It is taking local authorities longer to process requests for new passports, driving licenses and ID cards than they used to, an inventory by the AD has shown.

The average wait for an ID card or passport is over a month, the paper found, but in The Hague, delay can be as much as 11 to 12 weeks. In Zoetermeer it takes seven weeks for a passport and in Amersfoort six.

Officials said one reason for the long waits is the time it takes to register Ukrainian refugees. ‘We normally process 450 registrations a year, now that is 450 in three months,’ an Amersfoort municipality spokesman told the paper.

Staff have also been extra busy because of the extended three day voting during the local elections and there has been a post coronavirus surge in requests for identity papers, the paper said. More staff have also been home with coronavirus and flu.