VIENNA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Austrian Ministry of the Interior expects a "significant increase" in applications for new passports by citizens in 2020 as every sixth passport issued by Austria expires in the coming year, the Austrian broadcaster ORF reported Thursday.
A ministry communique urges Austrians to "check the validity of their passports in time," while the ministry is already preparing for a flood of applications.
Austrian passports are generally valid for 10 years. Back on June 1, 2000, the processing fee for a new passport was doubled from 35 euros (38.5 U.S. dollars) to 69 euros, which meant that some Austrian citizens chose to apply for a new passport before the fee hike.
In 2010, the ministry processed over one million applications in what it refers to as the "mega passport year." Another decade down the road, the ministry says "we are ready for the rush" in 2020.
The current cost of a new Austrian passport is 75.90 euros for standard application processing and 100 euros for express processing.
