It is getting busier at the counters, say the municipalities. In Maastricht, only 9,000 applications were made in 2021 in all of 2021, this year there are already about 6000. In Enschede, 1000 applications were expected in June, it became 2200. “You can really notice that the country has stood still for two years and everyone is now suddenly wants to go on holiday again, and is also possible,” says Viana van Diepen of the Dutch Association for Civil Affairs (NVVB). In fact, many found out in recent months that their passport had expired during corona and suddenly had to have a new one.
Refugees
“We always see crowds arriving in the run-up to the summer holidays. But this year we also had to deal with the registration of war refugees from Ukraine, and the labor market was not cooperating either. All kinds of circumstances came together,” she explains. Because there were also many marriages and registered partnerships entered into. The municipality of Rotterdam also noticed that the application for driving licenses was also being postponed. All this put pressure on the civil affairs departments.
“We even held a kind of job fair in May to recruit people for civil affairs. We believe that we will have a solution in the long term,” says Van Diepen. But in many municipalities, the waiting time for making an appointment to apply for a passport can be considerable. Sometimes up to many weeks or even more than a month, according to a tour of De Telegraaf. Those who cannot wait that long often have to go through a more expensive emergency procedure.
Additional staff
The TV program Max Holiday Man recently also made a round and found the longest waiting times at Almere. They went up to nine weeks. In a response, the municipality announced that it would recruit additional staff.
More municipalities do that. The municipality of Haarlemmermeer, for example, succeeded in this, but recently also made an apology to the inhabitants, because it could take far too long before a travel document could be made due to all the crowds.
Waiting times can also increase considerably in Rotterdam. However, it differs quite a bit which location you go to, reports the municipality. “For example, it is busier at the public location in the center and the waiting time in June/July for making an appointment is about four weeks,” says a spokesperson. At the same time, the municipality makes the promise that Rotterdam residents can in any case go to one location within ten days to make an appointment. The municipality also deploys extra temporary workers, while there are extra openings on Saturdays.
The Hague can arrange an appointment within eight days. In Breda there is no waiting time at all for applying for a passport, driving license or identity card. Other municipalities make use of free walk-in hours, where people can go directly. Amsterdam and Haarlem, among others, do this.