Appointment-System of the German Foreign Office — New York
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Please make an appointment in this category when applying for German passports and ID cards (Personalausweis). Currently, waiting times of several weeks for an appointment are to be expected, although new appointments are opened regularly.
You will find detailed information on applying for a passport and a list of documents that are required to support your application on our homepage www.germany.info. Please familiarize yourself with the necessary documents and bring the originals or certified copies of these documents with you to your appointment.
Please be advised that applications can only be accepted from applicants who reside in the Consulate General's area of jurisdiction. The Consulate General’s area of jurisdiction covers Connecticut (Fairfield County), New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Bermuda.
Detailed information on family matters (birth registrations, name declarations, self determination) can be found on the joint website of the German missions in the USA.
The application will be processed exclusively by the registrar´s office in Germany that is responsible for you. A prior contact with the registry office is recommended, especially regarding the form of the documents to be submitted (translations, apostilles).
Please note that both spouses or custodial parents must be present for a marriage name declaration or child name declaration. If the child concerned is older than 13, he or she must also be present. Applicants who are 18 years or older submit their name declaration independently.
As explained on our website, provided that the competent registrar´s office has given you its prior consent, you can also certify the documents/signatures via a Notary Public and send the documents directly to the registry office.
Important information regarding name declarations for persons who did not have a last name under German law until May 1st 2025:
If a name declaration is/was necessary because the parents did not have a common married name, this declaration will become obsolete as of May 1, 2025.
After May 1, 2025, the name of children born abroad, who have not yet had a birth name recognized in the German legal system, will be automatically derived from the foreign birth certificate. Further information on the new naming law can be found here.
It is still possible to hand in birth registrations.
This appointment cannot be used to apply for a passport. Please book a separate appointment in the category "German Passports".
Information on the application process and the required documents can be found on our website: www.germany.info/visa There you can also find information about whether you need a visa or not. Please read the information provided thoroughly before booking an appointment.
Schengen Visa (business, tourism, visit, airport transit)
All applications for Schengen visas (stay of up to 90 days) must be submitted through BLS International, our external service provider. Applications will no longer be accepted by the Consulate General in New York.
Click on the following link to book an appointment with BLS: https://usa.blsgermanyvisa.com/
Residence Visa (for stays over 90 days)
For certain purposes of stay, the application must first be submitted online. Please read the following information carefully:
Employment / Family Reunion (except to persons with subsidiary protection status) / Study / Training
Starting October 1st, 2024, applicants for visas for the purpose of taking up employment must submit their application online. Starting January 2025 the same applies to applications for the purpose of family reunion (except to persons with subsidiary protection status), study as well as training. After a subsequent preliminary check, an appointment booking will be opened for fingerprinting, presentation of original documents and payment of the visa fees.
You can submit your application here: https://digital.diplo.de/
Please be advised that applications can only be accepted from applicants residing in the Consulate General's area of jurisdiction. The Consulate General’s area of jurisdiction covers Connecticut (Fairfield County), New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Bermuda.
All other applicants will continue to book an appointment via this platform.
If you are a US citizen and intend to move to Germany for studying or family reunion, please be aware that you are still allowed to enter Germany visa-free to apply for your residence permit on site. A prior visa process is not necessary.
Appointments are available four weeks in advance. Please be aware that appointments at the visa section are usually well booked in advance.
If you are unable to attend your appointment, please cancel it to allow other customers to submit their application. Once you cancelled your appointment, you will be able to book a new one.
The German Consulate General in New York City can assist you with all questions concerning German citizenship. We recommend using the extensive information on our homepage www.germany.info
Please note that German citizenship is usually automatically acquired through descent (especially when a child is born to German parents) unless the German parent was born outside of Germany after Dec 31, 1999. Therefore, there is usually no separate application needed to confirm German citizenship when a child is born to German parents in the US. The acquisition of German citizenship can usually be confirmed when applying for a passport for the child. Hence, please make an appointment in the category "German Passports / Identity Cards" in these cases.
Please make an appointment in this category if you wish to submit an application for naturalization, acquire German citizenship by declaration or renounce your German citizenship.
Please be advised that copies for applications in citizenship matters will be notarized during your appointment. It is therefore not necessary to book a seperate appointment for certificatios or obtain certified copies by an US notary public in advance.
Certification of Signatures (e.g. for Powers of Attorney, Commercial Register Applications), Certification of Photocopies
Not for Birth and Marriage registrations, Name declarations or life certificates.
You may book an appointment here if you need
- one or more certified true copies of documents or
- a certification of your signature for use in Germany.
You can find elaborate information about signature certifications (including an explanation how it differs from a full notarization) on the joint website of the German Missions in the US at www.germany.info/us-en/service/08-Documents,CertificationsandApostille.
Please be advised that the German Consulate General is not allowed to certify signatures or perform identity verifications to open a bank account, for loan applications or similar cases.