A security element having a microstructure carrier that is obtained from an acceptor foil and has a microstructure which has transfer-layer elevation areal elements transferred to an adhesive layer (53, 54, 55) of the acceptor foil, wherein the microstructure carrier is formed having the microstructure and a microstructure of a colored or colorless UV-crosslinked lacquer or colored or colorless negatively working photoresist that is complementary to the microstructure, or wherein the microstructure carrier is formed having the microstructure and a microstructure of a colored or colorless positively working photoresist that is congruent with the microstructure, wherein the microstructure carrier is obtainable by a method having the following steps of: (a) manufacturing a donor foil by forming an embossed structure having elevation surfaces and depression surfaces at least in a partial region of a principal area of a first foil material or in an embossable layer on at least a partial region of a principal area of a first foil material, wherein the elevation surfaces and/or the depression surfaces form a desired microstructure, wherein the microstructure has microstructure elements with a line width between approximately 0.5 μm and approximately 10 μm, applying a coating at least to a partial region of the embossed structure to form a transfer layer (30, 31, 32), wherein the transfer layer has transfer-layer areal elements on elevation surfaces of the embossed structure, transfer-layer areal elements on depression surfaces of the embossed structure, and transfer-layer areal elements connecting the elevation areal elements and the depression areal elements, (b) manufacturing the acceptor foil by applying the adhesive layer (53, 54, 55) at least to a partial region (56, 57, 58) of a principal area of a second foil material, (c) laminating the donor foil and the acceptor foil by means of the adhesive layer (53, 54, 55) in such a fashion that at least a partial region of the coated embossed structure and a partial region of the adhesive layer (53, 54, 55) come into contact with each other, wherein the transfer layer (30, 31, 43) on elevation surfaces bonds adhesively to the adhesive layer (53, 54, 55) of the acceptor foil in the contact region, (d) transferring the areal elements of the transfer layer (30, 31, 32) on elevation surfaces of the embossed structure of the donor foil in the contact region to the adhesive layer (53, 54, 55) of the acceptor foil by separating the donor foil and the acceptor foil from each other, thereby creating from the acceptor foil the microstructure carrier with the microstructure having the transferred transfer-layer elevation areal elements. (a) manufacturing a donor foil by forming an embossed structure having elevation surfaces and depression surfaces at least in a partial region of a principal area of a first foil material or in an embossable layer on at least a partial region of a principal area of a first foil material, wherein the elevation surfaces and/or the depression surfaces form a desired microstructure, wherein the microstructure has microstructure elements with a line width between approximately 0.5 μm and approximately 10 μm, applying a coating at least to a partial region of the embossed structure to form a transfer layer (30, 31, 32), wherein the transfer layer has transfer-layer areal elements on elevation surfaces of the embossed structure, transfer-layer areal elements on depression surfaces of the embossed structure, and transfer-layer areal elements connecting the elevation areal elements and the depression areal elements, (b) manufacturing the acceptor foil by applying the adhesive layer (53, 54, 55) at least to a partial region (56, 57, 58) of a principal area of a second foil material, (c) laminating the donor foil and the acceptor foil by means of the adhesive layer (53, 54, 55) in such a fashion that at least a partial region of the coated embossed structure and a partial region of the adhesive layer (53, 54, 55) come into contact with each other, wherein the transfer layer (30, 31, 43) on elevation surfaces bonds adhesively to the adhesive layer (53, 54, 55) of the acceptor foil in the contact region, (d) transferring the areal elements of the transfer layer (30, 31, 32) on elevation surfaces of the embossed structure of the donor foil in the contact region to the adhesive layer (53, 54, 55) of the acceptor foil by separating the donor foil and the acceptor foil from each other, thereby creating from the acceptor foil the microstructure carrier with the microstructure having the transferred transfer-layer elevation areal elements.