The Passport Office which is to be renamed the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency. - File

The Passport Office of Jamaica has changed its name to the Passport Immigration & Citizenship Agency (PICA). In a move to become an executive agency, PICA has decided to make crucial changes aimed at improving public service and overall security.

Currently, PICA is seeking to increase its number of personnel to 544 and is undergoing a technological upgrade to improve all business processes conducted with them.

The organisation is also placing customer-service centres across the island, manned by agency representatives to aid customers living outside the Corporate Area. Despite these changes, the agency's location on Constant Spring Road will remain.

Carol Charlton, chief executive officer (interim) said: "There is a need for a change in location but we have to ensure that a suitable place is found to not only support the public but our staff and this modernisation."

No increases

On the possibility of increased payments, she added: "There are noincreases being considered currently or in the short run, it is not in the books. We are working to becoming self-sustaining, to become an off-budget agency."

The upgrade, which is a part of a wider initiative of the Jamaican Government, is aimed at increasing accountability and transparency to immigration, passport and citizenship operations. Organisations that are now executive agencies include the Registrar General's Department, the Jamaica Information Service, the National Land Agency, and the National Environment and Planning Agency.