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The past three years have been difficult for Linneth Whitely due to her inability to obtain a passport.

Whitely, of Carby, St Elizabeth, said she has applied for the travel document but has been told by representatives of the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) that she has already been issued one. However, Whitely contends that she has never been granted a passport.

"About four persons came in and told me that someone had applied for a passport several years before and the person had my exact info, including the same parents," Whitely said.

A voter registration card was issued to Whitely by the Electoral Office of Jamaica in 2015, which shows that she is registered to vote in the Malvern Division in St Elizabeth South East.

Passport fraud has been a major issue for PICA. Andrew Wynter, head of the agency, said that more than 700 cases of passport fraud have been uncovered over the past five years. He said that he was not in a position to address Whitely's claim, but added that reports of fraud are thoroughly investigated.

For Whitely, the probe cannot be completed soon enough. She told THE STAR that when she first applied for a passport in 2018, her aim was to travel overseas to work.

"Is mi daughter who have 16 subjects mi want to send go university, so mi did a try see if mi can get on the farm work programme in Canada. Mi stress out. Is three years now and I can't get anywhere," she said.

Whitely told THE STAR that having made numerous attempts to satisfy the authorities about her identity, she visited the PICA head office in St Andrew last February but nothing has changed.

"They said I should bring my brother, who could verify who I was. They said he should also bring along his documents as well. The person who had told me to bring my brother as proof was not in office that day, and to know that I travelled all the way from St Elizabeth for nothing was really stressful. I went back home and I have been calling the passport office since, without any result. I called them up to Monday of this week, and all they did was transfer me to four different persons until the call cut off in my ears. I am frustrated. Mi confuse and just don't know what to do," Whitely said.