Passport & ID card

Passports and Identification cards for US, Canadian and Mexican citizens having recovered their Luxembourg citizenship based on ancestry

Congratulations for your recovered Luxembourg citizenship!

Submitting the application

In order to submit your first passport and identification card application, please send the copy of the documents listed below to the following email address: washington.consular@mae.etat.lu

All documents must be submitted in color PDF format:

Your "Lettre de Recouvrement" and its enclosures.
The main page of your US/Canadian/Mexican passport.
Your US/Canadian driver’s license, or Mexican "Instituto Federal Electoral" card stating your current address.
In case you do not have a driver’s license, please send a copy of your most recent gas/electricity or phone bill reading your name and current address.

Marital Status Documents:

If married, a copy of the marriage certificate and a copy of your spouse’s valid photo ID.
Your spouse’s name is added to the second page PER REQUEST ONLY: if you would like to have your spouse’s name added to the second page of your passport, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to verify with us that the spouse’s name is listed correctly in your information on the Registry of Luxembourg BEFORE you come in for your appointment.

Minor children:

A copy of their birth certificate(s).
A copy of the main pages of their passport(s).
A notarized statement written and signed by the parents confirming that parents and children do reside at the same address. Find a template here.
Copy of both parents' drivers' license reading the current address.

Please note: we will not accept copies of documents taken with a smart phone laying on a countertop, table, desk, carpet, etc. The scanned documents must be on a NEUTRAL background with no items, fingers, etc.

In case you prefer to submit your application via post, please make sure to include your contact information (telephone number and email address) to allow us to communicate with you.

Scheduling an appointment:

Once all documents are verified, the procedure to request your first passport(s) and identification card(s) will be launched. We process the applications on a first-come-first-served basis.

The average processing time to this point is around 120 days, but you also have the option to travel to Luxembourg and obtain your documents at the Passport Office where an expedited procedure is available.

After checking the identity based on the data from the National Registry of Natural Persons, we will invite you to present yourself at the Embassy in order to integrate the biometric identifiers.

You will e-mail us a couple of dates and times as options for your appointment. You may not get your preferred date and time for a passport appointment, but we will do our best to accommodate your preferences. At that moment, you will also be asked to submit your payment.

There are absolutely NO DROP INS possible. You must have a confirmed appointment.

Do not make travel plans or book a flight until your appointment has been confirmed.

Collecting biometric data:

the digital fingerprints (prints of the left and right index). Children under 12 years of age are exempt from the requirement to provide their fingerprints;
the facial image (the picture is taken directly at the Embassy);
the signature. Minor children under 6 years of age are exempt from signature.

After your appointment at the Embassy

Shipping your Passport and ID card:

Once we have received your documents from Luxembourg, we will inform you via e-mail to provide us with a prepaid express FedEx label (one FedEx label per family):

Please create a label on the FedEx website https://www.fedex.com/lite/lite-ship.html#address
The label should be addressed FROM Embassy of Luxembourg (2200 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC, 20008) TO your home address (or work address if you prefer).
E-mail us your label, the label must have a barcode.
If you are having difficulties creating a label, please call 1-800-GO-FEDEX or go to a FedEx office and have them create one for you.

The biometric passport (with fingerprints) is a travel document enabling its bearer to travel abroad.

The passport is only required to enter the territory of the countries requiring it, namely most foreign countries outside the European Union (EU). Entry and residence visas are affixed to the passport in those foreign countries when this formality is required.

Find the procedure for requesting a biometric passport on the Citoyens (citizens) portal, guichet.lu. This procedure deals in particular with requests:

Information on the introduction of the biometric passport

After several years of a negotiation process concerning the introduction of minimum standards for security features in passports and other travel documents, on 13 December 2004 the Council of the European Union adopted EC Regulation no. 2252/2004 laying down standards for security and biometric features to be included in passports and travel documents issued by Member States.

The introduction of biometrics in Luxembourg passport was phased in (photos, fingerprints) starting in August 2006.

May we remind you that the digitised photo must comply with the quality standards (PDF) defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), given that the European Regulation is based on these ICAO recommendations governing machine-readable travel documents.

The main fingerprints to be incorporated in the European passport are the prints of the left index finger and right index finger. Nevertheless, the European Regulation stipulates that the following people are exempt from the requirement to provide their fingerprints:

Children under the age of 12;
People who are physically incapable of providing their fingerprints.

To collate the mandatory biometric identifiers, local authorities have been provided with devices enabling both the capture and reading of fingerprints and the automated recording of the biometric passport applicant’s facial image. The same devices can also be used to capture the applicant’s signature. This data is then automatically sent electronically to the passport registry, thereby enabling the central authority to personalise the travel document in the shortest possible time.

This document enhances travel document security by creating a direct link between the signature, fingerprints, facial image and alphanumeric data of the individual in question when passing his or her request to the local authority.

Note that biometric passports are issued individually. The passport office works on the principle of “one person, one passport” (in accordance with Regulation EC no. 444/2009). Children are no longer entered in the parents’ passport. However, the names of parents or any individuals with parental authority (based on a judicial decision) are entered in the child’s passport.

ID card

All information regarding a Luxembourg identity card on the Guichet.lu website: