Applying for a replacement passport for non-EU nationals (travel document for foreign nationals)

All foreign nationals must hold a recognised and valid passport or passport substitute.

German passport substitutes may only be issued to non-German nationals in very exceptional cases, as this constitutes an encroachment on the passport sovereignty of another state.

The travel document for foreign nationals is one such passport substitute. It may only be issued to you under certain conditions, namely if, as a national of a non-EU country, you can prove that you do not hold a passport or passport substitute and are unable to obtain one by reasonable means.

If you do not hold a passport or passport substitute, you must therefore first endeavour to have a passport or passport substitute issued by the relevant authorities in your country of origin, for example at the diplomatic mission there. When applying for a travel document for foreign nationals, you should, if possible, provide evidence of such efforts.

There is no automatic entitlement to the issue of a travel document for foreign nationals. Decisions are always made on a case-by-case basis; only the formal requirements are set out here.

Please note: You will not be issued with a travel document if your country of origin refuses to issue you with a passport or passport substitute for reasons that are also covered under German passport law.

Please note: You may also be issued with a travel document if you are

• refugee under the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, or
• stateless person or as a stateless person under the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons

Note: As a national of one of the states listed in Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, you may be eligible to receive an emergency travel document under certain conditions. You can find detailed information on this in the text‘Applying for a passport substitute for foreign nationals (emergency travel document)’.