Contacting and resolving procedures with public administrations has become quite complicated after the pandemic and, in some cases, it has become an impossible mission: you cannot go without an appointment but, when you try to make an order, on one out of every three occasions it is not possible. achieved or, if achieved, you have to wait more than two weeks or move to another city.
This is clear from the report that the OCU presented today after launching more than 1,800 appointment requests for the six most common administrative procedures from 25 cities of different sizes and in two different time periods: July and October.
“One in every three attempts has been unsuccessful: either there was no appointment available or they were given for another city (sometimes 200 kilometers from the home); and if an appointment was made, the delay could be very long, with more than 40 days of delay. media” in certain cases, summarize the authors of the experiment.
And after dealing with different organizations for procedures as common as requesting a retirement pension, requesting unemployment benefits, a certificate of life, changing the name of the owner of a car, renewing the DNI or obtaining the certificate of criminal record for sexual crimes, The conclusion of the members of the OCU is that the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) and the Civil Registries are the agencies in which the most patience requires attention.
Those who retire must request the pension by submitting a form to the INSS Provincial Directorate by regular mail, online if you have a digital certificate, electronic DNI or are registered in the Cl@ve system, or in person by appointment. OCU collaborators made 300 attempts to get one. On 48 occasions they did not find available appointments, in 195 they were sent to another location, in 50 they made an appointment in less than six days and in 7 in a longer period of time.
To submit the form, an appointment is required, which can be requested by phone or online. In 46 of 300 attempts, there was no appointment available, in 124 cases it was obtained within 6 days and in 130 the wait for the appointment exceeded that period.
To obtain a certificate that certifies survival and marital status for the registration of de facto couples, religious marriages or certain pensions, you must go in person to the Civil Registry office and in many of them they require an appointment, although in some cities there is no such thing. a system to request it.
It is a frequent procedure, because all professionals and volunteers who are going to work with children must present it. The OCU detected that not all cities require an appointment: in 24 cases there was no place to request one and in 38 they did not have appointments available, although in 201 cases they were able to be seen in less than six days.
When purchasing a vehicle, the change of ownership must be processed within 30 days of the purchase and, except for those over 65 years of age, an appointment is required if you want to present the paperwork in person or resolve questions. The OCU tried and in 60% of cases there was no appointment available, and in an additional 24% it was necessary to wait at least a week to be able to go to carry out the procedure.
Renewing your DNI must always be done in person and by appointment. Of the 300 appointments that the OCU processed in different Spanish locations, 57% were made within a week.
However, for this and other procedures, service times varied greatly depending on the city from which the appointment was requested. Granada and Oviedo are the capitals where it was easiest for them to find a space, while Valencia, Alicante and Madrid presented the greatest difficulties.
Sources from the OCU assure that the digitalization that was imposed with the pandemic is leaving behind those who do not know how to obtain or use the electronic DNI, the digital certificate or registration in the Cl@ve system. “Increasingly there are first-class citizens who do everything without a problem from home and second-class citizens lost in the ins and outs of the offices” of the Administration, “and in those offices they encounter another problem: the teleworking of officials, which makes that are less available to attend in person,” they say from the consumer defense organization.
And they emphasize that prior appointments, which should be an advantage to avoid queues and better organize in-person care, become a barrier when it is difficult to obtain. In addition, it implies a long wait, since in one out of every five attempts the deadline exceeded two weeks.
“The longest waits are to renew the DNI, where the average period is 11 days; although in La Coruña, for example, it reaches 32 days,” says the OCU report. To request proof of life, the delay is about ten days, with exceptional cases such as Soria or Bilbao, where the average period exceeded 40 days.
For all these reasons, those responsible for the OCU ask the Administrations for regulatory changes to guarantee in their service letters that a prior appointment can be obtained at least in 95% of cases and within a maximum period of 5 working days.
Added to this is the request to carry out information campaigns and offer personalized help to citizens to facilitate and extend digital identification. And they also require that appointment slots be reserved for the most vulnerable citizens or those who may have more difficulty completing procedures online.
