Signing from abroad (identification)
A German bank has to identify every borrower in a legally watertight way. From abroad that runs by video ident, through a German consulate or a local notary, or at an appointment in Germany — which route a bank accepts differs from bank to bank.
How does identification from abroad work?
A German bank has to identify every borrower in a legally watertight way. From abroad that runs by video ident, through a German consulate or a local notary, or at an appointment in Germany — which route a bank accepts differs from bank to bank. The three routes banks accept. Video ident lets you prove your identity on a video call with your passport in hand, without travelling. Many German banks accept it, not all. The second route runs through a German consulate or a local notary who confirms your identity officially. With some banks an appointment in Germany stays the only route they accept — that is bank selection, not law. Why the purchase deed is a special case. The bank's identification and the notarial purchase deed are two different things. The deed needs you in the room or a properly authorised representative; the power of attorney for that usually has to be notarially certified — abroad through a German consulate or a local notary with an apostille. That saves the trip, but it needs lead time.
The three routes banks accept
Video ident lets you prove your identity on a video call with your passport in hand, without travelling. Many German banks accept it, not all. The second route runs through a German consulate or a local notary who confirms your identity officially. With some banks an appointment in Germany stays the only route they accept — that is bank selection, not law.
Why the purchase deed is a special case
The bank's identification and the notarial purchase deed are two different things. The deed needs you in the room or a properly authorised representative; the power of attorney for that usually has to be notarially certified — abroad through a German consulate or a local notary with an apostille. That saves the trip, but it needs lead time.
What video ident from abroad turns on
Video ident works from any country with a stable connection, but it needs an identity document the provider's system recognises. Some foreign passports and residence permits are rejected for technical reasons, not for legal ones, so it is worth testing the document before the appointment matters. Time zones are the second practical point: most providers run fixed service hours in German time.
The certification that is not recognised where it has to count
A signature certified by a foreign notary is only enough for the German bank or the land registry if it is legalised: by an apostille under the Hague Convention, or, for states outside that convention, by consular legalisation through the German mission. The second route takes considerably longer. And the land registry applies stricter formal requirements than the bank does — two addressees, two standards, usually handled in one go.
What an online notary appointment does not cover
German notaries do run online procedures, and it is a fair question whether one of them replaces the trip. For a property purchase it does not: the Bundesnotarkammer says on its own page that the online procedures do not apply to buying a property. The choice is therefore not online against in person, but which of the two remote routes you take — power of attorney beforehand, or approval afterwards.
The second route: let someone sign, then approve it
A representative can sign the deed without holding authority at that moment, and you approve the contract afterwards. The approval itself is not bound to the form of the contract, but the land registry accepts an entry only on publicly certified documents — so the approval is certified, at a German mission or by a local notary with an apostille. This is the route German notaries describe for buyers who cannot be in the room, and it is the one worth naming early, because it changes what has to be ready before the appointment rather than after it.
The page that answers the question behind this term
This entry explains the term. How a purchase from a distance actually runs — power of attorney beforehand or approval afterwards — is on the page that answers the question.
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