The Editor, Sir:

Let me share an exceptional service experience with Gleaner readers. I have had to apply for a visa for business travel to Britain. Right from the start, it has been a pleasant experience. The application form, available online, while 20 pages long, is written in plain, ABC-English and, further, there is a user guide.

There is a plain-English campaign running in Britain for some years now. Its goal is to get the Government and the service professions to communicate to the public in plain, simple, everyday English. The campaign has had some clear successes and is something I would like to see taken up in Jamaica.

Unlike that other visa service where people are growing old waiting in the scramble for an appointment, I got an appointment for two working days after applying! And appointments are available Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except for local holidays.

Polite

WorldBridge, the commercial agency handling the visa service for the British High Commission, was a model of polite and efficient service, from the security guard at the gate, at 34 Trafalgar Road. Applicants are let into a cool, quiet waiting room with no hassle after name identification against the appointment checklist of the agency, an electronic security check, and a polite request to switch off cellphone.

The service was on time and went through four simple stages: A front-desk check of documents a signing in of documents with a receipt generated, payment, and the biometrics -fingerprints and eyes recorded. No interview. All delivered not only politely but cordially by surprisingly young Jamaicans. Our people can match the best in service and efficiency if that is what is expected and insisted upon. Out of there in well under an hour.

Pleasant service

A couple of days later, the service agency called for me to pick up the documents. They would have delivered them to my door, by courier, had I opted, or given them to a bearer with my receipt and a letter from me.

Have visa, will travel. Getting a visa for the United Kingdom, altogether a pleasant service experience. And to think that I was bracing for a different kind of treatment, like the kind we often get from other Jamaican establishments, public and private, and some foreign establishments here.

I am, etc.,

MARTIN HENRY