A coveted document, especially during the holiday season: the identity card. © Hildenbrand/dpa
If you want to apply for a new ID card at Erding's town hall, you need patience. Currently, the waiting time for an appointment is six weeks. There are several reasons for this.
Erding – In the short term, nothing is going on in the residents' office of the city of Erding at the moment. Online, appointments there are fully booked for weeks. That's what a reader had to know. He wanted to apply for a new passport and make an appointment online on the city's homepage – the next one will be available in six weeks. In addition, there are four to five weeks until the new document is ready. Citizens should be prepared for this.
"Yes, there are waiting times," said city spokesman Christian Wanninger when asked. The situation has recently been exacerbated by the increased number of registrations of arriving refugees, "which can be very time-consuming in some cases". The new legal requirement, according to which children's ID cards must now be renewed every year, has also contributed to the increased workload. "Of course, this causes a huge volume, especially during the travel season," says Wanninger.
Many processes – the Residents' Registration Office is not only responsible for passports – take more time than before, "because more and more people from other countries are coming to us in general," says Wanninger.
The city is countering this with more staff. On May 1, a new employee started at the residents' office, and on June 1, two more will start their service. "In addition, planning is underway for a telephone hotline," Wanninger announces.
It is not possible to say in general terms how long it takes to issue a new passport: "That depends primarily on how long it takes Bundesdruckerei to produce it. And sometimes it's faster there – or not."
By the way, it is faster in the town hall to pick up the ID cards. There will be appointments for this in three to four weeks.