RGD stages free birth registration fairs

The Registrar General's Department (RGD) will be hosting a series of registration fairs across the island over the next 18 months to facilitate persons who are without a birth certificate or those who may need to complete the process.

The first in the series of fairs will be held on Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Linstead Methodist Church in St. Catherine.

Persons in Linstead and surrounding areas will be able to access late registration and late entry of name services, free of cost.

"So, if you are not sure you were registered, never seen a copy of your birth certificate, have a birth certificate but no surname or name on it, then we will help you get an identity," RGD's Marketing and Planning Manager, Nicole Whyte, said.

She explained that the staging of the fairs "is a drive to register all unregistered persons in Jamaica, as there are persons who are not accounted for - they do not have an identity; they were born but were never, ever registered".

She noted that there are also individuals who were registered but they were not named at birth.

"So, there is no name at registration, just the sex of male or female, the date and where they were born. Also there are persons who were given a first name but no surname, and that is not acceptable now. We cannot print or generate a birth certificate without a name or surname on it, and so the registration process would be deemed incomplete in these instances," she pointed out.

Whyte said that persons will be required to present whatever documents they possess that can be used as verification, in addition to completing a form.