The Bavarian summer holidays start in about four weeks. In many cities, many people are now applying for a new passport or ID card. Longer waiting times are imminent.
Bamberg/Munich (dpa/lby) - Anyone who needs new ID documents for the upcoming holiday season may have to expect longer waiting times. Because many cities in Bavaria are currently experiencing a rush to their offices, as a survey has shown. Many people want a new passport or identity card. "In Munich, too, the application for ID documents is currently a very popular service," said Johannes Mayer, spokesman for the district administration department. By the end of May, more applications had been processed this year than in any previous year in the same period.
From the Bamberg town hall it is said: The demand for identity documents is increasing "by leaps and bounds". The inquiries are probably so high because travel options have been restricted in the past two years due to the pandemic. Now, however, many people are being drawn far away again. The city of Bamberg advises its citizens to check early on whether their passport or identity card is still valid. The employees responsible also have a lot to do because children's passports are now only valid for one year and there are also many applications here.
In the Munich citizens' office, the focus is on creating appointment capacities, said Mayer. Everyone can find an appointment in the online booking calendar on a daily basis or promptly. Since passports and ID cards are produced by Bundesdruckerei, four to five weeks of production time must be allowed for.
More applications for identity documents are also being registered in Augsburg. This is mainly due to the easing of travel restrictions due to the pandemic. In addition, after Great Britain has left the EU, you will need a passport to travel there, the ID card is no longer sufficient, said Frank Pintsch, officer for civil affairs.
"Currently, the passport application is also in great demand at the Citizens' Registration Office in the city of Ingolstadt," said a spokesman. 1000 passports were applied for in May. In 2019 - the year before the pandemic - there were around 700.
Also in Amberg in the Upper Palatinate, the employees are registering a great demand for new ID documents, as spokesman Thomas Graml said: The registration and passport authorities also have additional tasks such as processing immigrants from Ukraine and carrying out a referendum in the City. The waiting time for the new documents is currently around ten weeks in Amberg.
However, it was pointed out early on that the citizens should take care of it in good time. "The recommendation of our Residents' Registration Office: Book an appointment online early on to submit your application, come well prepared with the complete documents and, depending on the travel date, apply for an Express Pass to be on the safe side."
The run on the documents is also great in Erlangen. However, the municipality does not see any bottlenecks - not least because the citizens' registration office is open 38 hours a week, said a spokesman.
In Regensburg, preliminary figures show that more passports are being applied for than in previous years. The citizens' offices are accessible without an appointment, so there is no waiting time for an appointment, explained a spokeswoman. You have to wait an average of five weeks for a passport.
The city of Nuremberg announced: "The demand for appointments at the citizen registration offices, especially for ID cards and passports, is currently still very high." Anyone applying for a new ID card or passport must come to the Citizens’ Registration Office in person. In Nuremberg, appointments are made online. The municipality has recently opened a so-called "pop-up citizens' office" in the southern part of the city, where up to 1,000 additional appointments are made per week, said a spokeswoman.
More passports and ID cards are also being applied for in Rosenheim: in 2019, before the pandemic, there were 1985 applications in the first half of the year, this year there were 2233. More people would be traveling again. And after "Brexit" Great Britain now needs a passport. The Citizens' Registration Office recommends making an appointment two months before the start of the trip or the expiration of the document in order to receive a passport or ID card in good time, said a spokesman for the city.
In urgent cases, express passports or temporary documents can be issued. Citizens would have to ask the embassies of the respective country, for example, whether they are then permitted to enter the holiday country.
