NorCo Civil Division Swamped by Passport Applications

Over the past 15 months, Northampton County's understaffed Civil Division has processed 2,269 passport applications, for an average of 151 applications every month. Since it takes a little more than an hour to process just one application, this means that one employee in an office that is already short-handed has no time to do anything else.

What complicates things for Civil Division employees is that, on Mondays and Fridays, there is often a rush of people filling out applications.. Some post offices will process applications, but many of them insist on appointments.

In Lehigh County, which also processes passport applications, they are only accepted between 9 am and 3 pm.

What is happening in Northampton County is similar to what is going on in, of all places, Lamesa, Texas. The Clerk's office there is also experiencing a dramatic increase, largely because the post offices are booked through July.