The following are included in the community of need

• employable persons in need of care,
• parents living in the household,
• partner - unless the couple lives in permanent separation - and also
• underage children of the person affected or the partner.

If the mutual income and assets of these persons is not sufficient to cover the needs, then the unemployment benefit "Arbeitslosengeld II" can be applied for. This means that the income of the partner in future will be taken even more into consideration when calculating state benefits than was the case in the past.

A foreigner who does not have a passport and cannot obtain one in a reasonable manner or whose passport or passport substitute has been handed over temporarily to a German authority, will be issued an identity card substitute upon application, if he/she has a residence title or his/her deportation has been suspended (exceptional leave to remain).

In Germany this identity card substitute satisfies the duty to prove the identity of the foreigner. It provides details of the person and has a photograph and also confirms the residence permit or the exceptional leave to remain. In addition, the identity card substitute contains detail on the place and date of issue, period or duration of validity, surname and first name of the holder, date and place of birth, nationality, gender, size, colour of the eyes as well as the holder’s own signature.

The identity card substitute is not a passport substitute. German passport substitute documents for foreigners are e.g. the travel document for foreigners, the cross-border commuter card, the emergency travel document.

Persons, who have not been convicted of a criminal offence by a court of law within the last years in particular due to a crime, due to theft, embezzlement, blackmail, handling stolen goods, fraud, breach of trust, unlawful organisation of gambling, participation in unlawful gambling or due to an offence in terms of the Law for the Protection of Youths, are regarded as reliable.