According to PPA officials, midday Thursday was crowded, however crowds typically peak at 3-4 p.m., as people come from work, as well as immediately following paydays at the beginning of the month.

A bigger wave of ID-card replacements is expected this year, as new ID-cards were issued in 2012 with a validity period of five years. Nearly 200,000 Estonian citizen ID-cards and 150,000 passports will expire in 2017.

People can save time by ensuring that their identity document applications are submitted correctly, said PPA Identity and Status Bureau chief expert Marit Abram.

"In order to avoid standing in line, one can take along an existing photo or send it ahead of time digitally to [email protected]," she added.

Even preregistrations for document renewals are currently booked through the end of March.

Applications sent in by mail and email will be processed in the order in which they are received. The deadline to process these applications is up to 30 days after submission or, in the case of incomplete applications, 30 days after deficiencies on the application are eliminated, a deadline to which they adhere even in cases of high application volumes.

The PPA recommends those applying for documents via mail or email to check the application requirements detailed on their website in order to avoid submitting an incomplete application, which would in turn extend its processing time and ultimately cause delays in receiving one’s identity documents.