The Birth of the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency
28/03/2010
A number of Government Agencies, Ministries and Departments have begun to undergo a process of modernization under the Government’s Public Sector Modernisation Programme which was first introduced by the Govenrment of Jamaica in 1996. This change aims, among other things, to ensure that clients are offered world class customer service. While the changes will be rolled out over the next two years, what was known as the Immigration Citizenship and Passport Division has been granted Executive Agency status, and is now known as the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency, PICA.
PICA plays a pivotal role in protecting the nation’s security and therefore, the transformation programme sets out to bolster security mechanisms already in place, ensure accountability and transparency in operations, and increase productivity while providing world-class customer service.
In general, the public can expect heightened level of efficiency and improved customer service delivery. The staff will undergo thorough training and will be subject to periodic evaluations on their job performance through a newly updated Performance Management Appraisal System (PMAS) which will check staff levels of performance and make the necessary changes accordingly.
The Modernization Strategy will include the following key objectives: Transitioning of PICA to Executive Agency status within the portfolio of the Ministry of National Security. Full Executive Agency status should be granted at the end of the next two years. Executive Agencies are public bodies charged with service delivery. Within Executive Agencies, The Chief Executive Officer has delegated financial human resource authority and is therefore accountable for the agency’s performance and is responsible to the portfolio Minister. The organization will also operate as a self-funding agency.
Organizational Change to develop staff competencies or recruit additional staff where necessary to support the newly implemented systems. The new arrangements will look at anti-corruption measures, staff selection and composition and staff training and development.
Delivery of a world-class customer service product that meets the needs of all customers. A system of Performance Management for staff will also be implemented to monitor staff productivity.
The establishment of Customer Service Centres across the island and foreign missions that would allow for greater access to customers living outside the corporate area and Jamaica.
Improved business operations supported by Information Technology systems that facilitate the smooth and fast processing of all applications. Operational changes related to immigration (entry and exit processing, work permits, extension of stay), Citizenship, and Passport will be revised to maximise efficiency. The new systems will establish information sharing systems that facilitate interaction with the public and similar operations in the region.
Laws governing the operation will also be reviewed.
Full implementation of the modernization strategy is projected to be complete by March 2009.
Throughout the implementation phase, customers can expect a number of significant changes geared at increasing efficiency and service quality to all clients. Plans are being made to modernise the entire system and to modify processes in a number of key areas.
Passport processing
A significant reduction in processing time for passport and citizenship applications. These changes will be facilitated through additional staffing and Information Technology systems (including payments done by debit and credit card). Measures are currently being taken to increase the number of passport applications processed and to decrease the number of passports returned with errors after issue.
Immigration
Limit the time taken to process passengers on arrival and departure at Jamaica’s main points of entry to an average of one (1) minute.
Reduce the average time taken to issue different travel documents (such as extensions of stay and visas) to people visiting Jamaica.
Administration
Reduce the waiting time when customers call the agency and the average turnaround time for correspondence improved.
The early stage of the implementation will focus on establishing the administrative framework i.e. HR, finance and IT while the Agency is dealing with the demands made on it by the Cricket World Cup. The substantive service improvement services will begin in 2007 following the Cricket World Cup.