THE foreign affairs ministry says it has been unable to document exactly how many Jamaicans are in the diaspora for several reasons, including due to their undocumented status in other countries, forcing them to remain under the radar.

Speaking at a meeting of the internal and external affairs committee of Parliament on Wednesday, permanent secretary in the ministry Sheila Sealy Monteith pleaded with Jamaicans who travel to other countries for extended periods, or to relocate, to make the embassies and missions aware of their presence in there.

“Over the years efforts have been made to establish some sort of a registry that would allow us to have a better sense of the Jamaicans we have overseas…there is a natural fear, people are suspicious of giving their information to their home country,” she said, noting that the estimate now is that about three million Jamaicans are in the diaspora.

“Where we are able we secure from the individual countries — statistical offices, or the office that has responsibility for information on citizenship and population — information. So we know, for example, (in Canada) they gave a figure for the number of Jamaicans, based on their census, but you and I would know immediately that there are probably far more of that number that would not be in any census, in any formal system, in any documented way — but that allows at least a point of reference when you’re thinking of how to engage them,” she explained, pointing out that the situation is similar in Europe.

The permanent secretary said the consulates report that many persons are not using the online application for passports, and prefer to show up physically at their offices.

“From our colleagues on the ground, one of the reasons is the fact of the undocumented nature (of some persons), so they don’t want anything to do with online. In fact, there are persons who will act as an agent and take in two three, or four passport forms because the applicants do not wish to be present anywhere near that. So there are a number of factors that we have to take into account in making an assessment and that speaks to the uncertainty that’s natural in a situation such as that, in being really able to assess and determine how many persons we have in our diaspora,” she said.

The ministry is preparing to launch an application similar to the JamCOVID portal, which will allow Jamaicans in foreign countries to register with their embassies and missions. She stressed that the need to register became most apparent when many Jamaicans found themselves in dire situations, after air travel came to a sudden halt at the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic, leaving them stuck at various ports across the globe, and forcing many to turn to their embassies for assistance.