To get your passport in time, there are those who anticipate and do it in advance. This is the case of Evelyne. This Aixoise made her request in April and only obtained an appointment in July. His passport will be issued to him in a month.
And then there are the others: some don’t hesitate to travel for miles to get their precious sesame on time. “There are people who come from all over France. We have a gentleman who came from Paris. He came by car on purpose. He drove six hours to get his identity card and passport“, testifies Sabrina Guyomard, agent in the service of identity documents of the town hall of Aix-les-Bains.
It must be said that the situation is the same everywhere in France. Those most in a hurry therefore seek the town hall with the fastest deadlines, despite “the relaxation of the rules to become a priority file“.
400 more files
Since April, the town hall of Aix-les-Bains has been overwhelmed with requests. “What changes compared to other summers is that people can leave. With the Covid they were also locked up, they did not take care of their papers. And there, they realize that the papers are not good, and that’s what makes the demand.“
Result: for three months, the town hall of this commune of Savoie has processed 400 files more than usual. “Usually, we have to do 600 files per month, here we are at 1000“, confirms Sabrina Guyomard.
Insufficient solutions
Faced with this abnormal influx, the town hall of Aix-les-Bains has shortened the duration of appointments and opened a permanence at noon: it now runs continuously. But with four employees, it is difficult to keep up, and demand is blocked afterwards anyway: it must be processed by platforms, which are also overwhelmed.