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Golding gets Caricom Passport

Prime Minister Golding on this week turned in his old passport and became the first person to receive a Jamaica CARICOM-Format diplomatic passport.

The Prime Minister, who has long recognized that through unity the Caribbean nations can achieve more in geopolitical negotiations, supports the CARICOM-Format passport as another step towards regional integration.

Head of the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency, (PICA) Miss Jennifer McDonald, accepted the Prime Minister’s request to have the old passport cancelled and issued him with a new one at his office this morning (January 8).

She noted that PICA issues an average of 200,000 passports per year and that anyone who applied after January 2 would automatically receive the CARICOM-Format passport with no extra procedures nor requirements and at no additional cost.

Keeping with the CARICOM standard, the Jamaica CARICOM-Format passports for civilians have the logo of the Caribbean Community in gold above the coat of arms. They are dark blue - similar in shade to the USA passport. The diplomatic passports are red (burgundy) and the official passports are green.

CARICOM passports were first issued in 2005. Belize is now the only member that remains to issue the new passports. It is expected that they will do so in the near future.

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