RGD Launches Additional Online Products

The rollout of three new online products is expected to enhance the customer service experience at the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) as the entity continues its digitisation process.

In an official launch event on Wednesday (August 17), the services were revealed to be an online application facility for adoption certificates, a real-time search engine for entry numbers and an online wedding registry service.

Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, informed that persons, including those overseas, can now complete the entire adoption certification process online and make payment electronically.

Additionally, “in the process of applying for birth certificates and death certificates, an entry number is needed… . We are providing an online platform where persons can apply and pay for that instantaneously,” Mr. Green said.

The third new addition, the online wedding registry service, will allow persons to apply for, schedule and pay for weddings that will be done at various RGD locations across the island.

Minister Green pointed out that one of the reasons for the continuous rollout of online products, other than to participate in the digital evolution occurring globally, is to reduce the customer load at the agency’s physical locations. He also bemoaned the money and time expended by customers in making physical trips.

The Minister said that the RGD’s aim is to make 100 per cent of its services accessible electronically.

In his remarks, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Charlton McFarlane, noted that since 2020, the RGD has expanded its online suite of services by 140 per cent. This includes the addition of facilities such as late entries of names to certificates, the ability to update records and to correct errors, all online.

The CEO also noted that the RGD has been experiencing customer satisfaction, with its latest survey, conducted in December 2021, revealing that eight out of every 10 customers were ‘very satisfied’ with the service they received.

“In addition to that, from the same survey, nine out of every 10 customers indicated that they were satisfied with the level of professionalism that they received when they interacted with the RGD,” he said.

Board Chairman, Professor Lloyd Waller, added that the entity is focused on being a “modern, technologically savvy and customer-centric creature”.

The RGD registers around 35,000 births, 12,000 marriages and 23,000 deaths per year. It is on a path to becoming the next version of itself, the National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA).