Germany to raise admin processing fee for personal ID cards
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Germany’s Interior Ministry has announced that it will increase the processing fee for personal ID cards (Personalausweise). Fees differ from those paid for residence permits (Aufenthaltstitel).
Personalausweis processing fee will increase to 46 euros
The Bundesinnenministerium has announced that the administration processing fee that German citizens must pay to renew an ID card (Personalausweis) will soon increase from 37 euros to 46 euros. The 22,80 euro admin fee for citizens under 24 years old will stay the same.
The administrative fee for a “travel ID” (Reiseausweis), which citizens can apply for in an emergency if they need to travel and don’t have a valid passport, will increase fourfold, from 8 euros to 32 euros. An emergency Reiseausweis is only valid for three months.
Fees for Personalausweise, Reiseausweise and German passports are all separate from the admin processing fees, which international residents pay for their residence permits, which are much higher and differ across federal states and cities.
Ministry wants to reduce costs for public authorities
By increasing the Personalausweis administration fee, the ministry wants to transfer costs from public authorities to citizens. According to public authorities' estimates, the new fees will bring in around 9,8 million euros per year.
The draft plan for the price increase still needs to be discussed, and it remains unclear when the new costs will take effect.