Two Additional NIRA Offices to Open in St. Catherine on April 20

Two additional National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) offices will open their doors in St. Catherine on Monday, April 20, which will allow easier access to persons outside of the capital to get their National Identification Numbers and cards.

This update was given by Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister responsible for Efficiency, Innovation and Digital Transformation, Ambassador the Hon. Audrey Marks, on Thursday (April 16) after she applied for her personal National Identification Number at the NIRA office, located inside Jamaica Post on South Camp Road in Kingston.

The two new St. Catherine-based NIRA offices will be opened inside the former Registrar General’s Department (RGD) buildings located in Portmore, St. Catherine and Twickenham Park.

As of April 2, 2025, Jamaica’s RGD offices islandwide were rebranded and restructured under the NIRA, officially known as the Office of the Registrar General-NIRA (ORG-NIRA).

“We are looking at having all 10 former RGD offices now ORG-NIRA. They will all be offering the serve to go and get your national ID. And we’re building on 23 post offices also, and we are going to be doing mobile sign-ups for national IDs. So, it is becoming more and more accessible for persons all over the country to get their national IDs,” the Minister said.

She encouraged persons to start the registration process online, which will make the in-house process smoother and reduce wait time.

“You can sign up online. You will get your reference number. When you come in, you just give your reference number and a photo will be taken of you and your biometric data, and then it will be over,” the Minister  said.

“What’s great about your national ID is that you don’t have to walk with your driver’s licence, your birth certificate and your passport for most government services. Your one national ID card will replace all the other cards that you have to be looking for to travel with,” she said.