There were long queues at the Perth Passport Office on Thursday as Western Australians were frustrated with long delays waiting to renew or apply for passports.
Perth’s mother, Simone Healy, was one of those people in line, hoping to check her nine-month-old baby’s passport application before preparing for a family vacation in Canada in September.
Australia’s passport service is experiencing “unprecedented high demand” as a 30% increase in applications has led to a one-month delay, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. .
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Mrs Healy arrived at the Perth Passport Office on William Street around 2pm on Thursday, where she waited about 30 minutes before being forced to leave after her daughter, Lilley, needed a change of direction. diaper.
The mother decided to go to the office after not hearing any correspondence from the Australian Passport Office since she applied for Lilley eight weeks ago.
Camera icon Perth’s mother, Simone Healy, arrived at the Perth Passport Office on William Street around 2pm on Thursday, where she waited for about 30 minutes. Credit: Nic Ellis
“I didn’t hear anything,” he said.
“I tried to call several times at different times of the day and once I went through ‘press this for this, press this for this’, and I put myself in the call center, it tells me’ we’re too busy, come back ‘try it’, and the call has been disconnected “.
Mrs Healy also tried to send an email, but recovered with a message saying “Inbox is full”.
“It would be nice if someone could tell me, ‘Yes, we have your request, I’m sorry, there’s a bit of a delay in the timeout,'” he said.
“Just a little bit of communication would be great.”
DFAT said it was “experiencing unprecedented high demand” and is currently receiving between 10,000 and 12,000 applications a day, from the usual 7,000 to 9,000 a day.
“We currently have about four weeks of work in the processing queue,” a spokesman said.
“This is leading to longer – than – usual call center waiting times, as well as an increase in the number of customers queuing at our passport offices.
“We apologize to customers who have been directly affected by these delays.”
Camera Icon The queue in front of the Australian Passport Office in Perth on Thursday. Credit: Nic Ellis
DFAT said new applications could take longer than passport renewals and advised people to start their application online and make sure to send all required documentation.
Ms Healy said there were also “a lot of people” in line on Thursday afternoon, but many were upset by the time it took and left.
Now he will wait another week before facing the long delays again.