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Collect your electronic residence title (eAT)

Ausländerbehörde · Residence law

In person

The electronic residence title (elektronischer Aufenthaltstitel, eAT) is a chip card the size of a bank card. Under the Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz, AufenthG), its built-in electronic storage and processing medium contains, among other things, the photograph and two fingerprints (§ 78 AufenthG); fingerprints are only taken from the age of six. Because this data is compared with you in person on handover, the Ausländerbehörde (foreigners authority) generally only hands the card over to you in person – only your local Ausländerbehörde is competent, not the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).

Between the approval of your application and the collection appointment, the card is produced by the Bundesdruckerei (Germany’s federal printing company). Separately from the card, the PIN letter is created there, containing the five-digit one-time PIN (Einmal-PIN), the ten-digit PUK and the blocking password. How you receive this letter is not regulated uniformly across Germany and differs from authority to authority. This page explains all three common variants, the complete process of the collection appointment, the fees under the Ordinance Governing Residence (Aufenthaltsverordnung, AufenthV) and what you can do with the online ID function.

Last updated3 October 2026
Legal basis§ 78 AufenthG in conjunction with § 45c AufenthV
VerificationChecked by AmtsDeutschland.de
Written and reviewed byAndrés Sánchez Botta
Independent information website: we are not the Ausländerbehörde, not an authority and not a paid advice service – we do not submit applications on your behalf. All information comes from official sources and is explained here in plain language; binding information always comes from the competent body. All information is provided without guarantee. We are neither lawyers nor tax consultants: we document official procedures and check the information against the official source – this is information, not legal or tax advice.
CostsHandover free of chargeIssuing a new document: €67 (§ 45c AufenthV)
Processing timeApprox. 4 weeks for productionBundesdruckerei (e.g. Bremen) + waiting time for an appointment
MethodIn personAppointment required
Required documents

What you need to bring

Collection notice from the Ausländerbehörde

The Ausländerbehörde informs you that the card has arrived from the Bundesdruckerei – depending on the office, by letter, email or SMS; there is no nationwide uniform procedure for this. Bring the notice with you, because it usually states your file reference number, the competent department and often also the collection counter. If you have not received any message after the usual production time, ask, quoting your file reference number: the card may have arrived long ago while the notice is stuck in the post.

Valid passport or recognised passport substitute

The eAT is not a passport substitute; it only proves your right of residence – which is why a valid passport document is required at the collection appointment to verify your identity. The passport must show the same spelling of your name as your application; discrepancies lead to the handover being postponed. If your passport has been reissued in the meantime, point this out without being asked, because the old passport number is still on file.

Previous eAT, Fiktionsbescheinigung or proof of arrival (Ankunftsnachweis)

In the case of an extension, the Ausländerbehörde offices accept the previous document at the collection appointment and invalidate it; the Rhein-Erft-Kreis district and numerous other authorities describe exactly this process. An express obligation under federal law to hand it in on handover is not laid down in the AufenthG or the AufenthV, but in practice almost all offices require it – how this is handled therefore depends on the competent authority. If you have bridged the transitional period with a Fiktionsbescheinigung (provisional residence document), bring that as well, because it becomes void on handover.

PIN letter – only if you already have it

The PIN letter from the Bundesdruckerei contains the five-digit one-time PIN, the ten-digit PUK and the blocking password. Whether you can bring it to the appointment depends on your authority: in Bremen, it is handed over on submission of the application at the Migrationsamt (migration office); in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis district, only at the collection appointment; the City of Bochum still describes sending it by post. If you have already received the letter, take it with you; if you only receive it on site, there is nothing to prepare here.

Appointment confirmation

Most Ausländerbehörde offices allocate a separate, short appointment for the handover and do not let anyone in without a booking. Bring the confirmation printed out or on your smartphone, because the appointment and personal details are regularly checked at the entrance. If you cannot attend the appointment, cancel it in good time – in many offices, appointments that are not cancelled extend the waiting time for the next free slot by weeks.

Power of attorney and identity document of the authorised person (exceptional case)

The handover is designed for verifying your identity in person and is therefore generally only made to you personally. However, there is no provision of federal law that excludes collection by authorised representatives without exception; individual authorities allow it with a written power of attorney and the identity document of the authorised person. Clarify this expressly with your Ausländerbehörde before the appointment, instead of sending someone on the off chance and losing the appointment.

Means of payment for outstanding fees

The Ordinance Governing Residence does not provide for a separate fee for the handover itself; it is covered by the fee for granting the title under §§ 44 and 45 AufenthV. Whether you still have anything outstanding depends on when your authority collects payment – many offices charge the fee on submission of the application. Ask in advance about the accepted means of payment, because card payment is by no means available at every Ausländerbehörde.

Step by step

How to proceed

  1. 1

    Wait for production at the Bundesdruckerei

    Once a positive decision has been made on your application, the eAT is not printed at the authority but produced centrally by the Bundesdruckerei and then delivered to your Ausländerbehörde. There is no statutory processing deadline for this; as an official guide, the federal state of Bremen currently gives waiting times of around four weeks for production. Important for planning: production time and waiting time for an appointment are two different things – in addition to the production time, there is the time your authority needs to notify you and to offer an available handover appointment. You do not have to do anything during this phase; enquiries before the expiry of the usual production time do not speed up the process.

  2. 2

    Clarify how your authority issues the PIN letter

    The Bundesdruckerei produces the PIN letter separately from the card, but the way it reaches you is not regulated uniformly across Germany. There are three common variants: Bremen hands over the PIN letter on submission of the application at the Migrationsamt; the Rhein-Erft-Kreis district describes delivery by the Bundesdruckerei between the application and the collection, with handover at the collection appointment; and the City of Bochum still describes the classic dispatch by post to your registered address. So ask on submission of the application which route applies to you – otherwise you may end up waiting for a letter that is not supposed to come at all. If you already have the letter in your hands, keep it in a fixed place: it contains the only one-time PIN issued for your card.

  3. 3

    Wait for the collection notice and book an appointment

    As soon as the card has arrived at the authority, you are notified – depending on the office, by letter, email or SMS. Book the handover appointment immediately after receiving the message, because the appointment quotas of many Ausländerbehörde offices are taken quickly, and the waiting time for a slot can exceed the actual production time. When booking, check whether your authority offers a separate appointment type for the handover; a regular advice appointment is often not intended for this and will be turned away at the counter. Note down the appointment number and the exact location, because in larger cities documents are sometimes handed over at a different office from the one where you submitted the application.

  4. 4

    Attend in person and have your identity verified

    At the appointment, the case officer compares your identity with the data stored on the chip under § 78 AufenthG – this includes the photograph and two fingerprints, although fingerprints are only taken from the age of six. Present your valid passport, the collection notice and, if available, your previous document. Many authorities have you place your fingers on a terminal to check the fingerprints, so that a production fault is noticed immediately and not months later when the chip is first read. In the case of an extension, the old eAT or the Fiktionsbescheinigung is withdrawn and invalidated; for children under 16, a person with parental custody usually attends as well.

  5. 5

    Check the card and Zusatzblatt at the counter straight away

    While you are still there, check the spelling of your name including umlauts and special characters, your date of birth, place of birth, nationality and the period of validity printed on the card. Also check the ancillary provisions (Nebenbestimmungen): the printed entry on economic activity (for example “Erwerbstätigkeit gestattet”, economic activity permitted) and any attached supplementary sheet (Zusatzblatt) determine what you are allowed to do under employment law – employers read precisely this entry. Report any discrepancy immediately while you are still at the counter. If an incorrect entry is only noticed later, the correction counts as a change in the information recorded and thus as issuing a new document under § 45c AufenthV.

  6. 6

    Change the one-time PIN to your own six-digit PIN

    The five-digit one-time PIN from the PIN letter – called the transport PIN until 2024 – can only be used once and serves solely for the initial activation. The online ID function only becomes usable once you have used it to set a six-digit PIN of your own choosing, which must consist of digits only. For this, you need the federal government’s official AusweisApp (ausweisapp.bund.de) and an NFC-enabled smartphone or a card reader connected to your computer; the former product name “AusweisApp2” is no longer used. Alternatively, many Ausländerbehörde offices – and, in many municipalities, the Bürgeramt (citizens’ office) – set the PIN at a terminal on site. Avoid dates of birth and number sequences such as 123456, and remember the PIN: after three incorrect entries, only the ten-digit PUK from the PIN letter can help.

Fee information

Costs and payment

Fees

Handover of the eATNo separate fee
Granting of the titleFee under §§ 44–45 AufenthV (already charged with the application)
Issuing a new document€67 (§ 45c AufenthV)
Chip defect through no fault of your ownNo fee
Replacement PIN letter / resetting the PINDepends on the competent authority
Place of paymentAt the competent Ausländerbehörde
Means of paymentDepends on the competent authority

Collection itself costs nothing. The Ordinance Governing Residence has no separate fee item for the handover; the process is covered by the fee for granting the residence title under §§ 44 and 45 AufenthV, which many authorities charge on submission of the application. If your authority still asks for money at the collection appointment, this is generally this outstanding fee for granting the title and not an additional collection fee.

€67 under § 45c AufenthV – five cases. The fee is charged if the document has to be reissued because your previous passport or passport substitute document has expired, because the technical service life of the card has expired or any other information shown on the card has changed, because the document has been lost, because the chip has lost its technical functionality, or because you yourself apply under § 105b Satz 2 AufenthG for issuing a new document, setting out a legitimate interest. The fourth case has an important exception (§ 45c Abs. 2 AufenthV): for a chip defect, there is no fee if you did not cause the defect through improper use – insist on this if the card can no longer be read although there is no visible external damage.

Federal law sets no price for a lost PIN letter. The Ordinance Governing Residence contains no fee item for a replacement PIN letter or for resetting the PIN. In practice, the PIN can be reset at the competent authority; whether an administrative fee is charged for this under federal state or local law depends on the competent authority. The only amount reliably stated in federal law is €67 for issuing a new document itself.

Costs in advance: the digital photograph. Since 1 May 2025, a digital photograph has been mandatory for the eAT – either taken at the authority’s terminal or by a certified photographer who transmits the image securely with a Data Matrix code. These costs arise on submission of the application, not on collection, but they surprise many applicants who still expect paper photos.

Good to know

Important notes

The PIN letter does not arrive by post everywhere. The procedure has been changed and today depends on the authority: Bremen issues the PIN letter on submission of the application at the Migrationsamt, the Rhein-Erft-Kreis district hands it over at the collection appointment, and the City of Bochum still describes sending it by post. So do not rely on a letter being on its way; ask your authority about the specific route.

The PIN letter contains three things, not just the PIN. It contains the five-digit one-time PIN, the ten-digit PUK and the blocking password. The PUK unblocks the card if the six-digit PIN has been entered incorrectly three times; you need the blocking password to have the online ID function blocked if the card is lost. Keep the letter separate from the card – if you carry both together in your wallet, you hand over everything at once in the event of theft.

The app is now simply called “AusweisApp”. The former product name “AusweisApp2” has no longer been used since the renaming; you can find the federal government’s official app at ausweisapp.bund.de and in the app stores under the name AusweisApp. To use it, you need an NFC-enabled smartphone or a card reader connected to your computer. Only download the app from official sources – there are numerous copycat offerings for the online ID function.

Online ID function: only from the age of 16 and voluntary. The function can only be used from the age of 16; using it is voluntary, and it can be activated or deactivated again at any time. With it, you can identify yourself digitally to authority portals, to ELSTER or when opening a bank account, without appearing in person. If you do not need the function, you lose nothing – the eAT remains fully valid as proof of your right of residence.

What the chip contains – and from what age. Under § 78 AufenthG, the electronic storage and processing medium stores, among other things, the photograph and two fingerprints; the fingerprints are only taken from the age of six. The processing of this biometric data is only permitted insofar as the law expressly allows it. For children under six, the eAT is therefore issued without fingerprints.

The card expires, your right of residence does not. The eAT has a technical card service life of no more than ten years. With a settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) or another permanent title, only the document ends when the card expires, not your right of residence – the card must then be reissued under § 45c AufenthV for €67. This is one of the most common misunderstandings: you lose nothing; you just need a new piece of plastic as proof.

In the event of loss or theft: two reports, not one. Report the loss to your Ausländerbehörde without delay so that the document is recorded as lost. Also have the online ID function blocked via the blocking hotline 116 116 – for this you need the blocking password from the PIN letter, which is why you should have noted it down separately. Issuing a new document after a loss is one of the cases under § 45c AufenthV and costs €67.

Digital photograph since 1 May 2025. For the eAT, the photograph is no longer accepted on paper but transmitted digitally: either taken at a terminal of the authority or by a certified photographer via a secure cloud upload with a Data Matrix code. This rule concerns the application procedure that precedes this page – plan in the trip to the photographer or the use of the terminal at your application appointment.

Uncollected cards: deadlines are up to the authority. Federal law does not regulate how long an uncollected card is kept and when it is destroyed; these deadlines depend on the competent authority. So get in touch proactively if you are abroad for a longer period or cannot attend the appointment. If the card is destroyed, the document must be produced again – in this case, your Ausländerbehörde will answer the question of fees, because § 45c AufenthV does not expressly mention this case.

Pay attention to the Zusatzblatt. Ancillary provisions such as residence requirements or restrictions on economic activity are sometimes not on the card itself but on a separate Zusatzblatt. This sheet is part of the document and must be presented together with the card during checks and to employers. Keep it carefully and check at the counter whether the conditions entered there correspond to what you were told in the official notice (Bescheid).

Avoid these mistakes

Common mistakes

Mistaking the PIN letter for advertising and throwing it away. Without the five-digit one-time PIN, the online ID function cannot be activated, and without the PUK and blocking password you lack the means to unblock and block the card. The consequence is an additional official procedure: the PIN must be reset at the competent authority, which costs an appointment and waiting time. Whether a fee is charged for this depends on the competent authority – the Ordinance Governing Residence does not provide for a fee item for it.

Waiting weeks for a PIN letter that was never meant to come. Anyone who assumes that the letter is always delivered by post postpones the collection appointment unnecessarily – even though their own authority handed it over long ago on submission of the application or only issues it at the collection appointment. The result is lost weeks and, in the worst case, an expired Fiktionsbescheinigung with which you can no longer prove your stay without gaps. Clarify the delivery route with a phone call before you wait.

Not bringing the previous document. In the case of an extension, the Ausländerbehörde offices withdraw the old eAT or the Fiktionsbescheinigung at the collection appointment and invalidate it. If the document is missing, many offices postpone the handover and you need a new appointment – given the current appointment situation, this often means a delay of several weeks. Get all residence documents ready the evening before, together with your passport and appointment confirmation.

Only checking the card at home. A misspelt name, a mixed-up date of birth or an incorrect ancillary provision on economic activity can be spotted at the counter in two minutes. If the error is only noticed later, the correction counts as a change in the information recorded and thus as issuing a new document under § 45c AufenthV – a new appointment, a new production time of several weeks and possibly a dispute about the fee. An incorrect note on economic activity can also mean that an employer does not hire you.

Searching the app store for “AusweisApp2”. This product name no longer exists; since the renaming, the federal government’s official app has simply been called “AusweisApp”. Anyone searching for the old name can easily end up with paid copycat offerings that harvest personal data. Only download the app via ausweisapp.bund.de or the federal government’s official store listings.

Trying to use the one-time PIN several times. The five-digit PIN from the PIN letter is intended solely for the initial activation and is used up afterwards. Anyone who treats it as a permanent PIN and does not set their own six-digit PIN simply cannot use the online ID function. And anyone who then enters the six-digit PIN incorrectly three times cannot get any further without the ten-digit PUK from the PIN letter.

Sending someone else to collect it without prior arrangement. Because your identity is compared with the chip data on handover, most authorities only hand the card over to you in person. If someone else appears without prior arrangement, the appointment is lost and the waiting time starts again. Exceptions with a written power of attorney exist, but they depend on the competent authority and must be confirmed in advance.

Frequently asked questions

Questions and answers

What is the one-time PIN – and what was the transport PIN?

The one-time PIN (Einmal-PIN) is the five-digit number from the PIN letter that you can use to activate the online ID function once only. Until 2024, the same number in the PIN letter was called the transport PIN (Transport-PIN); today the official term is Einmal-PIN. The online ID function only becomes usable once you have used it to set a six-digit PIN of your own choosing, consisting of digits only.

When and how do I get the PIN letter?

This is not regulated uniformly across Germany and depends on your Ausländerbehörde. In Bremen, you receive the PIN letter on submission of the application at the Migrationsamt; in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis district, it is handed over at the collection appointment; the City of Bochum still describes sending it by post. So ask on submission of the application which route applies to you, instead of waiting for a letter that may never come.

What else is in the PIN letter besides the PIN?

The PIN letter contains three items of information: the five-digit one-time PIN, the ten-digit PUK and the blocking password. The PUK unblocks the card if the six-digit PIN has been entered incorrectly three times; you need the blocking password to have the online ID function blocked via the blocking hotline 116 116 if the card is lost. For this reason, keep the letter separate from the card.

Can someone else collect the eAT for me?

As a rule, no, because your identity is compared with the data stored on the chip on handover. However, there is no provision of federal law that excludes collection by authorised representatives without exception: individual Ausländerbehörde offices allow it with a written power of attorney and the identity document of the authorised person. Clarify this with your authority before the appointment instead of sending someone on the off chance.

How long does it take until the eAT is ready for collection?

There is no statutory processing deadline. As an official guide, the federal state of Bremen currently gives waiting times of around four weeks for production by the Bundesdruckerei. On top of this comes the time your authority needs to notify you and to offer an available collection appointment; the total time therefore depends on the competent authority.

What does collection cost, and when is €67 due?

The Ordinance Governing Residence does not provide for a separate fee for the handover itself; the fee under §§ 44 and 45 AufenthV already covers the granting of the residence title. A fee of €67 under § 45c AufenthV is only charged if the document has to be reissued, for example in the event of loss, after the expiry of the technical card service life, if there is a change in the information recorded or if the chip has lost its technical functionality. For a chip defect, there is no fee if you did not cause the defect through improper use.

From what age can I use the online ID function?

The online ID function of the eAT can only be used from the age of 16. Using it is voluntary, and it can be activated or deactivated again at any time. You also need an NFC-enabled smartphone or a card reader and the federal government’s official AusweisApp.

My eAT is expiring, but my right of residence is permanent – what applies?

The chip card has a technical card service life of no more than ten years, regardless of whether your right of residence is temporary. When this service life expires, your right of residence does not end, but the document must be reissued; § 45c AufenthV sets €67 for this. Take care of this in good time, because without a valid document you cannot prove your residence status in everyday life.

What happens if I do not collect the eAT?

Federal law does not regulate how long an uncollected card is kept by the Ausländerbehörde and when it is destroyed; these deadlines depend on the competent authority. The fee items of § 45c AufenthV do not expressly cover this case; your authority must answer whether producing a new card is chargeable for you. Contact them as soon as you realise that you cannot attend the collection appointment.

Related official procedures

Apply for a residence title
First application
From €100
Extend a residence title
Extension
From €93
Fiktionsbescheinigung
Bridging the gap until collection
€13.00

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