Applying for your passport in Germany

When you apply for your new South African passport in Germany, you have to apply at either the South African Embassy in Berlin or the Consulate in Munich, depending on where you live.

Official information can be found on the Consulate’s website. The Embassy has taken great care to document all the relevant information, that can be downloaded from their website.

After submitting your application, the documents are sent to South Africa for processing. The new passport is then sent back to Germany. Once the passport arrives at the South African Embassy or Consulate it would be mailed to the applicant in the self-addressed envelope provided, or the applicants would be duly notified. In the case of passport applications, the applicant would be requested to return his or her current valid tourist passport for cancellation; cancelled passports would thereafter be returned to applicants together with their new passport.
Apply for your new passport at least a year before the expiry date. The embassy or consulate cannot influence the processing time. Take into account that appointment openings fill up very quickly and your application appointment can be a month or two after you sent an appointment request.

Booking your appointment

All South African citizens / applicants requiring civic services, and who reside in Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thüringen shall approach the South African Embassy in Berlin: Tiergartenstr. 18, 10785 Berlin
All South African citizens/applicants requiring civic services, and who reside in Bayern and Baden-Wuerttemberg shall approach the South African Consulate-General in Munich: Sendlinger-Tor-Platz 5, 80336 Munich

To schedule an appointment at the Munich Consulate, please send an email with the information below to: Munich.CivicApp@dirco.gov.za

To schedule an appointment at the Embassy in Berlin, please send an email with the information below to berlin.consular@dirco.gov.za

Email Format

Subject line of email: Appointment request
Full name of the applicant
Applicant’s date and place of birth
South African 13-digit identity number, if applicable/available
Contact details (Address + mobile phone number)
Application type e.g. passport

You will get an email from the embassy to confirm receipt of your request for an appointment. They will then manually schedule an appointment and send you a second email with your appointment date. Check your email spam folder as the reply email from the embassy might end up there.

Checklist of what documentation you need

The most up-to-date information is always available on the Embassy website, here is the link for an Adult passport (over 16 years of age).

Please note that you need to take your current passport with you, as well as copies (See links above). Your current passport will be returned to you. The following statement is on the application checklist.

The applicant’s original passport must be submitted regardless of whether the current passport is full or expired or the applicant’s forename and/or surname has been amended – the original passport will be given back to the applicant
The applicant may continue to use her or his current passport during the processing of the new passport.

Child passports

The list for a child passport can be found here. Information about who should be present and sign the application is available on the Department of Home Affairs website. As a rule, the child and both parents should be in attendance when the application is submitted. They don’t accept a power of attorney. More information on the link above.
You cannot renew a passport, only apply for a new one

Good to know

Important Info

Here are some important things to remember in order to make the process of applying for your passport as smooth and stress-free as possible.

01 Confirmation Email

As mentioned above you will get a confirmation email that your email to the Embassy or Consulate was received.

02 SPAM

Check your email spam folder for emails from the Embassy or Consulate

03 Have some patience

Allocating appointments is a manual process. You will get an email with your appointment date as soon as it is allocated to you.

04 thoughfullness

Inform the Embassy or Consulate if you cannot make your appointment so that they can allocate it to someone else.
Inform them of any change of address.

05 Come prepared

Make sure you have all the documentation required for your passport application.

06 Plan ahead

Last but not least, apply for an appointment well in advance, do not wait until your passport has expired. South African citizens are entitled to hold two tourist passports concurrently. Persons wishing to apply for a second passport must provide a written motivation.

German residence permit linked to old passport

I found information with regards to traveling with a new passport, while your residence permit is linked to your old passport, on the Berlin website:

“Re-entry to Germany is easy if your residence permit is still valid and you still have the old passport.

Take your old and new passports and your residence permit with you on your trip.
However, we recommend that you enquire about the entry and exit conditions of the country you are visiting before you travel abroad (for example at the embassy of the country you are visiting)

Legal basis – Gesetze §3, §4 and §13 AufenthG Art 5