Appointment-System of the German Foreign Office — San Francisco

All applicants residing in the consular district of the German Consulate in San Francisco are now required to personally apply for a passport or ID card at the Consulate General. Passport appointments need to be made online (there is no fee). Appointments may be booked a minimum of one week and a maximum of nine weeks in advance. Important: Contrary to the information on the website, in San Francisco a copy is required in addition to the original documents.

If you are booking an appointment to activate or make changes to your new ID (Personalausweis), please contact us by e-mail (info@san-francisco.diplo.de ) prior to booking an appointment.

Before applying for a passport, please ensure that you do not have to do a name declaration before.

A name declaration will most likely be necessary, if:

- the applicant was born abroad within wedlock but his/her/their parents did not have the same name - the applicant got married abroad and changed his/her/their name but never registered the marriage in Germany 

Please note that these are just examples. For more information on when name declarations are necessary and how to submit them please see our website. If a name declaration turns out to be necessary, we cannot accept passport applications until the German registrar has confirmed the name/name change. You can submit name declarations in person to the Consulate General (only after booking an appointment via our website) or send it by mail: info@san-francisco.diplo.de  

https://www.germany.info/us-en/service/04-FamilyMatters

Please continue with booking an appointment only if you are sure, that you do not need to make a name declaration.

Please bring your own pen for signatures.             

The waiting area of the Consulate General is in the garden. We recommend apparel for cold and rainy weather!

Thank you for your interest in visiting Germany and welcome to the appointment system of the German Consulate General in San Francisco!

On the next page, you will be asked if you want to apply for a “Schengen Visa” or a “Residence Visa”.

• A "Schengen visa" is for short trips, including tourism and business trips,  visits to friends or family in Germany, and airport transit (stays for up to 90 days per 180 day period) - Application for a Schengen Visa needs to be submitted through our external service provider BLS (https://usa.blsgermanyvisa.com/index.php)
• A "Residence visa/permit" is the correct visa if you intend to stay in Germany in order to work or study there, or to live there with your spouse or other family member (stays longer than 90 days) - Application for a Residence Visa needs to be submitted at the Consulate General

Please make sure that you choose the correct category, as we can not honor appointments that have been booked in the wrong category. If you are unsure, please visit our website at www.germany.info/visa before booking a wrong appointment by mistake.

 Please bring your own pen for signatures.             

The waiting area of the Consulate General is in the garden. We recommend apparel for cold and rainy weather!

Before booking an appointment, we recommend using the extensive information on our Website and the possibility to contact us via email: staatsangehoerigkeit@sanf.diplo.de

Please make an appointment in this category if you wish to 
- submit an application for naturalization
- renounce your German citizenship
- apply for a certificate of citizenship
- apply for a permission to retain German citizenship when getting naturalized in the USA.
- pick up your certificate

Certified copies

Please be advised that copies for applications in citizenship matters will be notarized during your appointment. Please make sure you bring the originals of all relevant documents. It is therefore not necessary to book a separate appointment for certifications or obtain certified copies by an US notary public in advance (copies notarized by a Californian or New York State Notary Public will in particular not be recognized by the Federal Administration Office (BVA)).

Maybe you are already a German citizen?

German citizenship is usually automatically acquired through descent (especially when a child is born to a German parent) unless the German parent was born outside of Germany after Dec 31st 1999. Therefore, there is usually no separate application needed to confirm German citizenship when a child is born to proven German parents in the US. The acquisition of German citizenship can usually be confirmed when applying for a passport for the child. In these cases you can book an appointment for a passport application.

Due to a constantly high demand, appointments at the German Consulate General in San Francisco are booked fast.

We kindly ask you to continue checking our website and apologize for the inconvenience!

PLEASE BOOK ONLY ONE APPOINTMENT AT A TIME! TO STOCK UP SEVERAL APPOINTMENTS CAN LEAD TO CANCELLATION OF APPOINTMENTS!

Registration of marriage

Registration of birth

Name declarations

Acknowledgement of divorce

Please bring the originals of all supporting documents necessary for the respective application/declaration (i.e. birth certificate, marriage certificate, passports etc.). Photocopies will be procuded at the Consulate General and then certified.

Please bring only one filled out application.

Notarizations of photo copies after presenting the original document.

Stamping of VAT tax refund requests. Please read the following information before booking your appointment: https://www.germany.info/us-en/service/09-Taxes/vat-refund/906296

Before booking an appointment, please use the extensive information on our Website.

"Simple" Notarization/ Certification of signature (for formal notarizations please schedule an appointment by using the contact form)

For certifications of signatures on Declarations of Consent (Genehmigungserklärung) or Power of Attorney (Vollmacht) please send at first a copy of the documents to reg1@sanf.auswaertiges-amt.de for verification.

Certificate of Good Conduct

Rejection of an inheritance

Consular Certificates