No start date as yet to TCN agreement — Johnson Smith

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Kamina Johnson Smith says Jamaica has engaged with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the United Nations body responsible for migration matters, to support third-country nationals (TCN) while they are in the country and to facilitate their return to their home countries.

The minister gave the update during a post-cabinet press conference on Wednesday and noted that there is no start date to the arrangement as yet.

The Government in June signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United States which will allow third-country nationals transferred from the United States to transit through Jamaica to their final destination.

"There is no start date yet set because the IOM is completing its assessment. It has its own independent process that it undertakes, having engaged with PICA (Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency), MNSP (Ministry of National Security and Peace), and other relevant departments and agencies to make sure everyone is aligned. The IOM will be the body that is responsible for the TCNs when they are here and for getting them back home, but the government receives them and hands them over to the IOM, so there is a process in which they need to do to make sure that they are, in fact, ready," Johnson Smith noted.

The minister noted that the IOM does not have an office in the region and usually hires staff for projects such as the TCN arrangement.

The foreign affairs minister, however, noted that the MOU agreement between Jamaica and the US will not be released.

"I have in fact undertaken consultations with my Cabinet colleagues and with the US Government. As indicated, this is not a unilateral arrangement; it is a bilateral arrangement and one in which they have not generally released their agreements and have not agreed to release this one," Johnson Smith said.

The ministry, in a statement, also noted that the arrangement will not be funded by the Government of Jamaica and said no third-country national with criminal antecedents will be transiting through Jamaica.

"In participating in the TCN programme, Jamaica will join close to 30 countries, including several members of Caricom, who have similar arrangements.

“Furthermore, the Government reiterates its commitment to working with the IOM and the Government of the United States of America to ensure that all arrangements for the next stage of TCN implementation are appropriately governed and implemented in accordance with both our domestic laws and international law," the ministry said.