German Rail Pass with a German Passport

Well, the GRP provisions state in bold type:
2) The German Rail Pass may only be
used by travellers residing permanently
outside of Europe, Turkey and the
Russian Federation.
So I guess you would qualify since you've never been to Germany and permanently reside outside of Europe.
A better question might be, do you need a German Rail Pass? There are lots of ways to ride the trains for less than a railpass; Sparpreis tickets (advance purchase nonrefundable), Laender Tickets (travel local trains in a single "Land" after 9 am weekdays all day for one price), Regional transport network tickets, Quer durch Lands tickets (like Laender tickets for all of Germany),
Check out all the options at:
http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/prices/index.shtml
Also Check out the BahnCard:
http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/prices/germany/bahncard.shtml

I still would rather use the Pass for the convenience of not having to commit to a specific schedule.
But how do I prove I reside outside Europe?

Is Germany your only passport?

yes it is, only German Passport.

Your passport verifies your country of residence. It's no problem!!! I'm a permanent resident of Canada but German citizen (only passport I have).....and I always get the german railpass. You can actually get them when you land inFrankfurt...in the airport DB station ....perfect way to do it...and cheapest since no extra fees. I use it for the big trips and it's perfect....you can get on and off whenever/wherever. Not being bound to a particular train is the bonus. It also takes you to neighboring countries' first station! BUT....keep an eye on the DB website and scoop the deals like "Quer durch's land" deals etc for those awesome prices like 'stuttgart to paris 39€' ...
DB website is all you need☺...gives you ALL train schedules/options to almost anywhere in Europe...just not prices outside Germany

I asked German rail Pass sales department and they replied:

Since January of 2015 the residency rules have changed.
Now you can use the German Rail Pass if you have a non-European passport, or official residency papers showing that you do not live in Europe. The visa/stamps in the passport are no longer accepted as proof of residency.

I hope this answers your questions and hopefully you will be able to get the residency papers!

Best regards,

Martijn
Customer service team

GermanRailPasses.com
www.germanrailpasses.com
Email: [email protected]

I would use the bahn.de site....and select english from language options and use 'international visitors'...then again, Ispeak and read German. It's the best train travel planning tool ever!!!!

I agree with srsues, use the German Rail (Bahn) website query page to get schedules. For one thing, it (usually) shows track numbers, which can be useful when changing trains.

Also, check the prices on GermanRailpasses with other sites such as RailEurope and the Bahn's own website. It looks like GermanRailpasses (part of Eurail) hasn't updated its prices and is using an old $/€ rate, which makes the price in dollars from them higher than the Bahn's.

But as I said, I prefer the freedom of having my schedule open.
I appreciate your suggestion about the convenience on booking each fare cheaper, but I do want to buy the pass.

srsues,
You wrote: "Your passport verifies your country of residence" - not true. You passport certifies your nationality, it says nothing about your country of residence.
If the OP has never been to Germany, she must have been born in a different country. I would be surprised she is not a citizen of that country.
bewem876, What other citizenship do you have? What paperwork do you have to legalise your residence in whatever South American country you now live in? What documentation do you have which will let you get back into that country on your return from Europe?

Now is the time to get a passport from your country of birth or residence (if you can), and ensure you have paperwork to live there. That is the proof that you live outside Europe, not your German passport.

That's right, you passport certifies your nationality, it says nothing about your country of residence.

My other citizenship is Uruguayan, as I was born in Uruguay.

Other documentation I have is an identity card, that says only my name and has my thumb fingerprint, says nothing about residence.
I never needed anything that proves my residence in Uruguay before, sometimes when opening accounts, they ask for a bill in your name, it can be an electricity bill or the telephone bill or the taxes from the municipality, but that's nothing issued by the government.

Do you need in your countries anything that proves a residency? What for??
I can enter back my country as would any normal person with an European passport.

A passport from Uruguay? It costs $200 no, too expensive.

bewem876,
In which case show them your Uruguayan identity card when you buy your German Rail Pass. That should be sufficient. Since presumably such a card is only issued to residents, it implies you live in Uruguay.

If you are a Uruguayan citizen I would have expected you to have a Uruguayan passport in order to get back into the country, but if you say you can get back in with a German passport, I believe you.

"Do you need in your countries anything that proves a residency?" - I am a British citizen living in Switzerland. I have a British passport and a Swiss "foreigner's identity card" with my name and address. I don't need the Swiss card to get back into Switzerland because British (and other EU) citizens have unlimited right to enter Switzerland; but I do need to show it in Switzerland to prove my name and address, and if I need to prove I do not live in the UK.

200 Uruguayan Peso = €7.53, that's cheap, a British Passport costs from £72.50 (€102)!

bewem,

In addition to your German Passport, I'd suggest packing along at least two other forms of I.D., perhaps a driver's license along with your Uruguayan identity card. It's important that both have your current address listed. You might also include a birth certificate, showing that you were born in Uruguay. I doubt that you'll have any problems.

One point to mention regarding Rail passes is that a few trains in Germany have compulsory reservations and those are not included with passes. You'll have to pay separately for the seat reservations.

I meant 200 US dollars, the German Passport is cheaper, and it lasts 10 years while the Uruguayan only lasts 5.
The seats I know, I will have to buy the seats but if I lose a train it would be cheaper than losing the entire fare :)
Thanks you all, will carry my Uruguayan ID, in Spanish, with my picture and my thumb.

It might be well worth a few moments to speak to the border control in Uruguay before it is too late to get a local passport. A lot of countries look a bit strangely at their citizens using other passports.

Ask them directly if there will be any problems with you returning on a German passport. If they say yes then you can act. If they say no, you can be reassured.

Or maybe you have already done that.

I called the German Embassy, and they told me The German passport states in its second page your residence!
I hadn't noticed, it is in the passport!

This doesn't exactly pertain to the OP, but what if it was a person living in the US holding a German passport, has German citizenship, and also his green card indicating permanent residency in the US?

@ bewem876...I would get the Pass if you are going make full use of it with some long distance routes.

I think, Fred, that they would be treated like a resident alien.

That's not the case here, Fred. Here you have a natural born citizen declining to carry a passport from their home country, arriving back with a foreign passport and a local ID. That would confuse me if I were the Border Control agent. That's why I suggested that bewem876 contact his Border Control agency prior to departure. I suppose the worst that could happen is when they see the German passport and local ID is they could subject them to extensive questioning and possible refusal of entry.

But I presume. The local government agency will have the answers. What the German consulate says in this case is irrelevant.

I realise that that is not the question being asked - I'm just trying to keep the original poster out of trouble when they return to Uruguay.

Not the first time I return to Uruguay with my German Passport, no problem at all.
Thanks anyway!