The United States Embassy in Kingston has announced that as of March 18, it will be implementing new arrangements for its visa appointment and DHL delivery system.

The embassy says visa applicants will no longer pay for a personal identification number (PIN) to schedule an appointment or pay a separate courier delivery fee.

However, it has not yet released the details of the new procedures.

The embassy says the new procedures for scheduling non-immigrant visa appointments will be posted on March 18, 2013 on its website at http://kingston.usembassy.gov/how_to_apply2.html

It also says the visa application fee will remain the same.

The embassy is encouraging applicants who do not have an urgent need to travel to wait until March 18 or later to begin the process of scheduling an appointment.

It is also advising customers who have already purchased a PIN to schedule their appointment online or by phone no later than March 12 as it will not be possible to schedule appointments from March 13-17.

The embassy says during that five-day period, it will undertake its system upgrade.