diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/MentionDropdown.svelte b/frontend/src/lib/components/MentionDropdown.svelte
index 5090b0bc..d86e912a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/MentionDropdown.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/MentionDropdown.svelte
@@ -122,6 +122,22 @@ function selectItem(item: Person) {
 		<p class="px-3 py-2.5 font-sans text-sm text-ink-3">
 			{m.person_mention_popup_empty()}
 		</p>
+		<!--
+			Empty-state escape hatch — without it the transcriber has to close
+			the dropdown, navigate to /persons/new, come back, and re-type the
+			query. target=_blank keeps the document and editor state intact;
+			rel=noopener prevents reverse-tabnabbing on the new tab. Leonie #5621.
+		-->
+		<a
+			href="/persons/new"
+			target="_blank"
+			rel="noopener"
+			class="flex min-h-[44px] items-center gap-2 border-t border-line px-3 py-2.5 font-sans text-sm font-medium text-brand-navy hover:bg-canvas focus:bg-canvas focus:outline-none"
+			onmousedown={(e) => e.preventDefault()}
+		>
+			{m.person_mention_create_new()}
+			<span aria-hidden="true">→</span>
+		</a>
 	{:else}
 		{#each model.items as person, i (person.id)}
 			<div
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/PersonMentionEditor.svelte.spec.ts b/frontend/src/lib/components/PersonMentionEditor.svelte.spec.ts
index bcd34da1..bf4b59ea 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/PersonMentionEditor.svelte.spec.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/PersonMentionEditor.svelte.spec.ts
@@ -145,6 +145,19 @@ describe('PersonMentionEditor — typeahead', () => {
 			await expect.element(page.getByText('Keine Personen gefunden')).toBeInTheDocument();
 		});
 	});
+
+	it('offers a "create new person" link in the empty state', async () => {
+		mockFetchEmpty();
+		renderHost();
+
+		await userEvent.type(page.getByRole('textbox'), '@xyz');
+
+		await vi.waitFor(async () => {
+			const link = page.getByRole('link', { name: /Neue Person anlegen/ });
+			await expect.element(link).toBeVisible();
+			await expect.element(link).toHaveAttribute('href', '/persons/new');
+		});
+	});
 });
 
 // ─── AC-1: typed text becomes displayName, not DB name ───────────────────────