General information

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The electronic residence permit (eAT)

If you come from a third country and would like to live and work in Germany on a long-term basis, you will need a residence permit. You will be issued with an electronic residence permit so that you can prove your right of residence.

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General information

For a long-term stay in Germany, persons from countries outside the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland require a residence permit. This is linked to a purpose of residence. The prerequisite for an application to the Foreigners' Registration Office in Hamburg is entry with a visa. Nationals of certain countries can apply for their residence permit after entering Germany. For more information, see the article on visas.

If your application for a longer stay has been approved, you will receive an electronic residence permit (eAT) in the form of a plastic card from the Foreigners' Registration Office. The eAT contains your personal details (full name, place of birth, nationality, etc.) and information about your residence status. This data is also stored on an integrated chip together with your fingerprints.

In everyday life, you can use your residence permit together with your passport to identify yourself and prove your legal residence and permission to work. In addition, you can use the online ID function of your eAT for transactions and activities on the Internet and at vending machines. For this purpose, persons aged 16 and over receive a PIN letter from the Foreigners' Registration Office.

Detailed information on the eAT is available in various languages on the website of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. You can find sample images of different residence permits on the website gesetze-im-internet.de.

The digital biometric photo (with Data Matrix code)

All third-country nationals – once they have reached the age of 6 – must provide biometric data (fingerprints and a photograph) for the issuance of a residence permit. It is therefore essential that they attend in person from the age of 6. From the age of 10, they must also provide a signature. Your eAT also contains a photo of you that must meet certain standards. This type of photo is called a biometric photo. The requirements for biometric passport photos are listed in a photo sample chart and illustrated with sample images.

Note: From May 1, 2025, biometric photos for residence permit applications can only be submitted digitally. With this new regulation, your photo will be processed digitally without any loss of quality – this means that it no longer needs to be printed out, scanned, and uploaded again. For legal reasons, paper photos brought with you can no longer be used.

You take the photo at the immigration office: To do this, arrive at the office where you have your appointment in good time before your appointment. You must take the photo yourself at one of the self-service machines. The fee for a photo taken on site is EUR 6.00. You will not receive a printout; the photo will be forwarded directly to the processing department digitally.

You have the photo taken by a certified photographer: The photo studio must upload the image to a secure cloud (it will only be accessible for six months!). When you attend your appointment at the immigration office, you must bring with you the digital passport photo with a Data Matrix code (similar to a QR code) which the photo studio gave you when they took the photo. Without this Data Matrix code, the case worker will not be able to find your photo in the cloud. The immigration office can use this code to find and download your photo from the cloud. Please ask the photographer directly about the cost of this service.

The following website can be used to search for affiliated photographers:

https://alfo-passbild.com/fotograf-in-der-naehe/

Direct delivery of the eAT

With the direct delivery option, you can have your electronic residence permit delivered to your home. The German Post will only hand it over to you in person (no power of attorney accepted). The fee is EUR 15.00. You can find more information here.

Online ID function of the eAT

By using your eAT as an online ID, you can securely prove your identity to public authorities or companies when applying for services that can be applied for digitally. Your ID card is equipped with a chip specifically for this purpose. You can find more information in this leaflet from the Federal Ministry of the Interior (only available in German).