Jamaican Consulate in Miami: address, hours, fees and passport applications

Contact details and hours

Address

Courthouse Tower, 44 West Flagler Street, Suite 400, Miami, FL 33130

Phone

305-374-8431

Email

contactus@jamaicacgmiami.org

Visa, passport and citizenship queries

consularinfo@jamaicacgmiami.org

Working hours

Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon

Travel emergencies

305-374-8431, extension 223, between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Eastern time

The consulate says its switchboard is busy and asks people to email instead of calling. For parking it suggests the PROPARK Garage at 35 SW 1st Street and the Courthouse Center Garage at 40 NW 3rd Street. Its public holidays page lists the days it is closed.

States the Miami consulate covers

It serves Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, as well as the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. If you live elsewhere, see the New York consulate guide.

Fees

How to pay

Passport applications

Check first whether you can skip the consulate. Its home page says nationals issued an adult passport after September 2001 who are not changing any details are encouraged to renew online with PICA, a process it calls safe and quicker than applying through the consulate. The steps are in the guide to renewing a Jamaican passport online.

Otherwise you apply in person or send your application by mail to the consulate's address. The consulate says all first-time applicants must apply in person, and that applicants who submit their own applications at the consulate are not required to have forms and photographs notarized. Mailed forms and one photograph must be certified first.

Send or bring originals: photocopies of documents, even if notarized, will not be accepted, and all original documents are returned to the applicant. If you need photographs, a professional photography service is available in the building at 44 West Flagler Street.

The documents for each kind of application are in the guide to renewing a Jamaican passport from the USA and on the consulate's passport page.

How long a passport takes

The consulate quotes about 10 weeks for walk-in applications and about 14 weeks for compliant mailed applications. The finished passport is returned by US Postal Service Express Mail to a street address, not a P.O. box.

Emergency travel

If you must travel and have no valid passport, the consulate can issue an Emergency Certificate, used mainly for travel to Jamaica. It takes 24 hours in person and 4 to 7 business days by mail, and you complete a renewal or replacement passport application at the same time. For a travel emergency, call 305-374-8431, extension 223, between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Citizenship

Citizenship by descent costs US$150 and takes approximately four months after submission to PICA. The consulate says people who have a Jamaican passport, even an expired one, do not pay the fee for the certificate but still pay a processing and handling fee, without stating that fee's amount. It also says applicants may only apply for a passport after receiving the Certificate of Citizenship.

Citizenship by marriage costs US$310 and takes twenty-four months. Who qualifies by descent, and the documents, are in the guide to Jamaican citizenship by descent.

Visas

In person, the consulate says visas are normally processed within 24 to 48 hours, or 5 to 7 business days, depending on the country of citizenship. By mail they are usually processed within five business days, or 7 to 10 business days, of reaching the consulate, depending on the country of citizenship.