Bundestag passes amendment to the Passport Act

[LostInTime]

Heise online

The compromise reached incorporates some of the recommendations made by the Bundesrat (the upper chamber of Germany's Federal Parliament). Thus the German academic title of Doctor will not disappear from German passports. Moreover, the online access regulation will also be made part of the German Identity Card Act. Transsexual persons will in future be allowed to apply to the courts to have their first name changed. If approved by the upper chamber of Germany's Federal Parliament the provisions will come into force on November 1. From that date on, in addition to a digitalized photograph of the person, the RFID chip of his or her second-generation biometric passport will include digital prints of both index fingers of his or her hands.