COVID pandemic has resulted in a lot
of bureaucracy. No turning up to your favorite travel agent to buy a ticket on
the spot, anymore. Not only do you have to make sure you have been tested
negative for coronavirus, within a certain time frame of your flight, but you
also have to complete an online form, including a quarantine assessment
questionnaire, and have them all approved, prior to buying your ticket.
The
following process may be daunting but as a June 2020, the success rate was a
total of 8,418 approvals that had been granted to Jamaicans overseas who had
applied to the JamCovid online Ministry of Health system for permission to
return “a yaad”, under the controlled re-entry programme. If you are thinking
of doing the same, here is some useful information. You will need to go online
and complete a re-entry form which is about a 4 pages long and once approved,
you will be free to book your flight.
Before
you go online, make sure you have everything you need with you, as some of the
sections time out, for example, the security code, or it is going to ask you
the full address of where you are going to stay. No point ringing up the person
while you are completing the form, it will time you out. Likewise, you can be
looking for information in your wallet, on your phone, in an email, or on you
PC- you must have everything on hand ready.
This
article is to prepare you in advance.
So before you start-
1. Have your phone close by you.
2. Have the email address you have been given,
open so you can access the OTC (one-time code), and put it on the phone, which
will be counting down (it gives you a few minutes)
3. Have your passport with you because you will
need to information on it, and you will need to take a photograph of it.
4. Have full name, email address and phone number
full street address of the place you are staying.
5. Have full name, email address, phone number
and full street address of your contact person in Jamaica.
6. You TRN & NIS number, if you are a
resident
7. Parents full name and contact details
8. Employers full name and contact details
9. The last date you travelled to Jamaica
10.Details of your return ticket (if couldn’t
back because the airport was closed)
11.The address where you are currently living
12.The dates and names of places you have bee to
over the last six weeks. Once you have this, go online.
13.Go online under www.jamcovid19.moh.gov.jm
Once you have completed the form, click on the
voice note and listen to it. You will need to make an attestation that you have
read, understand and agree to all the information on the form and that the
information is accurate and true.
You will then get a confirmation email,
stating that your application has been received but it is not clear how long
this process will take. Once you get approval via email proceed to book your
ticket.
