Passport wait lengthens

Press, 24 June 1981, Page 6

Passport wait lengthens

The passport situation has "deteriorated" and travellers wanting one can now expect to wait one month, according to a spokesman for the Internal Affairs: Department in. Christchurch. Last month it took three weeks to process. passport applications. : , ; ~

*'The ' department could issue 250 a day but lately had been receiving more than 300 applications a day, said the assistant district officer at the department; (Mr W. F-. de Malmanche)..

The Australian Government decided in April that New Zealanders entering Australia must carry passports from July 1. To yesterday, 4400 passport applications had' been received for this month.

a record for the Christchurch office, he said.

Six extra staff had been employed to help the permanent staff of three and it Was possible that even more staff would be employed to help the department cope.

For the whole of June last year the department’; had dealt with only 1000 applications.

“We are making every effort to process passports but some people expect us to pull them out of a hat,”:Mr de Malmanche said.

Cases where a passport was needed urgently would be examined on their merits, he said. He advised travellers to arrange a passport before booking tickets for an overseas trip. One woman wanting a

passport had been booked on a flight for Australia the next week.. Travellers who had .to leave soom were having their passports processed first. Other applications, for people leaving in September and later, had been put aside in the: meantime. . Incorrectly filled forms had been slowing the processing of applications. One main fault had been married women forgetting to enclose marriage certificates. Another was a character referee incorrectly signing the back of an applicant’s photograph.

At the same time last year it had taken only three to five days to process a passport application, Mr de Malmanche said.

The pressure is: also ‘still

on at the Birth, Deaths, and Marriages Division of the Justice Department. Applications, for the short birth certificates, needed for a passport, are nearly double those of last year. In June last year there had been 631 applications, said the division’s registrar, (Mr R. G. Appleford). So far this month there had been 1193 applications for the short certificate. Two extra staff had been put on to help the staff of six. . ■ '

"The" demand has not really slackened off," he said. "We are trying to keep the wait to one: day.” :. The short certificate gives only the name. date, and place of birth. The full certificate has details about parents.