The average waiting time to renew the DNI in Las Palmas is currently 45 days, as confirmed this Friday by the National Police. However, the situation is even worse in the case of Lanzarote, since prior appointments are not even being given. Thus, the problem that occurs every summer is repeated and even aggravated, when the process to renew the DNI or passport becomes a complicated task on the island.
On the website enabled to request a shift in Lanzarote, the message this Friday is clear: "no appointments available", the website warns when choosing the Arrecife Police Station, which is the only one available on the island. Thus, the only possibility it offers is to request an appointment at other police stations, that is, on other islands.
"The waiting time for a prior appointment, which in the first months of the year is usually two weeks, increases in the summer period due to the greater number of trips by citizens", the Police said in a statement, in which it speaks of the data of the province, but not of the situation that is being experienced in Lanzarote.
In fact, after pointing out that the average waiting time in the province is 45 days, it adds that "despite this and for greater production and attention to citizens, there are several DNI offices in our region that have continuous hours until 8:30 p.m. and some of them even open on Saturdays, without any appointment". However, this option does not exist in Lanzarote either, where the DNI can only be renewed from Monday to Friday.
What can be done on the island, as in the rest of the archipelago, is to allege "reasons of urgency", such as a trip for which the plane ticket has already been purchased, in order to process the DNI without having a prior appointment. According to the Police, in the Canary Islands they have attended to 45,000 people in these circumstances.
On the other hand, the Police Headquarters points out that in the Canary Islands there are "a large number of people" who request a prior appointment but then do not attend or cancel it, "which causes the waiting time to increase, harming other citizens". According to them, "so far this year there have been 35,882 prior appointments that did not attend the offices to issue their documents, nor did they cancel said appointment".