The Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) has announced that it will begin issuing a new high-security electronic or E-passports document to the public as of Friday (March 31). 

According to  PICA, it has been taking steps over the years to secure Jamaica’s passports as part of its efforts to safeguard the identity of Jamaicans and the Jamaican travel document, and the E-passport is the latest initiative in that regard.

“As the agency goes through its process of upgrading its passport system by providing a better-quality product, it wishes to reassure the public that the passports that have been previously issued are still valid until the date of expiration and there is no need to change them. Please note that there will be no increase in fees,” PICA said in a statement on Friday.

The introduction of the E-passports in Jamaica will see Jamaica joining more than 150 countries that use E-passports, including 11 other Caribbean nations.

PICA explained that the decision to issue the document is aimed at facilitating greater confidence and acceptance of the Jamaican passport for travel facilitation globally.

It further stated that this initiative will now ensure that the country’s passport is aligned with the growing number of countries using E-passports. The new document will bear the E-passports logo that’s used by all E-passports-issuing countries around the world.

PICA’s CEO Andrew Wynter said the introduction of E-passports at this time is necessary to bring Jamaica up to par with emerging global trends.

“The E-passport initiative is aligned with PICA’s strategic objective of enhancing travel facilitation through risk-based and data-driven inspection.”

What is an E-Passport?

An E-passport is an electronic machine-readable passport with an embedded microchip that stores a digital version of the holder’s biographical data. 

The chip has a unique digital signature, specific to each issuing country and is activated once the chip is encoded.

The E-passports is a robust biometric document with added layers of security that can aid in the fight against new and emerging threats to identity theft and national security.