BOTC passport applications going digital
(CNS): As government continues its slow crawl towards the use of technology to improve services, the time it takes to get new British Overseas Territory citizens (BOTC) passports has been reduced by around five days through technology supplied by the British passport office. From Thursday 14 April, Cayman Islands BOTC passport applications will be sent by electronic submission from Grand Cayman’s Passport and Corporate Services using a new Application Processing Interface (API) created for all BOTC passport applications.
Applications will still be submitted to the local passport office, which will continue to be responsible for authorisations and approvals for Cayman Islands passports, according to a government release. Complete applications are now forwarded to the UK over an encrypted, accredited and secure system and are received almost immediately at HM Passport Office in the UK, which reduces the processing time to around four weeks from when applications are submitted to the UK by the local passport office.
Applicants will be notified by the local passport office when documents are ready for collection.
In urgent situations where a passport is needed in less than four weeks, if the applicant meets the criteria, for example compassionate grounds or urgent government business, the local passport office will advise on the process.
Cayman Islands residents with questions, including on passport print centralisation, should contact the passport office on 949 8344.
As well as the Cayman Islands, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, and St. Helena have already begun using this change by the UK’s HM Passport Office, and Bermuda comes online next month, the release stated.
Category: Local News
Wow, I remember just a few years ago people still had stone tablets for Caymanian passports
Bloody ‘ell bobo
Is that ‘secure electronic submission’ a fax machine?
Not a fax machine, rather they are just recycling the hardware previously used for electronic payment of car-parking at the airport. What could possibly go wrong?
Four weeks?! OMG- how long did it take before?!
Please!!! for the love of God government. Please make the online forms fillable! I can write that well and cant get the letters to fit neatly in the boxes.
Thanks!
I totally agree with you
Welcome to 1999.
I do believe the passport office need to set in place and if possible print in local newspaper, on their website the requirement when submitting passport applications. You can easily go to the passport office 3 times or more to attempt to submit an application. Guidelines need to be clearer, such as (1) no staple nor (2) no paper clips, (3) make sure your application form isn’t off-side when u print it or (4) make sure you write in the center of the boxes, (5) in the case of a minor ensure that the one parent not signing application on behalf of child gives written permission + THEIR ID to the parent that signed the forms or (6) even being provided with contradicting information from more than one customer service asst at the counter for example you do make more that one trip there because on your first trip TOM will tell you one thing and JERRY will tell you another thing when you go back the second time; and the list goes on and on……
I know severally persons that have tried to submit their applications only to be turned away 3, 4 and even 5 times and told forms have to be re-done/re-submitted or certain documentation is missing.
I am also aware of the guidelines, however, I do believe something more is required, especially a list of NOT TO DO’S.
If only addressing the PR backlog were a reasonable political priority – ie. giving long-term residents a courteous and timely answer on whether they can make plans to stay. There have not been the timely roll-overs of those that probably should have taken their required hiatus; and no warm welcomes and fond congratulations to those neighbours and co-workers who have contributed to make Cayman great. This gov’t has put the entire process on hold and disenfranchised both sides in the process – to Cayman’s ultimate detriment. Consequently, we will eventually confront a HRC requirement to swear-in a few more BOTCs and cutting more passports than the roll-over apparatus was designed to constrain. Why are we not giving people that answer – one way or another – that they deserve?
It is about time! Now government needs to work on putting the licensing department online also. Why has this not been done as yet? The customer service there is horrible, not to mention the waiting time. Last time I checked we are in the year 2016. More than ample technology is available to bring a lot of these time wasting government services online.
Technology means loss of non skilled jobs…..
And would significantly dent the local donut market.
The licensing dept has been online for 3.5yrs. Since sept 2012. You go in to customer service and get your online log-in details and from there your can renew your drivers license and any vehicle registered to you online once the vehicle has atleast 3months valid inspection remaining.
Today is the 12th April!
CNS: Thank you. I have corrected this.
CNS you it still reads “today 14th April’ on page one. The correction shows when the full article is opened.
CNS: That’s impossible – the front is a snippet from the full article. Try clearing your cache and see if that helps.
So effectively nothing changes for those wanting to submit an application. We still have to archaically fill out paper forms and hand deliver to the passport office. While still being required to collect backup documents of the same information they have on hard file in the passport office.