Aufenthaltskarte vs. national ID

Last activity 22 August 2021 by TominStuttgart

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HawkLaneMember16 August 2021 21:03:04

Hi

My American wife has an aufenthaltskarte and we are traveling right now actually. She only brought her aufenthaltskarte and the ferry operator claimed that she could not enter Germany with that, she would need a passport as well... Is the aufenthaltskarte not an ID card? And if so, how could she get a real EU national ID card for travels?

ALKBGermany Expat Advisor17 August 2021 04:32:29

206

HawkLane wrote:
Hi

My American wife has an aufenthaltskarte and we are traveling right now actually. She only brought her aufenthaltskarte and the ferry operator claimed that she could not enter Germany with that, she would need a passport as well... Is the aufenthaltskarte not an ID card? And if so, how could she get a real EU national ID card for travels?

An Aufenthaltskarte is documentary evidence of her immigration status. She needs her passport for traveling.

She can get an EU national ID card only by naturalizing as a citizen of an EU country.

beppiGermany - Singapore Expert18 August 2021 20:38:48

15299

Germany does not offer ID documents to foreign nationals, as a rule. Her ID is the passport, nothing else.

TominStuttgartGermany Expert22 August 2021 19:40:10

2711

For international travel she needs a passport. The Aufenhaltskarte is accepted internally to show one has permission to be here but not to specifically enter the country as a travel document. She should be carrying both to enter Schengen.

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