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How To Obtain A National ID Card In Jamaica

QUESTION about: Obtaining A National ID Card In Jamaica.

And when applying for your national Identification card. Its known that the people who are handling this will visit your home ... I would like to know what will happen if your not home?


ANSWER: by Shaniel Jackson, Feb 2016

Hi there!

I'll answer your question so that others who are interested in learning about the entire process of obtaining a national ID Card in Jamaica can also benefit.

The process of obtaining a National ID Card (Also required for voting in elections) is fairly simple:

1. The first requirement is that you must be eighteen years of age or older.
   
2. Second is a copy of your birth certificate, which will be used to verify your name, date of birth etc.
   

Here are the important points/notes:

• The documents are usually processed by the Electoral Office closet to your home town and takes approximately twenty minutes to complete the application.
  
  
• A representative will ask some questions and use your answers to complete a form.
  
  
• Directions to your home will be taken.
  It is required as this is needed to complete a visit to your home to ensure that your address matches what you say.
  
  
• They take your fingerprint as well as a photograph that will be placed on the card.
  
  
• Upon completion, a slip/receipt will be given to you, this slip will be used to collect your Identification Card when it is ready.
  
  
• The card usually take up to three months to be process assuming that your information is valid and accurate.
  
  
• Please note that the visit for verification of address will be done either in the mornings or late evenings.
  
  
• If you are not home when the visit is done, the agent will visit a second time.
  
  
• If you miss that visit also, you would have to go to office and reschedule another visit or you may have to go through the entire process again.
  
  Please note that the Office doesn't notify you when they are coming, I guess they are assuming that if it is really your address, then you are expected to be at home during certain period of the day e.g. Early mornings or late evenings.
  
  
• No fee is charged for the first copy of your Elector Registration Identification Card, however if you lose it then you will have to pay a fine to regain it.
  
  
• Note also that your Driver’s License and a Passport can aslo be used for identification.
  They contains just as much information as your Identification.
  

Other important documents to have in Jamaica are:

• Taxpayer Registration Number ‘TRN’ (similiar to a SS in the US)
  Most places requires a ‘TRN’ when conducting business
  
• National Insurance Registration Card ‘NIS’ & as we mentioned earlier...
  
• Your Birth Certificate.
  

I hope this helps :-)

Below are links to the various Government Agencies for the processing of these documents and/or further information.

1. National Insurance Registration Card: Ministry of Labour As Social Security: http://www.mlss.gov.jm
   
2. Taxpayer Registration Number: https://www.jamaicatax.gov.jm/trn
   
3. Birth certificate: Registrar General’s Department: https://www.rgd.gov.jm/index.php/application-forms
   

Regards,
Shaneil Jackson, for My-Island-Jamaica.com

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