Germany's Foreign ID Cards

From Deutsche Welle:
"Germany planning digital ID card for foreigners"

Non-EU citizens living in Germany - including Turks, Americans and Swiss - who do not possess a German passport may soon be forced to issue their fingerprints to German authorities, according to a newspaper report published on Saturday. German daily Die Welt reported that, beginning next year, all foreigners in Germany from outside the European Union would be required to carry a digital identification card. The credit-card-sized document is planned to contain the person's digitized finger prints and photograph and be valid for a maximum of ten years. 'Effective means' to fighting illegal immigration Die Welt quotes sources from the interior ministry saying the ID card will be a "means to combating and preventing illegal immigration" as authorities will be able to "determine the identity of persons without having to refer to any databases." Another security advantage offered by the electronic residence permit, says security expert Hans-Peter Uhl, will be the ability to determine the "true identity of illegal immigrants caught applying for asylum with falsified documents." “It will give us reliable data on whether immigrants are registered twice, or even three times, and also how many foreigners enter and leave our country," Uhl told Die Welt. The digital identification card will be tested this year and is planned to be introduced at some point during 2011. At present, an estimated four million non-EU citizens in Germany will require the new document. Turks and American account for the highest portion of that number.

^ This isn't really that big of a deal. Germans (and most other European citizens) have to carry or have an ID Card. Making foreigners in Germany also carry one just makes sense. The one question I have regarding this move deals with all the American military personnel and their families that are stationed in Germany. I am not sure if the SOFA waives this new German ID Card requirement. If I or my family was stationed in Germany (as my family was twice) I would not submit to this German ID Card requirement since the US Government and not the German Government dictates what US military people are stationed in Germany. If I have a special US Passport that says I am overseas because of the US Military, live on-base, go to an American dependant school, etc then I would say that this German law does not cover me and so wouldn't get one. Besides all military personnel and their families in Germany are required to carry an American Military ID Card with them at all times and that should be enough for the Germans if they stop anyone (although having a German stop you and ask for your "Papers" reminds me of all the war movies when the Nazis did just that. I can understand an American married to a German and living in Germany on their own would need to get the new ID Card though. ^

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6018114,00.html