Got your passport? Time to apply early

New Zealanders are being warned to apply for new passports at least two months before they need them.

Current advice from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) is that people should allow eight weeks, plus delivery, for a standard passport to be issued.

The extended wait times are being blamed on upgrades to the passport system and increased seasonal demand.

Almost 38,000 Kiwis are currently waiting for a new passport.

The government target for processing passports is 10 days but the current wait-time guideline is more than a month longer than that.

In February, more than 39,0000 passports were completed; this almost halved in March due to the beginning of the system upgrades, which stopped new applications from being made.

DIA said the “major system upgrade” was the biggest change to the passport system in more than 10 years and would stretch into midMay.

The delays might continue as the new system took time to “bed in”, it said.

“In light of that, we are reviewing forecasts of likely demand and output over the next few months.”

The department’s passport team has been plagued by problems since the pandemic, when it reduced its workforce and then faced a surge of applications once borders opened — also leading to wait-time targets being exceeded.

Wait times improved over 2023, with the average processing time for standard passport applications at 17 working days.

Between January and March 2024, the average processing time for standard passport applications was 10 working days.

But in April 2024 the average processing time for standard applications jumped to 26 working days.

The urgent service has remained at two days.

However, DIA said not all applications were the same and some could go through automatic checks which saw them processed more quickly.

It said average processing times were currently less than six weeks, but the upgrades would create outages where passports could not be processed so it was advising applicants to allow eight weeks, plus delivery.

The approach was “cautious” and “conservative” DIA said.