Almost a third of New Zealand passport applications in the past six weeks came through the “urgent processing” queue as travellers attempt to beat a backlog in processing. An unintended consequence of the backlog could have the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) making hundreds of thousands of dollars in expedited passport applications. The passports.
govt.nz website carries a warning that a standard application is taking up to 10 weeks to process . “If you need it sooner, consider using our urgent service,” says the website.
Figures shared with the Herald by the department show that of 69,960 passport applications made between 1 March, 20,824 went via the more expensive fast tracked route. Around a tenth (6,205) of applicants, initially submitted via the “standard” service, paid to upgrade to “urgent” after concern it would not meet their travel deadline. This comes after the Department of Internal Affairs issued an apology for the “sharp increase” in the average time it takes for a passport to be issued.
With an urgent adult application costing $412, double that of a standard ($206), the DIA received an additional $1,278,230 from applications which otherwise would have been standard applications. The urgent application stream, which three working days to process, is reportedly unaffected by delays. While there are a number of reasons travellers may choose to pay to speed up their processing - the backlog is contributing to this.
One traveller told the H.
