Overview
- The PIN‑reset website pin-ruecksetzbrief-bestellen.de was relaunched and the free mail service restarted on Tuesday, allowing citizens to order a new PIN and activation code without visiting a Bürgeramt.
- The service sends a letter to the registered German address that must be received via Post‑Ident identity check and contains a new six‑digit PIN, an activation code and a QR code to reconfigure the eID with the AusweisApp.
- The government first introduced the mail reset in February 2022, sent nearly two million PIN letters over two years and then suspended the service at the end of 2023 after the Bundesinnenministerium calculated roughly €30 million in costs, about €14.29 per letter.
- A 2025 plan by the BMI to charge users €14 was blocked by the Bundesrat, and the service has returned under temporary federal funding described by the BMDS as ‘übergangsweise’, leaving long‑term financing unresolved.
- Restoring the mail reset reduces the need for in‑person trips to Bürgerämter and is functionally important because users must know their eID PIN to transfer identity data into the EUDI‑Wallet when it launches in January 2027.