Anyone who needs a new ID card will soon be able to apply digitally and only have to go to the citizens’ office for biometric data. Collection will be eliminated: the ID card will be sent home. This is made possible by a nationwide passport and ID register, which relieves around 6,000 municipalities and foreign missions of register management. People over 70 will also soon be able to continue using their ID card indefinitely beyond the regular validity of ten years.
Child benefit is also set to become simpler: from March 2027, it will likely be paid out without an application for parents who already have one child – from November 2027 also for new parents. Currently, child benefit amounts to 259 euros per month per child. For parental allowance, a central technical infrastructure is intended to speed up processing. The legislative changes for the ID card and passport were approved by the federal cabinet in May but still need to pass the Bundestag and Bundesrat.
A Germany app is planned from 2027 to help find government services and submit applications around the clock – also with the help of artificial intelligence. A prototype is already running. Also from 2027, a digital wallet is planned in which personal documents such as the ID card, driver’s license, or certificates can be stored as “digital twins.” The wallet is voluntary. The digital vehicle registration via the i-Kfz app is already well received: in the first month after its launch at the end of 2025, the app was downloaded more than one million times.
Source: Stadt München
