German Consulate General in Chicago
Chicago runs the largest consular district in the country: thirteen states, from Ohio to the Dakotas and from Michigan down to Kansas. That is most of the Midwest, and it is also where German ancestry is most concentrated in the United States. The consulate is on North Michigan Avenue, though the door is on East Huron Street rather than on Michigan itself.
Address, telephone and opening hours
- Address
676 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3200, Chicago, IL 60611 - Telephone
+1 312 202 0480 - Fax
+1 312 477 7144 - Opening hours
Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. - Getting in
The entrance is on East Huron Street. - Head of mission
Michael Ahrens, Consul General - Official website
www.chicago.diplo.de
What this office does
This is one of only nine places in the United States where every German consular service is available in one building.
- German passports, including the fingerprints every application needs
- German ID cards, which honorary consuls cannot issue
- Name declarations, registrations of birth and of marriage
- Certification of signatures and certified copies
- Forwarding citizenship files to the Federal Office of Administration in Cologne
Book before you buy a plane ticket: the date the system offers is the one you get.
Honorary consuls in this district
10 honorary offices report to Chicago.
- Cincinnati, passport capability not published
- Cleveland, cannot take passport applications
- Columbus, passport capability not published
- Des Moines, passport capability not published
- Detroit, takes passport applications
- Indianapolis, cannot take passport applications
- Leawood, passport capability not published
- Minneapolis, passport capability not published
- Omaha, passport capability not published
- Saint Louis, passport capability not published
Of these, Detroit can take a passport application, which for much of this district is a far shorter journey.
What you can settle without travelling
Some of what people book an appointment for does not need one.
- Apply for a visa you may not need: a US passport gets you 90 days in Germany without one
- Find out whether you are German at all: the dates of your family's emigration decide it, and you can work that out from your own records before anyone books an appointment
- Track a passport that is already in progress: it is printed in Berlin and the six to eight weeks are set there, not at the counter that took your application
This is an independent directory of German consular offices in the United States. It is not operated by the Federal Foreign Office or by any German mission. Fees, opening hours and requirements change: always confirm them with the office before you travel.
