This weekend, Jennifer Illes-Hernandez (47) and her husband Roy (56) suddenly discovered that one of the children’s passports expires next week, while another has an expiration date in July.
The couple lives in Refstad in Oslo with three children aged 12, 14 and 16.
– It was Roy who suddenly asked if the passports of the children were ok, and I first thought “they are, but let me double check”. Then it turned out the opposite, Illes-Hernandez explains to Dagbladet.
The trip to Suriname in South America with departure on June 29 has already been booked, and the family got, to put it mildly, heartbroken – and in a hurry.
sea view
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– We had to push ourselves around. In addition to Oslo, we checked all the surrounding areas. In Oslo, the first available pass hours were in November, while in Bærum and Drammen it was in September and October, Illes-Hernandez tells Dagbladet and admits that she was a little shocked.
The 47-year-old comes from Suriname, and has not been allowed to visit his home country for five years due to the corona pandemic.
– If we had not found a free pass hour, we would all have been very sad and shed a tear. We have been looking forward to traveling and meeting the family. We should have checked this earlier, but I ordered the tickets a long time ago and then the passports were valid. That kind of thing goes quickly into oblivion.
Disabled Diana (76) attacked by rat
Found free time in Østfold
But the family of five reportedly do not have to shed tears. They came across a free pass hour in Grålum in Sarpsborg municipality already on Thursday night.
It was Roy who recognized the place Grålum and found a free hour. We had accidentally bought a car there many years ago and therefore he clicked on the spot. He thought that it was probably a more unknown place for many and that we were therefore lucky to get an hour so quickly, she tells Dagbladet.
sea view
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Familyen’s next concern now is whether the passports will be ready for departure.
– Some say that the passports will arrive earlier if you present the plane tickets at the passport hour. Others say seven weeks. I myself have read for ten weeks. I do not know what to trust – all information is different, says Illes-Hernandez to Dagbladet.
Thursday night, after the passport hour in Grålum, she sends a message to Dagbladet:
«We just came from the passport office at Grålum. We have been very lucky! As we could show airline tickets, we will be given priority and get the passports in two to three weeks! Now we are so happy.»
Concerned about possible mutation
– The waiting time increases further
Last week said The Police Directorate that one must expect about seven weeks or more in places with long postage.
– Demand is higher than available production, even with the measures we have implemented. Therefore, it must be expected that the waiting time will increase further in the coming months, said section chief Arne Isak Tveitan in the Police Directorate to TV 2.
It is also expected that the waiting time by June can be up to ten weeks for passports, and six weeks for national ID cards.
– Now we are in a situation where we unfortunately are not able to provide normal services to the population. In general, we would advise people not to book new trips now if they do not have the travel documents in order.
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