Rush for passports stretches processing

Press, 28 May 1981, Page 10

Rush for passports stretches processing

Travellers rushing for passports because of Australia's impending passport requirements have forced the Internal Affairs Department in Christchurch to put on extra processing staff. The Births, Deaths, and Marriages Division of the Justice Department in Christchurch has also had to put on extra staff to cope with a flood of applications, almost double that of last year.

The Australian Government decided last month that New Zealanders entering Australia must carry passports from July 1. Passport applications now took about three weeks to process, said the district officer of the Department of Internal Affairs. Mr L. W. Skerton, yesterday. At the corresponding time last year they took about two weeks. There were 1200 applications in May last year, he said. For the first three weeks of May this year there were 3077 applications.

Three extra persons were working in the Passport Division to help the existing staff of six to cope.

Mr Skerton said that people should read the instructions on the application form carefully before telephoning the department with a query.

Some people had telephoned with queries which were covered in the instructions. Incorrectly filled out application forms were also slowing processing, he said.

One main fault was married women forgetting to enclose marriage certificates. Another was a character referee incorrectly signing the back of an applicant’s photograph. Cases where a passport was needed urgently would be examined on their merits, Mr Skerton said. The Births,. Deaths, and Marriages Division has been hit with a rush of applications because birth certificates are needed to obtain a passport.

Applications for birth certificates in May were almost double those for the corresponding time last year, said the division's registrar, Mr ■R. G. Appleford. Two extra staff had been put,on to help the staff of six. “Quite a few” New Zealanders were writing from Australia for their birth certificates, he said. For the first three weeks of May this year there were 1730 applications for birth certificates, compared with 1040 for the first two weeks of May last year.

Demand had increased sharply for short birth certificates, all that were needed for passports. The short certificate gives only the name, date, and place of birth, while the full certificate has details about parentage.

Birth certificates were ready the day after an application, provided that the applicant lived in metropolitan Christchurch, Mr Appleford said.