Applying for an identity card

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Key aspects

• Fourteen Member States set the minimum age to apply for an identity card without parental consent at 18 years. In eight Member States, the age is between 14 and 16 years. In four Member States, a child can apply independently from the age of 12 years.
• Identity cards are not issued in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
• In several countries where children are obliged to have their own identity document from a certain age onwards, they may apply for an identity card by themselves (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands and Spain). In other countries, children are obliged to hold an identity document from a certain age onwards, mostly between 12 and 15 years, but can only apply with parental consent (Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Sweden).