The National Police Force admits that following Brexit and the pandemic, demand for passports to travel abroad has increased It has increased dramatically At the police station in the Galician capital. A reader who contacted this newspaper in recent days confirms that there is no free space in the appointment portal Until December. The Spanish Consumer Association estimates the average wait at 56 days. Although the police do not rule out the possibility of registering December as the first month for free places, they point out that the police station issues it every week Dating a lot To be able to obtain or renew both a national identity document and a passport to travel abroad. They point out that it is also possible that once these are exhausted, the computer system will offer the next available shift, outside of the weekly released batch, and that this will skip a month or even more.
Police say that as a result of Brexit this has been noticed Increase in passport applicationsBecause it is now necessary to enter the UK. This, coupled with the desire to travel awakened by the post-pandemic period, has led to an increase in issuances of this document in police stations in Santiago. In any case, the police station confirms that the service He is far from collapsing They urge citizens to check the appointment portal frequently if they notice the first gap that appears to be long-term, as places are freed up every week for DNI and passport renewals.
In addition, the National Police also clarifies that in emergency situations the official document is issued Guaranteed instantly. Of course, this urgency must be proven. “It is not worth it for someone to arrive at the police station on a ten-day plane ticket, as places are freed up every week; But if they come a day or two earlier with this ticket, the national ID card or passport will be issued for the time being,” they said, before remembering that “you can travel through Spain with an expired national ID card or driver’s license.”
Galicia is the society that brings out the worst, according to the study conducted by the Spanish Consumer Association (Asecom) which reflects that Galicians They wait another twenty-three days than the Spanish average to obtain a summons, a community in which the process takes longer on average.
And if you have submitted your application on 4 July, the average waiting time in the different offices distributed throughout the Galician geography is 43 days, Nearly a month and a half. While the average duration of this period at the country level does not reach 20 days.
In addition, offices are located in Vigo, Santiago de Compostela and Pontevedra between the four cities As the process takes longerWith 56 days of waiting in the Galician capital and the city of Olive and one less day in Lerez. This is a situation that contrasts with the situation in cities such as Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Palencia, Zamora, Zaragoza, Tarragona, Valencia, Ciudad Real, Málaga, Seville or Huelva, where they offer an appointment for the day immediately after the application is issued. .
It is common that at the beginning of the summer season The service is satiated Issuance of DNI and Passport at Santiago Police Station and other places, mainly due to increased travel due to holidays. On those dates, local agencies usually make an effort to enhance the service and meet all the demand, which has increased significantly after the pandemic.
Thousands demonstrate in London against Britain’s exit from the European Union
New requirements for entering the UK from 2024
Regarding the new conditions for entering the United Kingdom, it should be noted that all foreign citizens, including European Union citizens They need a passport to get to the island. In addition, starting in 2024, there will be a new requirement: the UK government has announced a launch New electronic permit For visa-exempt and European travellers, It is called the Electronic Travel Authorization in the United Kingdom (ETA UK).With the aim of improving UK border control and fully digitizing border systems by 2025.
As indicated in the statement, the ETA system will be fully operational at the end of this year. The ETA system will control visitors before they arrive To the UK and travelers will provide basic personal details, passport details and certain security information by completing the online ETA application form.
An Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) will be necessary for tourism, business visits and students whose stay in the country will be less than six months. In the Brexit negotiations, London and Brussels made certain arrangements to facilitate business trips and other forms of travel, but they did not exclude citizens on both sides of the English Channel from needing electronic entry permits.
The European Union, for its part, also plans to launch this initiative European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS)Which will force Britons and tourists to leave the countries without a visa To pay 7 euros To obtain a prior entry permit valid for three years. The British government has not yet announced the cost of its e-permit, which will be valid for two years after approval and will be used for multiple entry into the country.
During the next year, the rest of the countries of the world that do not require visas to visit the United Kingdom will be added to the program, a group that includes, in addition to Spain and the rest of the European Union countries, Latin American countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay. On the other hand, they will not need to ask for entry permission Europeans who lived in the country before Brexit They have “permanently settled” status in the UK, and are not legally resident in the Republic of Ireland.
Nearly 3 million passengers traveled to Lavacola in nine months
··· A total of 2,749,670 passengers passed through Lavacola-Rosalia de Castro Airport in Santiago during the first nine months of the year, which means 11.7% more than in the same period in 2022. Last September, a monthly record was set as Passenger numbers reached 341,407 passengers, up 0.8% from the same month of the previous year, according to data provided by Aena, the airport director. Despite these good data, the numbers represent a significant slowdown compared to the record set in August, when 28,000 more users passed through the Compostela station than in the same month of 2022, that is, 7.5 percent more.
··· Last month, Lavacola managed a total of 2,471 movements, including 2,317 commercial flights, of which 1,676 had their origin or destination in Spain and 641 flights abroad. In addition, the freight terminal handled more than 419 tons of cargo, adding to the total of 3,602 tons transported between January and September.
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