Digital passport photos: Gießen presents new rules from May!

Digital passport photos: Gießen presents new rules from May!

From May 1, 2025, a significant regulation comes into force that will change the way passport photos for official documents are created and transmitted. The city of Gießen has announced that paper -based passport photos will no longer be accepted in the future. Instead, only digitally transmitted pictures of certified photographers are approved. This decision follows the law to strengthen security in the pass, ID and foreign law documents, which was introduced in December 2020 and aims to increase the security standards in dealing with biometric photographs. Gießen, a city at the top of this initiative, has explained this in detail in an article of the Gießener Anzeiger.

The changes mentioned aim to prevent manipulations such as the so-called morphing technique, in which several images are merged into a new face. This technique endangers identity controls considerably. The digital procedure enables losses of quality to be avoided by printing and scanning passport photos. In addition, the application procedure for citizens is simplified by digitization.

requirements for photographers and security standards

With the new regulations, photographers must use QR codes for the digital transmission of the images. These QR codes are used to safely transmit the images to the responsible authorities. Gießen photographers are already prepared for the new requirements and ensure that they have access to certified cloud services and the required software to have the requirements of the BSI tr-03170 . This technical guideline regulates the safe digital transmission of biometric photographs.

With the aim of offering the citizens a smooth experience, self-service machines for passport photos and fingerprints are also planned in the town hall. These devices, which are currently not yet available, are intended to help the citizens to grasp their biometric data conveniently and efficiently.

biometric passport photos - an overview

Biometric passport photos for official documents such as identity card, passport and driver's license have been required since November 2010. These passport photos must meet certain characteristics that are defined in terms of format, size, sharpness and background. Face expression, head position and clothing are also crucial factors. The exact requirements are documented on the photo patterns of the Federal Printing, which offers an orientation for photographers and citizens.

Professional biometric passport photos can be created, for example, in Berg/Aufkirchen am Starnberger See. There are various price models that cover the creation of passport photos and application images. Pass photos cost 19 euros, for example, for six pieces, with further pictures available at a cheaper price. The opening times of the photo studios are from Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.