Israel Post prepares to deliver thousands of renewed passports

The Israel Postal Company is finishing preparations for the delivery of an expected flood of renewed passports after the Interior Ministry announced a special program meant to tackle the ongoing passport renewal backlog crisis.

Multiple Interior Ministry offices will be converted to biometric passport application centers nationwide, as part of the program whose initial phase is expected to last from May 14 to June 15.

Double the number of issued passports

The Population and Immigration Authority expects to double the number of passports issued to 300,000 per month. 

Accordingly, the post office is preparing to increase its passport delivery capacity to meet the demand.

UTJ MK Yitzhak Pindros, who serves as the chairman of the Special Committee for Public Inquiries in the Knesset, conducted a tour of the post office's sorting center on Thursday and held a meeting on the topic.

"Israel Post is doing the right thing by constantly improving its service to high standards similar to the private market," Pindros said after the visit. "Israel Post went through a significant process around COVID-19 and after it. We are very grateful to Israel Post for opening the door to us and presenting their estimates for the distribution of passports in the fastest time."

The Covid-19 pandemic created a backlog of around one million passport renewals, according to the Knesset's Research and Information Center. Prior to the announcement of the new offices, the waiting time for an appointment to renew a passport ranged from four to six months.

The Population and Immigration Authority expects to issue around 250-300 thousand passports in the coming month. Maor Ahitov, responsible for the operation and the mailing of passports at the Population and Immigration Authority said: "We still have a shortage of personnel, but we are in various recruitment processes to make up for the shortages."

David Loren, CEO of Israel Post added: "Passports are given priority for delivery as quickly as possible and we meet the delivery targets. We receive organized data from the Population Authority and are prepared for any amount of passports that will reach us. If we have to change priorities to get the passports to the destinations on time, we will do it."