A tour of the Israel Post Sorting Center regarding the renewal of passports (Photo: Knesset Spokesperson)
The Special Committee for Public Inquiries headed by MK Yitzhak Pindros (Torah Judaism) today (Thursday) conducted a tour of the Israel Post Sorting Center and a meeting on the topic of promoting the distribution of passports to the public following the decision of the Population and Immigration Authority to open passport renewal bureaus without an appointment. According to the Knesset's Research and Information Center in the
years 2020-2021 together, a total of about 1.1 million passports were issued - a number similar to the number of passports that are usually issued in one year. As a result, a full year's gap of about 1.1 million passports was created. With the removal of all restrictions in 2022, the number of applications reached 1,349,328 - about 30% more than in 2019, before the outbreak of the Corona crisis.
In Israel, the waiting time for an appointment to apply for a passport ranges from four to six months.
Now, in order to shorten the long waiting times and in light of the increased demand for renewing passports in preparation for the summer vacation, the Minister of the Interior announced that in 10 days the bureaus for issuing passports in Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva, Haifa and Tel Aviv will open without the need to make an appointment in advance.
In 10 days, they promise, we will be able to renew a passport without an appointment (Photo: ShutterStock)
"We are doubling the working hours and doubling the manpower," says Maor Ahitov, responsible for operation and mailing of passports at the Population and Immigration Authority.
According to Ahitov: "Activity at the centers for renewing passports without an appointment will be in four bureaus across the country between the hours of 07:00 in the morning and 22:00 at night. The bureaus in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Bishkek currently issue 3,000 passports a day and are expected to issue about 6,000 passports on the day following the cancellation of appointments".
The expectation of the Population and Immigration Authority is to reach 250-300 thousand passport issuances in the coming month.
For now, the operation to renew passports without an appointment is expected to last a month, after which they will decide on the further progress in the process.
Maor Ahitov: "We still have a shortage of personnel, but we are in various recruitment processes to make up for the shortages."
More in Walla!
Beat the pain: B-Cure laser in an unprecedented experience sale
Served on behalf of B Cure Laser
The participants in the tour of the Israel Post Sorting Center on the issue of renewing passports, today (photo: Knesset Spokespersons, Knesset Spokespersons)
David Loren, CEO of Israel Post: "Passports are given priority for delivery as quickly as possible and we meet the delivery targets.
We receive organized data from the Population Authority and are prepared for any amount of passports that will reach us.
If we have to change priorities to get the passports to the destinations on time, we will do it.
Every year we handle hundreds of millions of mail details.
We have 700 employees at Israel Post's sorting and distribution center. As much as we need to increase the number of employees to send passports to customers on time, we will know how to direct employees to this important task.
" According to Babai: "We receive inquiries from citizens who are 24 hours before a flight who claim that their passport was sent by return mail to the sorting and distribution center.
We allow those citizens to come to our center to collect their passport from here."
MK Moshe Kinley Tor-Paz (Yesh Atid): "Hundreds of thousands of Israelis did not receive passport renewal services in the last few months.
I would like to thank Israel Post for participating in the national effort of distributing passports on time to Israeli citizens.
We have many challenges in the distribution chain and I see the systems producing the relevant solutions and this is also the place to compliment the Minister of the Interior for his quick actions in favor of expediting the issuance of passports." Shimon Shoham, Director of the Policy and Regulation Division at the Ministry of Communications: "We see that there is a decrease in activity especially in sending letters
, A few months ago we established a different type of service for the Israel Post in order to adapt the post to the new world.
The Israel Post makes the right efforts to provide a benevolent service beyond the established standards."
MK Yitzhak Pindros, chairman of the special committee for public inquiries, summarized the discussion: "We are in the process of budget discussions in the Knesset, but we do not forget to deal with other issues that affect the citizens, such as the issuance and renewal of passports. The Israel Post is doing the right thing when it improves its service All the time to high standards, similar to the private market. The Israel Post went through a significant process around the Corona virus and after that, we are very grateful to the Israel Post for opening the door to us and presenting their estimates for the distribution of passports in the fastest time."
tourism
news
Tags
Passports
Ministry of Interior
