KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of National Security, Dr Horace Chang has expressed satisfaction after observing passengers utilising the electronic Immigration/Customs Declaration (C5) Form implemented at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.

Dr Chang said the C5 Form, which is an online passenger declaration form that must be completed by travellers entering Jamaica, will facilitate the efficiency of passengers entering the island. The electronic form came into effect on September 1, 2023, and replaces the paper C5 Card.

“Once you enter your C5 electronically before you get on the aircraft and get here you can literally walk in to declare or you have nothing at risk or contraband on you. The idea is to make it easier for Jamaicans who are coming home, to get home. It’s a service to our population. In addition to that of course, it’s an easier process for the visitors to get here because tourism is now one of our major contributors to economic activity, and in fact maybe the biggest contributor to economic activity at this point in time in terms of economic growth,” Dr Chang said.

“What we have done is converted the traditional system to electronic form and it moves much faster. We will be going further with E-Gates and the full introduction of what is called the Name Recognition System, which is an international database that allows you to screen the passengers more effectively when they get here and that is particularly useful, securitywise,” he added, noting that supporting legislation will come at the end of this Parliamentary year.

“Because having an electronic system in place it’s just a matter of once the law is in place because already we can remotely monitor the passengers coming in, both immigrations and customs. So that’s part of our target that we want to do in order to make the passengers coming to the airport [feel] safe, seamless and comfortable,” Dr Chang stated.

Adding that “today is a good day,” Dr Chang said he is looking forward to executing the rest of the programme as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“It involves the various procurement legislative process which we must do…border control is critical to the economy as well as the security of the country,” he said.