Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 December 2021
108. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason it took the Passport Office 65 working days after the receipt of a passport application from a person (details supplied) to request additional documentation; if this passport will be dispatched in time for travel on 23 December 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59413/21]
View answerWith regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, the application was submitted online on 23 August 2021. Supporting documents were received by the Passport Service on 16 September 2021. The Passport Service contacted the applicant's parent on 22 November 2021, 46 working days after the receipt of some of the required supporting documents.
The Passport Service cannot process an application until the required supporting documents have been received. The Passport Service has provided an update to the applicant's parent as to the steps they must take to progress the passport application.
Passport processing times for online first time applications is 40 working days. This average application turnaround time relates to passport applications submitted to the Passport Service with all required supporting documentation. When passport applicants do not provided all of the requisite documentation to the Passport Service, it takes much longer to process the application and issue a passport.
The Passport Service is attaching particular priority to the nearly 7% of online applications which have not been issued on or before estimated issue date which was indicated to the applicant. Intensive work is underway to eliminate these delays which are very much regretted by the Service.
