What actions the city of Nuremberg is planning in order to prevent long queues at citizens’ offices

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It’s been a few years now since I last stood in line in Nuremberg to renew my passport at the citizens’ office. The current pictures from the past few weeks show that the situation has unfortunately not improved over time. There are variables that cause queues to form in front of the buildings: Due to the current pandemic situation, entry to the offices was limited to a certain number of people. In addition, due to the war in Ukraine, many refugees have also been accommodated in Nuremberg. Refugees are now also in the queue to hand in their necessary documents or to report their current address. It should also not be forgotten that the authorities as well as employees in the Nuremberg offices have been at the limit of their capacity for years, as countless positions in the citizens’ service have not been filled.

Long queue in front of the Nuremberg Citizens’ Office in Äußere Laufer Gasse
Source: https://www.infranken.de/lk/nuernberg/nuernberger-will-ausweis-verlaengern-und-muss-mehr-als-zwei-stunden-frieren-wie-kann-so-etwas-passieren-art-5419618

The citizens’ office (known as a Bürgeramt, Bürgerbüro or Bürgerdienst) is an important contact point for people residing in Germany. Citizens mainly go to an office for registering an address, deregistering or re-registering if the address has changed. Furthermore to apply for or renewing the ID card or German passport. These offices are also responsible for the obtaining recognition of foreign documents etc.

In order to overcome this situation, the city has planned the following actions:

Pop-Up Citizen’s Office in Nuremberg:

It is intended to meet the demand for travel documents in time for this year’s main travel season. This pop-up store is to remain in Nuremberg’s “Südstadt” until a permanent branch of the citizens’ office has been established.

Citizens’ Office is now longer opened:

Another short-term measure is that the “Bürgeramt Mitte” is now opened longer than before. This is to meet the high demand for identity documents. In addition to identity cards and passports, this applies in particular to children’s identity cards. These are now only valid for one year. In addition, changes are to be made to the online appointment reservation system. New appointments are to be made available daily for the following week. The reason for this is that many citizens have complained in the past months about waiting times of several months.

Nuremberg relies on online in the fight against queues:

The administration is trying to fight the long queues with the help of computers and wants to expand its digital services. Altogether, the City of Nuremberg already has more than 360 online services that make going to the office unnecessary. These include, for example, the renewal of library and residents’ parking permits, applications for parental allowance and housing allowance. According to information from the city, this service was used more than 200,000 times last year. In addition, citizens can download online forms from the city pages. These can be filled out at home on the computer. However, citizens have to go to the office to submit them.

Legal requirements restrict innovations:
In many cases, there are legal barriers, too. For example, it is not possible to apply for a passport or identity card online. This is not possible without a personal visit. Therefore, the relevant laws would have to be changed first...

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