Have you been affected by the delays?
The wait time for passports is finally being reduced after major delays.
Thousands have been affected by the delays, especially new parents waiting for their baby’s first passport.
The Passport Office has faced major demand in recent months but is now recruiting more staff to help cope with it.
It is believed the waiting time will be reduced from 35 to 30 days.
This change will come into effect from April 19th.
The passport office has received a record number of applications this year with 153,000 in February alone.
The Director of Passport Services at the Department of Foreign Affairs Siobhán Byrne said they are planning on hiring more staff by the end of this month.
She told RTÉ’s Claire Byrne that they’re expecting 1.4 million applications.
She explained that they’re experiencing a high volume of calls as well as webchat requests.
The passport office experiencing high demand throughout the day, but calling early in the morning or late in the evening may is advised.
She also told the public to submit key documentation as quickly as possible. This will help speed up the process.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the average wait time for a simple passport renewal is 10 days.
Complex renewals are 15 working days and first-time applicants are 35 days.
The public has been advised to give themselves plenty of time when sending in passport applications. Delays are to be expected, but they’re trying to process applications as quickly as possible.
