Outgoing Immigration Functions to be restructured

Minister of National Security, Hon. Peter Bunting, says the total re-engineering of outgoing immigration functions of the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), will be completed soon.

"Under the new system, to be tested next month, the immigration kiosks in the departure area will be removed, allowing for faster processing of departing passengers and allowing airlines to improve turnaround time,” the Minister informed, during his contribution to the 2012/13 Sectoral Debate at Gordon House, on July 17.

He said PICA, which is on the frontline of border protection in relation to the movement of people in and out of Jamaica, remains focused on the continuous improvement of service delivery to clients.

Mr. Bunting said that during the last financial period, PICA’s Immigration Unit processed 4.6 million arriving and departing passengers and received a total of 138,773 passport applications.

"Of the 93,314 walk-in passport applications processed in Kingston, 99 per cent were completed within the standard time of seven working days," he said.

PICA is an agency of the Ministry of National Security. It was established in its present form in 2001, through the merger of the Passport Office and the Immigration Service, which were part of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), and the Citizenship Section of the Ministry of National Security Immigration and Passport Policy Unit in the Ministry

The entity’s mission is to: “effectively, ethically and efficiently administer immigration, citizenship and passport services by well-motivated, customer-focused and knowledgeable public officials guided by globally accepted standards."

By Alecia Smith-Edwards, JIS Reporter