New photo system in Köfering town hall: Easier to get ID!

New photo system in Köfering town hall: Easier to get ID!

From September 2, 2025, citizens in Köfering will have the opportunity to have biometric photos taken for their ID card or passport directly in the town hall. This new service, which requires a fee of 6.00 euros in addition to the document fee, is made possible by Bundesdruckerei's innovative PointID® system. It allows facial images, fingerprints and signatures to be captured without media disruption, which significantly simplifies the entire process.

To take photos, citizens can choose whether they use the new service at the town hall or prefer to go to a photo service provider. From May 1, 2025, these service providers will be obliged to transmit the captured images digitally to the authority via a certified cloud system. Paper-based passport photos will no longer be accepted when applying for ID documents in the future.

Improved security standards

The PointID® system not only offers a more flexible process, but also improves security. The new procedures ensure that photographs cannot be tampered with before submission, increasing the overall quality of security documents. The implementation of the system is part of the fundamental reforms initiated by the law to strengthen security in passport, ID and immigration law documents, which was published on December 11, 2020.

These reforms create a legal basis that regulates the digital security measures for the transmission of photographs to authorities. The current process will remain in place until May 1, 2025 to ensure a smooth transition. From this date, all photographs must be created digitally and transmitted securely to the authorities, which is also strictly regulated by the Technical Guideline BSI TR-03170.

Uniform standards and certifications

The Technical Guideline TR-03170 specifies requirements for the certified transmission of biometric photographs. Here, requirements for the cloud services as well as the software used are defined. In order to meet today's high data protection requirements, the providers of the corresponding services must provide evidence of certification by the BSI. This measure is intended to ensure that all transmitted data is processed in accordance with strict guidelines.

The new regulation on photo capture and transmission aims not only to increase efficiency, but also to strengthen citizens' trust in the handling of sensitive personal data. Information on certification and the use of the new procedures is already available on the websites of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Homeland.

The PointID® system will be gradually introduced in the various authorities over the course of 2025. Until then, citizens have the option of using alternative methods of taking photographs, provided they meet these specified standards.

For further details about the innovations and their background, interested citizens can visit the information pages of the Municipality of Köfering, the Bundesdruckerei as well as the Federal Office for Information Security visit.