Long waits to renew passport as Aussies look to head overseas

Australians looking to head overseas have been hit with major delays and queues as the passport office is inundated with applications.

Some people waited in queues at Sydney Passport Office today for more than four hours as they seek to renew their passports.

Joel Green is booked on a flight to Singapore on Sunday and he lined up for five hours at the office today only to be told to come back tomorrow.

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"They only have one person at the counter, I've been lining up since 10am," Green said.

"I made sure to get the lady at the counter's phone number so I could call her personally, make sure I get it by Thursday, otherwise, I'm out of money."

Anas Shoushary is travelling to Jordan and paid for priority processing for his passport renewal but still waited four and a half hours to pick it up.

"I expected it to be one hour, half an hour leave quickly but everyone complaining," Shoushary said.

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Over the past few years of the pandemic, around 1.4 million passports expired and now people are looking to escape the Australian winter.

There is at least a four-week long backlog at the Australian Passport office.

In the first three months of this year, 400,000 passports were issued which is more than double the same time last year. 

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The Department of Foreign Affairs is recommending travellers allow at least six weeks to renew a passport.

However, some passport applicants have told 9News they've been waiting close to three months.

It's understood new passport applications and children's passports will take even longer to process.