German passport

German passport
The front cover of a contemporary German biometric passport
Date first issued	11 November 2005 (biometric passport) 11 November 2007 (current version)
Issued by	Germany
Type of document	Passport
Purpose	Identification
Eligibility requirements	German citizenship
Expiration	10 years after issuance for individuals aged 24 and above; 6 years for citizens under 23
Cost	€59 (over 24) / €37.50 (under 24)

German passports are issued to nationals of Germany for the purpose of international travel. A German passport is, besides the German ID card and the German Emergency Travel Document (called ""), the only other officially recognised document that German authorities will routinely accept as proof of identity from German citizens. Besides serving as proof of identity and presumption of German nationality, they facilitate the process of securing assistance from German consular officials abroad (or other EU-members in the case that a German consular facility is absent). German passports are valid for ten years (for people older than 24) or six years (for people until the age of 24) and share the standardised layout and burgundy red design with other EU passports, albeit with a hard cover that is unique to Germany. Every German citizen is also a citizen of the European Union. The passport, along with the national identity card allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the European Union and European Economic Area.

Processing time for a German passport is usually four to six weeks, but one can be issued in three days by using the Express service if processed before 11 a.m.

German passports have, since 1 January 1988, followed the standard European Union passport design, with burgundy red cover and the German Eagle emblazoned in the centre of the front cover. The word "Reisepass" (German for travel passport) is inscribed below the coat of arms, with Europäische Union (German for European Union) and Bundesrepublik Deutschland (German for Federal Republic of Germany) appear above.

German passports are normally 32 pages long; a 48-page version for frequent travellers can be issued on request.

The first two pages of a German passport are security laminated and the second page includes the following data:

The page ends with a 2-line machine readable zone, according to ICAO standard 9303. The country code is not DEU as is the standard country code for Germany (according to ISO 3166-1 alpha-3), but D. This is the only country/citizen code which does not consist of 3 letters.