Caribbean News Now!

By Athaliah Reynolds-Baker

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) -- The Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) in Jamaica is currently testing a new system, which is expected to shorten the waiting period for outgoing passengers on some airlines.

The procedure, which integrates passenger information from airlines with PICA’s immigration system, will allow travellers on certain airlines to bypass outgoing immigration booths.

Speaking at a recent press briefing, Portfolio Minister Peter Bunting said among the benefits of the programme is that it has significantly reduced passengers’ waiting time at the immigration booths.

“The store owners are happy, because the passengers spend the time waiting in the area where the stores and restaurants are and (this) improves the visitor experience. And, that has been done with no compromise of our border security,” the minister assured.

Bunting said the pilot programme has been going so well that the ministry is hoping to “transition from pilot to full scale operations within another month or two”.

He pointed out that while not all airlines have signed on to the programme, widespread implementation is expected to benefit 96 percent of the country’s outgoing airline passengers.

“So, there may be just about four percent of the passengers from airlines that are at this point not planning to come on board, who may still have to go through an outgoing immigration booth, but hopefully over time, we will eliminate that completely,” the minister said.

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