- Norman GrindleySample copies of the old and new passports, including official and diplomatic copies. The documents were provided by the Jamaican Immigration Naturalisation and Passport Office on Constant Spring Road in Kingston, last Thursday.
Glenda Anderson, Staff Reporter
PERSONS with passports which expire this year are being encouraged by the Immigration, Naturalisation and Passport Office to come in and have them renewed instead of waiting until the due date.
"Those with passports for 2003 we have not begun to call them in as yet time, as there are certain shortfalls that we are seeking to address. But those passports which expire up to December 31st this year instead of waiting until the exact date we would ask that they come in now," Customer Service Manager, Lincoln Downer said.
He was responding to queries about the new system and concerns from some persons that there were changes that would affect persons applying for the first time and those wishing to renew their passports.
"We have heard that persons have been told that they need the new birth certificates but that is not true," Mr. Downer said, "We're just asking for the original whether the white copy or the new one. We are not refusing the white copy, it's still an official document."
He also explained that the new passport office no longer operated an express service.
"We have never had an express service since we came to this location. What we had was that we had started out with a seven-day waiting period but now we are down to five days because we have seen where the system is working. In fact, international requirements are that you wait four to five days to get it back, so we are still in line."
Meanwhile some persons are fairly satisfied with new arrangements.
One woman who was on her second trip from St. Elizabeth said that she had applied for a passport for her infant daughter and despite the early morning trips she was not disappointed.
"It's alright so far but it's much better for you if you get here early and have everything in order because you can do everything one day. I had to go back because they needed the baby-father's age for the document and I didn't know it, but once you have everything you don't really wait long," she explained from the back of a double tent in the car park at the Passport Office.
An orderly crowd of visitors sat on each side, some queued up in front of an office door.
She told of a system where customers are issued with numbers for each stage of the process. The customers seated under the tent in the car park listened for their number in order to have their weight and height checked. After being allowed inside they were again issued with numbered tickets to be interviewed.
"The first time I came, I got number B49. Then when I went inside I got B108, I had started to fret but the time went so quickly. By 2:30, I was on my way back home," she said.
