It’s panic to go on vacation. For a few weeks in France, many town halls have been crumbling under requests for the renewal of identity papers. The city of Nantes no escape. Its municipal agents process more than 200 appointments per day, 6 days a week. This is thirty times more requests than last year over the same period. The machine is running and the deadlines are getting longer. Instead of two weeks “once upon a time”, it is now necessary to wait more than three months to obtain a slot then “about a month and a half” before recovering the precious documents. A total of more than four months, in particular due to the health crisis.
“With Covid-19, everything has been put on hold, people have not renewed their documents and as today travel is resuming, they realize, all at the same time, that their papers are no longer valid” , explains Aline Thébaud, manager of the administrative services sector at the city of Nantes. Some users do not hesitate to “put pressure on municipal agents”. However, the city ensures that it does not have the means to offer more appointments. “Even if we did, users wouldn’t get their credentials any faster since there would be even more congestion at CERT [centre d’expertise et ressources titres] Le Mans,” she continues. That platform studies the files of the five departments of the region, before sending them to the national printing office.
“I had a stroke of stress”
For some travellers, the extended delays have had the effect of a cold shower. Barbara had planned to leave in April for London but, due to a lack of free slots in time, she had to give it up. “I postponed my trip to this summer. I thought that by making an appointment in January, three months in advance, it would be good but no, she laughs. I asked all the municipalities around Nantes, even in Brittany towards Dinan, Saint-Malo but everyone was full. Same fate for Linda who came to collect her new identity card, her French and Finnish passport. “It’s my fault, I booked a trip to Frankfurt for March 25 without realizing that all my papers had expired. I had a stroke of stress but it’s good I’ll be able to leave, ”she exclaims.
For users in a professional emergency situation, town halls try to open a few additional appointments during lunch breaks or at the end of the day for municipal agents, after verification of supporting documents. For others, there is no need to “sit-in in town halls” while waiting for a slot to be released, the administration advocates “equal treatment”. For Aline Thébaud, it is above all necessary to “anticipate and check the validity of your titles before booking your trip”. It is therefore difficult to go abroad in April if you have still not submitted your file. For the summer vacation, the countdown is on.