China News Service, April 29. According to a comprehensive report by the New Zealand Chinese Herald Network, New Zealanders who are looking forward to traveling overseas need to pay attention. Currently, the waiting time for New Zealand passport renewal is three times longer than normal.

　　More than half a million New Zealand passports have expired during the travel restrictions imposed by the pandemic.

　　The Home Office confirmed that the processing time has shifted from 10 working days to 22 working days, which equates to 32 calendar days, plus postage time.

　　Maria Robertson, deputy chief executive of Service Delivery and Operations, told Nine to Noon that the Home Office had not encountered such a backlog since 1992.

　　She explained that over the past few months, 40% of their staff have been unable to work due to being unwell or caring for family members or having to self-isolate, resulting in a huge impact on their ability to serve customers.

　　In order to maintain peace of mind, Robertson said, people should be mentally prepared to allow five to six weeks.

　　“Our current demand is not unprecedented. There are now 30,000 to 35,000 passports (to be renewed) in a month, maybe 40,000. At our peak, far in Omicron (Omicron-induced Covid-19), long before Covid-19, long before border closures, like in March 2019, we issued 60,000 passports in a month. But now our workforce is very different, it's around demand levels Established."

　　She said they had to move their workforces quickly when the Covid-19 pandemic cut passport renewal demand — at one stage, passport issuances dropped to 13% of what they normally issue — before borders began to reopen. time to increase the workforce.

　　Robertson advises travellers to check the passport expiry requirements of the country they are travelling to when travelling, and make sure their passport has enough time before the expiry date.

　　She said people, including Kiwis overseas, could apply online to renew their passports and didn't need a RealMe account to start their application.

　　For those who need travel documents in an emergency, passports can be delivered within three days.

"Thankfully, we still have this emergency service running as planned."

　　The Home Office hopes to reduce the waiting time for passport renewals to less than 10 days by July this year.

　　In addition, Robertson stressed that when travelling overseas, people need to consider more than just passports and should ensure they research the vaccine passport requirements in the country of destination.