Before the holiday season, many people in Bavaria have to extend their children’s passports. These are only valid for one year from 2021. But appointments are sometimes difficult to get. In Nuremberg, for example, many parents wait spellbound in front of the computer in the morning for new ones to be activated on the Internet – and in some cases still get nothing. In Munich and Augsburg, too, the offices are reporting a high demand for appointments to apply for or extend children’s passports.
The city of Nuremberg calculates what the shorter validity of additional work means: According to its own statements, it issues around 6,000 children’s passports per year. In theory, this would add another 6,000 to the approximately 6,000 newly issued this year that would have to be extended. In the coming year there will already be 6,000 new plus 6,000 from 2021 and 6,000 from 2022. The citizen service has therefore hired several dozen new employees, which has dragged on for a long time due to the lack of skilled workers.
But not only the shorter validity, Corona also contributes to the rush to the offices. “After the travel options were very limited due to the pandemic, the number of appointment requests for ID documents this spring is exceptionally high,” explained Frank Pintsch from the Department for Citizens’ Affairs of the City of Augsburg. In the citizens’ offices there are currently waiting times of 14 to 21 days. In addition, further appointments would be activated before they opened in the morning.
“The reduction in the validity of children’s passports was and is also a challenge for the city of Munich,” said Johannes Mayer from the district administration department. In January, the city council therefore approved new posts in clerical work. Almost 12,000 children’s passports have already been issued in the first four months of 2022. Last year there were around 20,000.
The city of Nuremberg also points out that, as an alternative, you can also have a normal passport issued for children, which is valid for six years and is therefore about as expensive as a children’s passport for the same period. In some countries, such as the USA, children’s passports are not accepted anyway. And for trips within the EU, just like adults, an identity card is sufficient.