PICA Celebrates 15 Years

The Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) is celebrating 15 years of operations.

To commemorate the milestone, members, including Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Andrew Wynter, attended a thanksgiving service at Tarrant Baptist Church in St. Andrew, on Sunday (June 5).

Also attending was Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security, Hon. Zavia Mayne, who represented Portfolio Minister, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang.

Mr. Wynter, who brought greetings, noted that PICA was born out of a vision 15 years ago.

“Someone had a dream, and they turned that dream into a vision. The Word says ‘without vision the people perish’, and PICA will not perish; we will continue to grow, because we have a vision. Our vision is to become a world class organisation that everyone, both here and overseas, will be extremely proud of,” he said.

Mr. Wynter noted that PICA has recorded several achievements over the years and takes its responsibility of guarding Jamaica’s borders seriously.

“We are the guardians at the gate. We are at the borders, we issue passports to Jamaican citizens, and we issue citizenship to persons who want to become a part of our beautiful country,” he added.

The CEO said over the years, PICA has grown and developed, noting that “we have put a lot of systems and procedures in place.”

“We have put in automatic kiosks at the airports [and] we have online processes for passports. We have done all these things because you, the people of Jamaica, continue to have faith in us,” Mr. Wynter told the congregation.

He assured that PICA will continue to build on its strong legacy of providing good service.

“We started from humble beginnings. In 2007 when this agency was formed, many people were not sure. But today, the agency is a testament to those of us who have believed in it. We have been one of the agencies in Government that has shown the importance of treating our citizens, both locally and overseas, well,” the CEO said.

Mr. Wynter also commended PICA’s staff for their sterling service over the years.

“The hard-working members off staff are the reason you get the quality and good service that you hear about every day. That is why you can feel secure that anyone who is coming into our country is checked and reviewed and has the right to enter, because these dedicated people have committed themselves to secure us, the people of Jamaica,” he said.

PICA was granted executive agency status on June 1, 2007. Prior to this, it was known as the Immigration, Citizenship and Passport Services Division (ICPSD) of the Ministry of National Security.

Fifteen years later, PICA has evolved into a customer-centric public sector entity that provides the Jamaican people with world-class service.