Aftenposten: Shortage of 90,000 passports expected this spring

Between April and June, 90,000 fewer passports will be produced than needed. There will also be a “deficit” of 10,000 ID cards.

During the three months, the passport manufacturer Thales will deliver 310,000 passports, while 400,000 Norwegians need a new passport, the newspaper Aftenposten writes.

At the end of September, the Norwegian Police Directorate (POD) wrote to Thales that almost half a million Norwegian passports had expired. They estimated a total backlog of 717,000 ID documents.

In the same letter, the Directorate predicted long passport queues this spring. In November, a new letter was sent in which the POD stated that fewer people than expected applied for passports this autumn. 

“We simply did not succeed in getting enough people to do it on time. Despite the fact that we announced that there would be a tremendous demand in relation to the reopening of society,” section chief Arne Isak Tveitan in the POD stated.

In addition to the notable demand, there are problems with, among other things, obtaining microchips and the right paper for the passports. In an email to Aftenposten, Thales wrote that the company took “all necessary steps” to secure its deliveries.

“We continue to work on scaling up the production capacity at our factories. The lack of passports is a global problem and affects everyone,” the company noted.

Source : © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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