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10th Anniversary“A Decade of Service, Preparing for the Future”

special advertising supplement

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I extend congratulatory greetings to the Passport, Immigration & Citizenship Agency (PICA) on the occasion of reaching your 10th anniver-sary milestone of service to the nation. PICA is indeed an elite force that has created an eco-system of efficiency and quality in the management of the nation’s Border Security Systems. It has gained the reputation of being very professional in administering the various immigration, passport and citizenship processes,especially through standardizing Trust, Honesty, Fairness and the Law.

The visionary move and new business model adopted by the precursory institution to create PICA in 2007, is now reaping rewards in youroutstand-ing work and good reputation. PICA has commendably established the benchmark asone of the nation’s top-rankingperformance-based, service oriented and self-financing agency of government that is delivering superior customer satisfaction.

I am confident that you will continue building on this momentum as you modernize the various systems to deliver better service to our people. I also wish you success in your imminent plans to relocated as part of your expansion exercise. Already to your recent creditis the new Immigration Kiosk at the airport and the expedited services in passport and citizenship services.

I encourage you to keep working with our local and international stakeholders to build a stronger and better foundation for our country’s continued growth in border protection and immigration services.

Happy 10th anniversary, PICA!Let excellence remain your hallmark.

The Governor-GeneralHis ExcellencyThe Most Honourable Sir Patrick Allen On, Gcmg, Cd, Kst.j

I extend heartiest congratulations to the Passport Immigration & Citizenship Agency (PICA),on the occasion of its 10th an-niversary. PICA has done exceptionally well in managing the country’s immigration process – a function that is fundamental for securing the nation’s borders. The agency continues to provide efficient, quality services to its customers through a knowledgeable and goal orientated staff of 570 personnel.

I applaud the leadership that has spearheaded the ad-vancement of this organisation over the years.Of note is the transition of the organization into a self-sufficient and customer focused entity. This indeed shows growth.

PICA continues to increase its accessibility and improve service delivery through several strategic operational changes. In particular, it is worthy to note the regionalizing of the passport services. Consequently, persons living outside the Kingston and Montego Bay region are now able to readily access services provided by PICA. Even with such a tremendous achievement,the agencyis working to improve online accessi-bility.

The implementation of Automated Border Crossing (ABC) Kiosks located at the two main airports has made the processing of individuals entering the country more efficient. These and other efforts by the organisation have demonstrated clear indications of their commitment to the security of the country’s borders.

Once again, I congratulate PICA for 10 years of quality service.Your outstanding service has contributed to the country’s route to development and prosperity.

Happy 10th Anniversary.

The Most Hon. Andrew Holness, ON, MPPrime Minister

As you celebrate your 10th Anniversary, let me commend the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) on the steps you have been taking to transform PICA into a world-class organisation by providing efficient, quality service to your clients through a well-motivated and knowledgeable staff. The Jamaican people are also appreciative of the initiatives you have undertaken to expedite the delivery of services and to intro-duce a mobile service for passport applications. In the process you have established a standard for other organizations.

Your success since your inception a decade ago validates the decision to create PICA as a self-financing, performance-based and service-oriented Executive Agency within the Government. It also establishes the importance of modernizing those areas of the public sector, which provides critical services. The timely processing of applications from Jamaicans for passports, as well as from visitors including skilled workers and entrepreneurs and the efficiency with which these services are delivered has major implications for the country’s economic development. PICA’s functions are also integral to the nation’s border security system since the Agency accepts and process passport applications, manages the island’s immigra-tion processes.

Finally, let me once again commend PICA with the confidence that you will continue to set even higher standards of service delivery.

Hon. Dr. Peter Phillips Leader of the Opposition

Congratulations to the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency on its 10 year anniversary. Within the short period of time, PICA has been transformed into a self-sustaining, customer-centric high performance agency of the Ministry and continues to play its role in the security of our borders, monitoring and regulating persons entering or exiting ourshores.

Protecting our borders, while promoting lawful entry and exit, is essential to the security of our nation. Strong borders underpin more open global economic linkages and social cohesion and trust. The balance between security and customer service is indeed critical, and deserves focused attention and ongoing improvements to strengthen our capability to confront the challenges of transnational criminal networks, while facilitating the cross-border movement of legitimate travelers for business and tourism. Over the years, we have noted that PICA’s processes have been simplified towards offering hassle-free service to the travelling public. I want to recognize the efforts of the agency to reach out to its customers to realize improvements in the processing of passports, immigration and citizen-ship applications. You have seen it fit to extend opening hours, introduce mobile services and offer

next-day and three-day passport express services. All Jamaicans have noticed the reduced turnaround time for passport processing to 7 days, a time which ranks extremely high among international standards. Much effort has also been made by PICA to improve on the surveillance capabilities at the nation’s ports, and this must be commended.

PICA’s performance has much to do with how Jamaica is perceived by foreigners and we appreciate the efforts of re-engineering the airport immigration services using information technology including the introduction of machines and kiosks. These improvements led to Sangster International Airport being ranked Number One in Latin America and the Caribbean for waiting time at passport inspec-tion in 2012 and the Norman Manley International Airport being rated by the Airport Council International as the number three ranked airport in Latin America and the Caribbean region in 2016 moving up from sixteen in 2015.

Jamaica continues to be well represented among Caribbean nominations for the World Travel Awards, with both Norman Manley and Sangster International Airports being among the airports in the Caribbean region to be nominated due in part to the significant inroads made by PICA in their processing of incoming passengers.

So it has been 10 rewarding years. I would like to express my gratitude to the PICA staff for their hard workand dedication. When we look back on those 10 years, the Jamaican people can say without contradiction that PICA is operating at a heightened level of efficiency and service delivery. I am proud of what the agency has achieved and I am confident that over the next 10 years and 10 years after that PICA will continue to grow and to improve.

Hon. Robert MontagueMinister of National Security

“PICA is indeed an elite force”

“Continue to set even higher standards of service delivery”

“Happy 10th Anniversary”

“Jamaica continues to be well represented among Caribbean nominations”

10th Anniversary“A Decade of Service, Preparing for the Future”

Passport, Immigration & Citizenship Agency

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Congratulations are in order to the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) on its 10th anniversary celebrations as an Executive Agency. Ten years ago PICA evolved from being a Division of the Ministry of National Security (i.e., the

Immigration, Citizenship and Passport Division) and has progressed through the years to becoming a self-sufficient, customer-centeredentity. Its mandate is the protection of Jamaica’s borders with its main functions being processing passengers at ports of entry, processing applications for passport and granting Jamaican citizenship to applicants.

The Agency has performed creditably over the years and should be applauded for incorporating modern technologies in carrying out its function. It is because of this focus that Jamaica became the first in the Americas to allow international passen-gers arriving from any international location, to use kiosks for self-service immigration clearance. A total of 15 kiosks are in operation at Jamaica’s two busiest airports – Norman Manley International (NMIA) in Kingston and Sangster International (SIA) in Montego Bay.

I am pleased that the Agency’s mandate of securing the nation’s border is evidenced by the introduc-tion of a Facial Recognition System (FRS), which has, since its introduction,successfully detected approximately 600 double passport and fraudulent applications.

Human trafficking, referred to as modern day slavery, is a horrendous atrocity against the dignity of humanity, for the purpose of slavery and prostitution through coercion. Therefore, I am particularly delighted that PICA, as a partner on the National Taskforce against Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP), has incorporated human trafficking as part of the cur-ricula for training its immigration and investigation and surveillance team.Officers are also given instructions in counter-terrorism, transnational crime and fraudulent documents to befit them as competent partners in the fight against crime.

As a nation, we are particularly proud of the strides made by the Agency and are confident that PICA will continue to make further strides towards becoming an entity that is intelligence-led, and technologically enabled. I commend the manage-ment and staff for their hard work and wish them the very best for their celebrations and continued success for the next ten years and beyond. Again, heartiest congratulations and continue to strive for excellence.

Peter Bunting Member of Parliment

This year and going forward, we are revolutionizing our operations to bring you a customer experience unprecedented in the 10-year history of this agency. It is in this spirit that we have adopted a new mantra, which is: “I have not been to Ritz Carlton, but I have been to PICA!” This comparison reflects the superior standard of customer service which we have set ourselves and are beginning to deliver, and one we know you deserve; nothing less.

For it was founder of Microsoft Bill Gates who once said, “Our most unhappy customers are our greatest source of learning,” an intuition we have since taken on-board to help us meet your demands. This meant listening and learning from your cries for improvements; and we are doing so continually. That’s why we have begun treating you with greater courtesy, professionalism, physical comfort and convenience in our service delivery.In doing so, we are working with key partners and our management team to turn the spotlight on you, whom we exist to serve, seamlessly, with pride, humility and respect, in an elegant environment.

With this in mind, we are redefining our desire to give you top class services from a first world Jamaican organization. Therefore, we are bringing new dimensions to our services and work spaces to provide that superior customer experi-ence that is comparable to what is obtained in major cities anywhere in the world.

In getting to that point, we are continuing to listen and learn from you. This approach has reaped rewards, as we have been enabled to make many desirable changes for you. We would like the waiting time to be no more than 30 minutes, and if it is going to be longer, a customer is given a time to come back later in the day. This allows a customer to go and have breakfast and do other things, rather than wait seven hours in a line. It was by talking to you that we realized, for example, that many of us from rural Jamaica are coming to our offices as early as 5:30 a.m.; so we have responded by opening our doors at 6:30 a.m., instead of the usual 8:30 a.m. In so doing, this has reduced the waiting time by over three hours.

We will be launching soon, a courier service similar to that offered at the US Embassy so that we don’t have to return to a PICA office to pick up our passports. We are determined to make the dreaded long lines a thing of the past. So we will be processing passport applications from the comfort of your living room, on line, within 12 months. Also, as part of upping our services, it is no longer acceptable to take over six weeks to process an overseas visa application. This cannot be a good experience for the over-25,000 applicants each year. As such, we are partnering with our various large overseas Jamaican embassies to house PICA agents and equipment to help process visa applications. This will reduce the turnaround time substantially. Another long and tiring disservice to our international travellers is the long line they have to endure when arriving to the island, especially in Montego Bay. Therefore, we are working on a plan to enable us to reduce the average waiting time on the long lines at Sangster International Airport to approximately 30 minutes, from the current four hours. It’s an ambitious goal.

So if we seem excited about bringing serious changes to the customer experience, it is because we are; driven by Jamaican positivity and quality demands. It was writer Brian Tracy who reflected this when he once wrote, “Positive expectations are the mark of the superior personality.”

Well, we at PICA are proud to say we know that, which is why we have begun serving you as if you were at the Ritz Carlton; no less a standard will do. I would like to join our fellow directors, members of the management team and their team members, who also share your sentiment that “if you can get the best, why settle for less”. Joseph IssaChairman, PICA Advisory Board

10th Anniversary“A Decade of Service, Preparing for the Future”

Passport, Immigration & Citizenship Agency

“I am pleased with the Agency’s mandate”

“Our customers are our greatest source of learning”

congratulates

on its

10thanniversary

On behalf of the entire Sangster International

Airport team

as an Executive Agency

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As we celebrate our tenth anni-versary as an Executive Agency, I must pause to recognize and to thank all our many

customers in Jamaica and around the globe. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve such an extensive and diverse market which,in the 2016/17 financial year included more than 200,000 passport applicants worldwide, over 3000 ap-plicants for citizenship as well as over 5.5 million passengers who traverse our ports. You are important to us and we know that without you, the Agency would not have existed; and so, we thank you.

The theme for our tenth anniversary observance is: A Decade of Service, Preparing for the Future. In reflecting on the past ten years, we are heart-ened by our accomplishments and inspired by our vision of the onward journey towards the next ten years. We are now a self-sufficient Agency having been off the government’s books since April 2015. Our aim is to be efficient as we are effective in providing our customers with quality service.

We are proud of the strides that were made in the last ten years, some of

which included the installation of au-tomated border crossing (ABC) kiosks at our main international airports, expedited citizenship service for local applicants of citizenship by descent and expedited passport service.

Our plans for the future include con-structing a more spacious facility for our new headquarters in Kingston, an online passport application system, a courier passport service and drop box facility to receive passport applications. We will also be infusing more technol-ogy in our operation which will see us becoming more efficient in the delivery of our services.

As we chart a course towards becoming a first-rate entity I wish to pay homage to my talented team of professionals who have made our successes over the past ten years possible. It is a joy for me to celebrate with them in this my first year as CEO for the organization. I am thankful for the opportunity and fully appreciative of the fact that we would not have reached this milestone if it were not for the contribution of every member of the PICA staff. They have indeed exem-plified the spirit of teamwork, in that: Together Each Achieves More. Truly, for us, the sky is the limit.

Andrew Wynter Acting CEO, PICA

“A Decade of Service, Preparing for the Future”

PICA believes in giving back and playing its part in the wider community in which it serves. Over the years the Agency has participated in the annual Sigma 5K Run/Walk and the Law Enforcement Torch Run/Walk/Wheelchair for Charity.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Acting CEO, Andrew Wynter and other PICA staff members participate in the warm-up exercise before undertaking the 5K trek on Saturday, July 1, 2017

Hon. Minister of National Security, Robert Montague (centre), PICA’s CEO, Andrew Wynter (5th left) and Commissioner of Police, George Quallo(stooping, 3rd right) pose with the team from PICA and the JamaicaConstabulary Force following this year’s staging of the Law Enforcement Torch Run.

PICA staff who participated in this year’s Sigma Run/Walk relax after completing their 5K Run/Walk at Emancipation Park.

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The present PICA Head Office at 25 Constant Spring Rd.

The path to the creation of PICA began with a modernization programme which started in April 2005 when strategic reviews were carried out on what was then a Division in the Ministry of National Security (MNS)to assess the key constraints on performance. The issues that were identified were examined in detail and a Steering Committee was established to guide the process of modernization. It was this process that led to the transformation of the Immigration Citizenship and Passport Services Division (ICPSD) of the MNS to an Executive Agency on June 1, 2007.On July 2, 2007, a new CEO, Ms Jennifer McDonald, was appointed and was given delegated financial and human re-source authority as required under the Executive Agency Act. In addition, a new logo was created and came into use in February 2008.Mrs. Carol Hammond was Director of Citizenship prior to the for-mation of the Agency in 2007 and has been since. She has seen the transformation of the Agency over the years and, according to her, the granting of Executive Agency status brought about greater efficiency, accountability and timeliness in the delivery of service. This was possible as performance targets and standard operating procedures were now instituted and would dictate how the new entity would operate. Mrs. Hammond explained that prior to this, there were no real measure of the quality and quantity of work that was carried out. She asserted that measurement of the task performed allowed the entity to be able to have a level of accomplishment in its achievements and to improve its service delivery to customers.

PICA western region staff have traditionally participated in the MoBay City Run. Here they pose for a photograph after the 5K race.

The Jamaican Passport through the ages (from the late 1960s to present).

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Path to Executive Agency

The first batch of civilian immigration officers recruited to replace JCF officers in 2001 with then Minister of National Security, KD Knight seated in the middle.

Future Plans

Customers can communicate with the Agency via email at info@pica.gov.jm. Persons can also obtain information

on its website at www.pica.gov.jm and in social media on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

The following are the near to medium-term plans being pursued by the Agency• Relocation of Agency’s head office to a more spacious facility• Online application for passport• Enhanced biometric passport• Courier passport service• Dropbox facility to receive applications• Improved technology for speedier processing through immigration

In February 2017, a team from the PICA visited Aruba to review that country’s border management system and to determine whether aspects of the technology could be adopted and used in Jamaica. The Aruba border management system known as Happy Flow is designed to fast track travellers through immi-gration and Customs thereby eliminating the need for lengthy queues. Passengers benefit from the system when they fill out their immigration and customs information online and their flight risk assessed. The passengers’ biometric data, inclusive of their

facial image and other relevant information are then captured onto the border management system thus allowing them to proceed seamlessly through immigration and customs. The PICA team observed that the Aruban tourism authorities also use the information to assist them in marketing the destination.

PICA is currently pursuing arrangements to use a similar technol-ogy at the major international airports in Jamaica.

PICA team Orlando Williams - Immigration Director (2nd left), Andrew Wynter – CEO (centre), Garth Williams – Deputy CEO in charge of Operations (3rd right), Keith Montaque – ICT Director pose with officials in Aruba during their visit to that country in February 2017 to examine its border management system.

Deputy CEO in charge of Operations, Garth Williams discussing information contained on a poster at the Aruba International Airport on the Happy Flow border management system. CEO, Andrew Wynter (right) and PICA’s ICT Director, Keith Montaque (2nd right) look on. Two officials at the airport at left listen intently to the question being posed by Mr. Williams.

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This trend is now being continued under the new leadership team now led by the Mr. Andrew Wynter the Act-ing CEO, who will continue to put in new methods and procedures to improve the existing processes. Under the performance based culture established, local applications for citizenship by descent are processed in 25 days for at least 96 per cent of applications submitted. Other performance targets include processing at least 87 per cent of airport passengers within two minutes of approaching the immigration desk and processing applications for the regular passport service in 7 days for at least 99 per cent of applications submitted. Under the leadership of the new CEO, the agency will operate more efficiently to ensure that it continues along a path of self-sufficiency, following April 2015 when PICA was officially taken off the government books and was no longer in receipt of financial support from the consolidated fund. The Agency is still on a path of transformation to ensure that PICA adds value in relation to the service it provides its customers and stakeholders and in so doing to achieve its ultimate objective of becoming a world-class Agency.

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