Travel documents
“International practice”: Traffic light removes the prefixed doctorate from ID cards and passports
In the future, doctoral degrees will no longer be shown on the front of German identity cards
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In the future, the doctoral title should no longer appear before the last name in German identification documents. This is what the government coalition wants to decide. However, it will not be completely deleted from them.
Acquiring a doctorate is complex and time-consuming, but the abbreviation “Dr.” upon successful completion, part of the official name. And can be entered accordingly in your ID card and passport. According to a planned regulation by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, this will no longer be possible in the future, as the “Rheinische Post” reports.
Essentially, it’s not about the title itself, but about the abbreviation “Dr.” According to the draft regulation, putting this abbreviation in front could cause irritation among foreign border authorities, “since the two letters are often mistaken for the first letters of the family name.” The aim is to adapt to “international customs”.
Doctoral degrees in the passport can lead to misunderstandings
As a further reason, the Interior Ministry cites the United Nations International Aviation Organization (ICAO) standard for travel documents for the “name” data field, as the “Rheinische Post” reports. This field does not allow for any further entries than just the family name. This approach has also been adopted as binding in the EU.
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As a third argument, the change also serves to implement a resolution proposed by the coalition factions. He plans to make passports and ID cards compliant in the future.
“The coalition has agreed on a procedure that takes up a central part of our Green criticism and clears up misunderstandings when reading identification documents abroad,” explained the parliamentary manager of the Green Party, Irene Mihalic, when asked by the “Saarbrücker Zeitung”.
However, the doctoral title will not be completely deleted from the identification documents. If desired by the ID card holder, it should be entered in a specially created data field on the back of the ID card and on “Book Page 1” of the passport.
Sources: “Rheinische Post”, “Saarbrücker Zeitung”