Overview
- Digital minister Karsten Wildberger named Jan. 2, 2027 as the start date, with the ID card, driving licence, vehicle registration and insurance cards in the first release and new documents added each quarter.
- Use of the wallet will be optional, and the government touts everyday functions such as remote bank onboarding and age verification at checkout.
- Investigative reports and Berlin police indicate many registration offices lack document‑checking devices and do not run biometric or EU stolen‑document database checks when issuing the eID‑karte to EU/EWR citizens.
- Investigators warn the card has no photo or biometrics and can be passed within criminal groups to open accounts or build sham company networks; around 47,000 have been issued since 2021, and the BKA counts 75 million stolen IDs and travel documents across Europe.
- Banks commonly rely on state eID checks for remote identification, with legal experts saying verification gaps shift fraud risk to lenders, while federal officials point to Länder responsibility and have not set a remediation timeline.