A stack of 28,000 unclaimed identity cards at Colombia’s consulate in New York City has led to calls for Colombian expatriates to retrieve their documents.
Consul General Elsa Gladys Cifuentes Aranzazu has asked her compatriots to claim the backlogged documents, according to the newspaper Vanguardia Liberal.
The Colombian National Registry of Civil Status has issued 24,075 identity cards so far this year to the country’s 97 consulates abroad, the paper reported. Miami had the highest number of applications, with 2,831 in 2012. New York was second with 1,864 and Caracas, Madrid and Barcelona rounded out the top five.
An estimated 97,000 Colombians live in New York City, according to the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies at the City University of New York.
The ID process can take up to three months and includes fingerprinting and photo identification. The National Registry processes the paperwork in Colombia and mails it back to the consulate where the application originated.