Lengthy waiting times for DNI / passport applications

According to a report in the Spanish daily newspaper El País, offices processing the Spanish national identity document (DNI) and passport applications and renewals can't cope with capacity, with the busiest ones now not offering appointments until, on average, between September 21st and the second week of October.

Similar problems are being experienced in over 100 more of the 250 offices that provide this service across Spain, and the shortcomings have been highlighted and denounced by the CCOO worker's trade union, who describe it as "a cyclical situation and as such, one that can be prevented, as the same thing happens every year as staff take annual leave just as the offices reach their peak period of the year, but no extra staff are taken on".

The most overloaded offices are those in Barcelona, the Valencian Community and Andalusia, but saturation levels have also been reported in Galicia, Madrid, the Basque Country, Castilla y León, Extramadura, Murcia, Asturias, Navarra, La Rioja and Toledo.

A spokesperson for the trade union admitted "it is reasonable for waiting times to reach 15 or 20 days during the peak holiday period, but people are now looking at waiting times of between 45 and 60 days" adding that over 1,200 vacancies have still not been filled, which is aggravating the problem.