Despite the pressure on the passport police, thousands of new passports have not been collected. 1,529 of them have now been cancelled and over 9,000 are at risk of soon being destroyed. “I think it is worrying,” says Per Engström at the police.
After the pandemic restrictions were lifted, 2022 has been marked by long queues at police passport offices. It has been difficult to get a passport appointment, and it has taken time to get your passport.
During the first nine months of the year, the police issued a total of 1,804,479 new passports.
But not all passports have been collected. As of September 30, a total of 136,298 passports were waiting to be collected.
During the first nine months of the year, 1,529 passports have also been cancelled. This normally happens after three months. At the same time, 9,161 passports had been waiting with the police for over three months without being destroyed.
– We have a relatively soft approach to the cancellation. We may drag it out for a few more months. We want to avoid getting into a new queue situation again, and people having to pay for the passports again, says Per Engström, national commander at the police.
– It would be unfortunate if we were forced to cancel all these passports, continues Per Engström.
According to the police's basic rule, a reminder should be sent out no later than when a passport has been in use for three months, but after a "reasonable period of time" it should then be cancelled.
During the autumn, it has become easier to get a passport appointment. However, some locations still have long queues, especially in the Bergslagen police region and the Öst police region, according to the police themselves.
Passport delivery times are still longer than normal. Right now it takes around 50 days to receive your passport, according to Per Engström.
For those who are going to travel abroad during the sports or Easter holidays, it may be a good idea to book a passport appointment now, the police advise.
– It's still important to be out in good time, unfortunately. Don't wait. We have a lot of travel opportunities coming up in the spring, says Per Engström.
During the autumn, a number of passport offices have had extra hours of operation to allow people to pick up their passports.
Source:TT-SVD.se
