor is fixed: "the passport is printed in India and minimum six-eight week time is required". The clock starts when a complete file reaches the mission; a missing document or a returned envelope restarts it.

Police verification

Frankfurt's FAQ says verification at the Indian address "is now mandatory for reissue of passport in most of the cases" — not only, as many people assume, for a change of name or address. The file goes to the police station for the Indian address on your form; the report, often preceded by a telephone call, has to come back before the passport is printed. And an address that cannot be verified does not pause the file, it ends it: if the address is wrong or the family has moved, "the passport application gets automatically rejected".

So: give the full Indian address with PIN code, district and the correct police station (check it with the portal's police-station locator); put the mobile number of a relative who lives there; tell that relative to expect the call or the visit and to keep a copy of your passport and the ARN ready. A flat the family has sold, a village where nobody answers, a police station that has been split since your last passport: those are the files that take a quarter, not six weeks.

The passport you no longer have

While you wait, you have no passport at all. Hamburg cancels the old one once it accepts the application, Frankfurt does not hand a submitted passport back, and Berlin cancels it at the grant. For travel there is nothing, so plan two clear months. Inside Germany, note that the eAT on its own does not prove your identity to the police or the Bürgeramt — Berlin's immigration office says it must be shown with the passport and the Zusatzblatt — so keep the mission's receipt with the card, and avoid booking anything that needs ID while the passport is away.

Tracking and asking

The portal shows the status by ARN. Hamburg and Frankfurt ask you not to send status enquiries; Munich answers emails to its operational addresses within two working days — and warns that its replies may not reach an address on a German domain, so write from a .com one. When a file is stuck well past the published time, the MEA's MADAD portal is the formal grievance route.

A lost Indian passport in Germany is two months of paperwork and double the fee, and it touches two governments: the Indian mission replaces the passport, and the Ausländerbehörde has to hear about it.

Lost or stolen

1. Report it to the police — any Polizeidienststelle takes a Verlustanzeige, or a Diebstahlanzeige for a theft — and keep the original report. It must show the passport number: Munich lists a report "without the lost passport number on it" among its common mistakes, Hamburg wants the number with full personal particulars, and Frankfurt the same. Photograph every passport's bio page the day you get it; that photo is how you know the number.
2. Tell the Ausländerbehörde. § 56 (1) no. 5 AufenthV obliges you to report the loss of your passport "unverzüglich" — without delay — to the immigration office for your place of residence. If the eAT was lost with it, the card has to be replaced too, and Hamburg asks for a certificate from the Ausländerbehörde stating your permit's validity to put in the passport file.
3. Apply on GPSP 2.0 for a re-issue in lieu of a lost passport, with the police report (original, and uploaded), Annexure F — the declaration of how and when the passport was lost, where you reported it and how many you have lost before — a separate affidavit explaining the circumstances, a copy of the lost passport if you have one, your residence permit and your Meldebescheinigung.
4. Go in person. Hamburg does not accept a lost-passport application by post ("the physical presence of the applicant is mandatory"), Munich calls you in for physical verification, and Berlin and Frankfurt take every application at the counter anyway.
5. Pay the replacement fee: €216 for an adult 36-page booklet, €259 for 60 pages, €186 for a child. Munich adds that frequent losses attract an additional penalty "decided on a case to case basis". Expect police verification in India and the long end of the timeline.

Damaged

A passport that has been through the washing machine, is torn, has loose pages or has been written on is a damaged-passport re-issue: the original damaged passport handed in, Annexure F, an affidavit on how it happened, the same documents and the same €216 fee. Frankfurt has a separate checklist for it.

Urgent travel: the Emergency Certificate

If someone in India has died or is critically ill and there is no passport, the mission issues an Emergency Certificate — a one-way travel document "which authorizes an Indian national to enter India" (Hamburg), for €15. Munich's list: the online EC form on the same portal, a copy of the passport, the original police report with the passport number, the booked flight, your residence permit, a self-declaration of the reasons, one 35 × 45 mm photograph and a prepaid return envelope. It is issued only in person — at Munich by an appointment you request at cons.munich@mea.gov.in — and Munich quotes three working days. An EC does not bring you back: you apply for the new passport at a Passport Seva Kendra in India and return on that.

Two German rules then matter. Your eAT card is a separate document, so if it survived the loss it still carries your right to re-enter; and a permit lapses if you stay away longer than six months — twelve for a Blue Card and its family permits (§ 51 AufenthG) — so a passport problem in India must not turn into a seven-month stay.

Lost in India or elsewhere

A passport lost in India is replaced in India, at a Passport Seva Kendra, with the police report there. § 56 AufenthV lets you report a passport lost abroad to a German mission, which informs your Ausländerbehörde; if the residence card went too, ask that German mission how you get back. A passport lost in a third country goes to the Indian mission there for an Emergency Certificate to India.

After a loss

Bring the police report to the residence-permit transfer — Berlin's Bürgeramt asks for it when the passport was stolen — and keep it with the new passport: the next renewal asks for the previous passport's details.

The new booklet is the beginning of a short list, and in Germany the first item is the one with a fee and a queue.

1. Transfer your residence permit. Berlin's immigration office (Landesamt für Einwanderung, LEA) puts it plainly: when a new passport is issued, or your name has changed, the residence permit "muss ... übertragen, also neu ausgestellt werden" — re-issued, since 3 February 2020 always as an eAT card. In Berlin any Bürgeramt does it by appointment if the permit was issued by Berlin's LEA or last transferred by a Bürgeramt, your old passport is complete and in your hands, no more than six months lie between the old passport's expiry and the new one's issue, and you have not been out of Germany for more than six months at a stretch (for a Blue Card, twelve and twelve). Otherwise the LEA does it. Bring the new passport, the old passport, the eAT with its Zusatzblatt, one biometric photo — since 1 May 2025 taken digitally at the office (€6 at Berlin's self-service terminals) or sent electronically by a studio — and the police report if the old passport was stolen. The fee is €67, €33.50 for a minor, and the card takes about four weeks. Outside Berlin your Ausländerbehörde does the same at the same federal fee (§ 45c AufenthV).
2. Unless the permit expires within six months. Then skip the transfer and apply straight for the extension, which Berlin says saves fees and time. To travel in the meantime, carry the old passport, the permit and the new passport together; Berlin says that is enough to re-enter Germany.
3. A Niederlassungserlaubnis may not need a new card. § 78 (1) AufenthG allows the passport number and validity to be left off the card for a settlement permit or EU long-term permit. If your card shows no passport number, ask your Ausländerbehörde whether a transfer is needed at all; the card itself is valid for at most ten years.
4. The Fiktionsbescheinigung. If an extension is pending when the old card runs out, the €13 certificate shows your permit continues (§ 81 (4) AufenthG). Ask for it at the appointment and carry it with the expired card.
5. Blue Card holders have one more duty beyond the passport: in the first twelve months a job change can be suspended by the Ausländerbehörde for 30 days (§ 18g (4) AufenthG), so do not let a pending passport and a job move overlap. The rest of the Blue Card rules are in the jobs guide.
6. The employer must keep a copy of your residence permit for as long as you work there (§ 4a AufenthG): send HR the new eAT and the new passport's bio page.
7. The Bürgeramt needs no separate visit for a new passport: your address goes onto the eAT when you register a move, and the Meldebescheinigung does not change.
8. Banks and the Krankenkasse. A bank that identified you with the passport will ask for the new one; the health insurer usually needs to hear only about a change of name. Indian NRE, NRO and demat accounts want the new copy too.
9. Keep the cancelled passport. Frankfurt confirms that visas in it remain valid (check with the issuing country).
10. The calendar entry: expiry minus twelve months, "renew Indian passport"; for a child, expiry minus six.

If you became a German citizen since

Germany no longer requires you to give up Indian citizenship before naturalising — since the 2024 reform the old condition in § 10 (1) no. 4 StAG reads "(weggefallen)". India does not allow dual citizenship: under Section 9 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 your Indian citizenship ends the day you acquire German nationality, and holding, renewing or travelling on the Indian passport after that is an offence under the Passports Act, 1967. So the passport is surrendered, not renewed — everyone who acquired foreign nationality on or after 1 June 2010 must surrender it — for a €37 surrender certificate, with the Einbürgerungsurkunde, the German passport, the Indian passport (or the German authority's acknowledgement that it was handed in, plus a declaration) and the Meldebescheinigung. Renunciation is the other tier: a €90 declaration under Section 8, only for someone who is still Indian and gives it up before taking another nationality — Form XXII through the Home Ministry's portal, signed in person at the mission, at least ten to twelve weeks at Frankfurt. The surrender certificate is the document every OCI application starts from; the OCI card guide takes it from there.

The passport desk handles more than the booklet, and several of these come up at the same time as a renewal.

ECR and ECNR

Every Indian passport is either ECR (Emigration Check Required — for work in the eighteen countries, mostly in the Gulf, where India requires a clearance from the Protector of Emigrants) or ECNR. Anyone who has passed the tenth standard, anyone over 50, every income-tax payer, and anyone who has lived abroad for more than three years is ECNR; Germany is not an ECR country, so it matters only if you are ever posted to the Gulf. If the passport still shows ECR, add the tenth-standard certificate to the renewal: Hamburg's table prices a re-issue "for deletion of Emigration Check Required stamp" at the ordinary €109, so there is no reason to leave it.

The Indian police clearance certificate

An Indian PCC is the certificate a third country asks for — a Canadian or Australian permanent-residence file, a Gulf work visa — covering your years in India; your German years are covered by the German Führungszeugnis, a separate document. It is applied for on the same GPSP 2.0 portal, costs €37, and Frankfurt's checklist asks for the online form, copies of the passport's first and last pages, your residence permit and Meldebescheinigung, with the original passport shown at submission. As everywhere, it follows a police check at your Indian address, so allow the same weeks as a passport and apply the day the requirement appears. Munich takes PCC applications by post like everything else.

Apostilles do not work between Germany and India

Germany has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 1966 and India since 14 July 2005, but Germany lodged an objection to India’s accession, so the Convention does not apply between the two countries — the German Missions in India say so on their own information page. A German public document used in India — a Geburtsurkunde, an Eheurkunde, a university degree — therefore goes the older way: a pre-certification by the competent German authority (the Landgericht or the authority your Land designates — the Beglaubigung or Überbeglaubigung), then attestation by the Indian mission that covers your address. An apostille alone is refused. The reverse runs the same way: Germany does not accept apostilles on Indian documents, and the German missions in India no longer legalise them either — a German office that doubts an Indian certificate asks the German mission in India to verify it, case by case. The OCI card guide walks through the pre-certification for a child’s birth certificate.

Attestation at the mission

The missions still attest documents signed in front of the consular officer — the form a sub-registrar in India trusts most for a power of attorney to sell or manage property. Munich's table charges €21 for a property power of attorney or affidavit and €12 for other civil documents and affidavits; Frankfurt's July 2026 table has the same figures and €37 for an attested passport copy. These need an appointment and your presence: Munich lists powers of attorney, affidavits, life certificates and signature attestations among the services where you must appear in person. A pensioner's life certificate is free.

Birth registration, surrender, renunciation

The same desk registers a child's birth (€21, the children's section) and, for the newly German, issues the surrender certificate (€37) and takes renunciations (€90) — explained at the end of the "after" section.

Which desk to write to

Frankfurt: passport.frankfurt@mea.gov.in, +49 69 15300543 for passports and birth registration. Munich: passport.munich@mea.gov.in for passports, PCCs and birth registration, attest.munich@mea.gov.in for attestations. Hamburg: cons.hamburg@mea.gov.in or 040 338036. Berlin: the contacts on the Embassy's site, +49 30 25795-0.

Your mission is fixed by the Bundesland of your registered address, not by convenience: Frankfurt's page says an application "will be accepted only if you are residing in the defined area of its jurisdiction", and the Embassy's jurisdiction page says the same.

The ones that catch people: a Cologne, Düsseldorf or Dortmund address files to Frankfurt, not Berlin; Leipzig and Dresden go to Berlin; Stuttgart goes to Munich; Bremen and Hanover to Hamburg.

Emergencies only

For a death, an accident, a missing person or a theft — not for status questions — Frankfurt's emergency number is 0162 4918679 from within Germany; Munich's is +49 89 21023943 in office hours and +49 1511 7662009 (also WhatsApp) outside them; Hamburg's is 040 338036 or 330557 in office hours and 0160 97232399 outside them. Each mission asks you not to use these lines for routine queries.

What happened to Alankit

The missions outsourced the counter work in 2025: the Embassy's notice moved every passport, visa, OCI and attestation application to Alankit Assignments Ltd from 27 January 2025, for a €4.53 service fee per application, and told applicants to stop posting files to the Embassy; Hamburg's notice moved its applications to Alankit Germany GmbH from 7 February 2025; Alankit announced four Indian Consular Application Centres — Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich — in April 2025. Munich and Frankfurt then discontinued the contract with effect from 19 January 2026, telling applicants not to pay Alankit anything for later services (Munich also cancelled its centre's later appointments); Frankfurt's page says Alankit "has ceased to provide consular services". Berlin and Hamburg now take applications at their own counters too. The old centres — Eichhornstraße 3 in Berlin, Mainzer Landstraße 158 in Frankfurt, Sandtorkai 27 in Hamburg, Weinstraße 3 in Munich — are not where you go, and VFS Global and BLS International, the names people search for, do not handle Indian passports in Germany at all. (VFS runs German visa applications in India, which is a different thing.)

Consular camps in Baden-Württemberg

Munich holds Sunday consular camps for the far end of its jurisdiction — Stuttgart on 20 September 2026, and Mannheim on Sunday 18 October 2026, 11.00 to 14.00, at N1 Stadthaus (Paradeplatz), Room 52/53, 68161 Mannheim. You can hand in applications and ask questions; no cash is taken, so pay by transfer first and attach the receipt, and bring every original for verification. Check the consulate's camp page for the next date.

The people around each mission

The groups in each city carry last month's experience — how long Hamburg took in September, whether Munich's envelope came back in five weeks or eight, which photo studio prints the Indian size. The Indians in Germany page has the events, groups, businesses and city pages; the Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich pages hold the four mission cities, and the community groups are where people ask.

Mistakes

• The wrong mission. A Düsseldorf address lodged in Berlin, a Stuttgart one in Frankfurt: returned, and the clock starts again.
• The wrong photograph. The 2 × 2 inch square from an American or British checklist, a home printout, glasses glare, a grey background, or a different image from the one uploaded. 35 × 45 mm, white, on photo paper, identical to the upload.
• Half the uploads. One document uploaded and the rest left out is a failure Munich singles out; check that every upload shows in the downloaded PDF before you print.
• A missing or stale Indian address. It is mandatory, and an address the police cannot verify gets the application "automatically rejected" (Frankfurt).
• Corrections in pen. Not allowed anywhere; re-fill the form.
• The wrong payment. A card at Frankfurt (cash only), cash at a Munich camp (transfer only), a transfer to Alankit after 19 January 2026 (lost), or the wrong amount to Munich (not refunded, excess forfeited).
• The wrong envelope. Berlin warns against Einschreiben labels with a limited validity: if the label expires before your passport is posted, it travels as ordinary mail without tracking.
• A foreign divorce decree for a marriage solemnised in India: not valid for passport services without an Indian court's order.
• Booking flights. The old passport is cancelled once the application is accepted or granted; a ticket inside the next two months is a ticket you will not use.
• Forgetting the eAT. A new passport and an old residence card that names the old one: book the Übertrag the week the passport arrives.

Scams

• "Embassy" phone calls. The missions have warned that callers posing as Embassy or consulate staff, speaking Hindi or English and using Indian names, threaten Indians in Germany with passport cancellation, deportation or legal problems unless money is transferred. Hamburg's notice: "no such calls are made" by the Embassy or the consulates. Hang up, and report it to the mission (cons.hamburg@mea.gov.in collects them).
• Appointment sellers. The missions' own booking pages cost nothing. Someone selling a Frankfurt or Hamburg slot on WhatsApp has booked it in your name or not at all.
• "Alankit" or "VFS" agents offering to lodge your passport for a fee. Alankit no longer takes Indian applications in Germany and VFS never did.
• Look-alike "Passport Seva" sites that charge to fill the free form. The real ones are passportindia.gov.in and its GPSP 2.0 portal for missions.

Things nobody tells you

• German emails bounce. Munich warns that its replies may not be delivered to addresses on a German domain; write from a .com address.
• Frankfurt's menu is mislabelled. On the consulate's passport menu (checked 10 October 2026), the link marked Annexure D opens Annexure F and the link marked Annexure F opens the newborn declaration. Download by the file's own title, not the menu's.
• Berlin and Munich disagree on German marriage certificates. Berlin asks for an apostille on any certificate not issued in India; Munich only on one from a third country.
• Hamburg prefers the post for a straightforward adult re-issue; its appointment page says so, and it saves the trip.
• Two missions, two return rules. Frankfurt never posts; Munich works entirely by post.
• The same process from America is in the US passport-renewal guide; every guide for Indians abroad is at /indians-in. The events listings and the Indian businesses directory have the rest of Indian life in Germany, and the groups have whoever renewed last month.