Q: Someone told me that the US Embassy is changing the Kingston location where I am supposed to pick up my visa. The same person said that if I need to send my passport or some documents back to the embassy I will have to go to the new location, but I don’t know where that is. What’s going on?

A: Thank you for raising this important and timely issue! Starting Monday, May 7, the embassy will no longer be using the DHL office on Haining Road in Kingston as a pickup and drop-off site for passports and documents. Going forward, the Kingston location for these services will be the new CSRA Document Service Centre located in Unit 19 on the first floor at 7-9 Ardenne Road in Kingston. This facility is open from 8:30 am until 5:30 pm Monday through Friday.

The embassy is constantly looking for ways to improve our service to applicants. This includes working with our local partners DHL and CSRA to provide the most efficient document return service possible. One area we have identified where the embassy has decided to make some improvements is in the way we process and transport different documents required in the visa application process.

As a result, if you are picking up your passport in Kingston instead of having it delivered to your home or office, you will go to our new CSRA Document Service Centre at 7-9 Ardenne Road in Kingston. If, at your visa interview, the officer asks you to furnish additional documents you will send them through the new CSRA Document Service Centre at 7-9 Ardenne Road in Kingston, not the DHL office on Haining Road. You can still call DHL for home pickup!

We expect this change to significantly reduce visa processing times, meaning that many visa applicants will get their visas back from us faster. This also means that if we are waiting to receive documents to adjudicate your case, we will receive them faster and this should generally mean a faster resolution of your case. Additionally, it is worth mentioning that the CSRA Document Service Centre at 7-9 Ardenne Road in Kingston is much closer to the embassy than the DHL office, which makes it easier to get to after your interview.

These changes apply to Kingston only. These changes do not affect those who have opted for home or office delivery, or collection from the DHL location in Montego Bay. If you requested that your passport be returned to you at home, that’s where it will go.

We are excited about the improvements to our service that this change should make possible and look forward to even more improvements in the coming months. As usual, more information is available on our website and on the issue of document delivery specifically you can visit the CSRA appointment booking website at ais.usvisa-info.com/en-jm Enjoy the new CSRA Document Service Centre in Kingston!

You can find more information on visas on our website, www.jm.usembassy.gov and the Department of State’s travel website www.travel.state.gov. Keep on top of embassy news on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/USEmbassyJamaica/ and by following @USEmbassyJA on Twitter and Instagram . We also answer general visa questions on our Facebook and Twitter pages.