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Visa requirements for German citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Germany. As of 1 January 2017, German citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 176 countries and territories, ranking the German passport 1st in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley visa restrictions index. Additionally, the World Tourism Organization also published a report on 15 January 2016 ranking the German passport 1st in the world (tied with Denmark, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Singapore and the United Kingdom) in terms of travel freedom, with the mobility index of 160 (out of 215 with no visa weighted by 1, visa on arrival weighted by 0.7, eVisa by 0.5 and traditional visa weighted by 0).
Contents
Recent
Recently visa requirements for German citizens were lifted by Kyrgyzstan (July 2012), Mongolia (September 2013), Kazakhstan (July 2014-December 2017), United Arab Emirates, Timor-Leste, Samoa (May 2015), Indonesia (June 2015), Vietnam (July 2015-June 30, 2017), Sao Tome and Principe (August 2015), Tonga (November 2015), Palau (December 2015), Marshall Islands (June 2016), Tuvalu (July 2016), Solomon Islands (October 2016) and Belarus (February 2017).
Myanmar made German citizens eligible for eVisas in September 2014. India made German citizens eligible for e-Tourist Visa in November 2014. Tajikistan introduced eVisas for German citizens in June 2016. Azerbaijan introduced eVisas for German citizens in January 2017.
Territories
Visa requirements for German citizens for visits to various territories, disputed areas, partially recognized countries and restricted zones:
Vaccination
Many African countries, including Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia require all incoming passengers to have a current International Certificate of Vaccination. Some other countries require vaccination only if the passenger is coming from an infected area.
Passport validity
Many countries require passport validity of no less than 6 months and one or two blank pages.
Countries requiring passport validity of at least 6 months on arrival include Afghanistan, Algeria, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Cambodia, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq (except when arriving at Basra - 3 months and Erbil or Sulaimaniyah - on arrival), Israel, Kenya, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, countries requiring passport validity of at least 4 months on arrival include Micronesia, Zambia, countries requiring passport validity of at least 3 months on arrival include Georgia, Honduras, Iceland, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Moldova, Nauru, Panama, United Arab Emirates and countries requiring passport validity of at least 1 month on arrival include Eritrea, Hong Kong, Macao, New Zealand, South Africa. Other countries require either a passport valid on arrival or passport valid throughout the period of intended stay.
Conflicts
Israel, subject to the Arab League boycott, does not stamp passports anymore. Instead, it issues ID cards to visitors. Previously, it was possible to get the stamp on a separate piece of paper. Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen do not allow entry to people with evidence of travel to Israel, or whose passports have either a used or an unused Israeli visa.
However, similar conflicts exist between other countries. Visitors with passport stamp of such countries may have trouble to enter the other countries. Germany allows its citizens to hold several German passports (two or three, in extreme cases up to ten) to circumvent such travel restrictions. However, these additional passports are valid only for a maximum of six years, even if the "main passport" is valid for ten years. Holding a German passport and a foreign passport at the same time, that is, dual citizenship, is restricted under the current German nationality law. Germany allows dual citizenship with other EU countries and Switzerland; dual citizenship with other countries is possible with special permission or if obtained at birth.
Fingerprinting
Several countries including Afghanistan, Argentina, Burundi, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United States demand all passengers to be fingerprinted on arrival. Countries capturing other biometric data like iris pattern include Jordan, Oman and United Arab Emirates.
Right to consular protection in non-EU countries
When in a non-EU country where there is no German embassy, German citizens as EU citizens have the right to get consular protection from the embassy of any other EU country present in that country.
Non-ordinary passports
Holders of various categories of official German passports have additional visa-free access to the following countries - Algeria (diplomatic passports), Ghana (diplomatic, official, or service passports), India (diplomatic passports), Kazakhstan (diplomatic passports), Pakistan (diplomatic passports), Russia (diplomatic passports) and Vietnam (diplomatic passports). Holders of diplomatic or service passports of any country have visa-free access to Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Mali and Zimbabwe.