The number of citizens applying for new personal identification documents has risen sharply, but there are enough identity papers available for everyone who needs an ID or passport, according to Minister of Interior Oliver Spasovski in a MTV interview on Tuesday.
Minister Spasovski said the Ministry of Interior had received 41,864 requests for issuance of personal identification documents between July 5 and 14 alone.
“In one week,” Spasovski said, “we have had as many applications as there were documents issued in all of June.
“In addition [to the people applying in person], there have been around three thousand phone calls and around a thousand online applications per day to schedule an appointment.”
In June, the Ministry of Interior issued some 42,000 thousand passports, around 20,000 ID cards, and around 10,000 driver’s licenses. These numbers, he said, were almost twice as many as the personal identification documents issued in the country each summer.
While the Minister boasts of good organization, the situation on the ground is far different. Queues of citizens are waiting to pick up their passports in the MRT building in the part where the Ministry of Interior issues personal documents. There is no security of space, and the public has recently witnessed that there was a lot of chaos when scheduling for passports.
