Low confidence · transparency 1.0/5
How Many Americans Live in Jamaica 🇯🇲
Jamaica publishes no count of its American residents in any form this project could use. Even its census reports the foreign-born only as a single total.
2.8M
Jamaica's Population
The Point of Reference
6,286
Born in the US
STATIN · 2019
Born in the US, as a Share of Jamaica
0.22%
6,286 ÷ 2,840,000
The American Emigration Revue counts US citizensPeople holding United States citizenship, as counted by Jamaica's own official records. A separate population from US-born residents; the two are never added. Definitions ›, US-born residentsPeople born in the United States living in Jamaica, whatever citizenship they hold today. A separate population from US citizens; the two are never added. Definitions ›, naturalizations and long-term permits from official government sources, with every figure cited. This page sets out what Jamaica publishes, what it does not, and how far the published record can be trusted.
Every figure is shown with the year its source published it.
Dual citizenship
Recognized
Americans may keep their US passport
Years to naturalize
5 yrs
minimum residency requirement
01
Why Jamaica's Records, Not Washington's
The ContextThe context every page needs: who counts Americans abroad, and who doesn't.
The United States publishes no count of its own citizens abroad. Its best federal figure, 3.3 million Americans worldwide, is a statistical model built to size the overseas electorate, and the same model said 4.4 million two years earlier. The Census Bureau decided in 1976 to exclude private Americans abroad from the decennial enumeration (overseas federal employees and military are still counted). What Washington publishes instead is fragments: Social Security checks mailed to foreign addresses, tax returns claiming foreign income, quarterly lists of people who gave up their citizenship. See what each federal source actually counts ›
So this project counts from the receiving side. Every figure on this page comes from records Jamaica itself publishes, read under the same rules applied to every country in the project. Where Jamaica publishes, it is counted and cited. Where it does not, the gap is shown rather than filled: no estimates, no models. How openly each country reports ›
02
How Jamaica Counts Americans
The One CountOne "US presence," one official count. The other measures on this page answer different questions.
US-Born Headline6,286
US-born residents · STATIN 2019
03
What the Research Found
The FindingsFindings from the Jamaica research, drawn from the official record.
›Jamaica does not maintain publicly available nationality-disaggregated migration statistics for U.S. nationals across most core migration domains.
›No official datasets were identified for U.S. citizens stock, U.S.-born stock, residence permits, work permits, or naturalizations granted to U.S. nationals.
›Available census and demographic datasets only report aggregate foreign-born population totals without country-specific breakdowns.
›Migration-related information relies primarily on indirect or external sources, particularly UN migrant stock estimates rather than Jamaican administrative records.
›UN estimates suggest a relatively stable U.S.-associated migrant stock between 2010 and 2019, fluctuating between approximately 6,193 and 6,329 individuals.
›Visitor flow information available through the Jamaica Open Data Portal lacks sufficient metadata and temporal identifiers, limiting its analytical value.
What the Public Record Says
US Citizens StockNo publicly available official dataset identifies or estimates the number of U.S. citizens residing in Jamaica.
US-Born StockCensus data only reports aggregate foreign-born population totals and does not provide country-of-birth detail for U.S.-born individuals.
Residence/Work PermitsNo publicly available nationality-disaggregated data was identified on residency permits or work permits granted to U.S. nationals.
US-Born NaturalizationsPICA provides procedural information on citizenship and naturalization processes, but no statistical reporting on naturalizations granted by nationality is publicly available.
Migration FlowsLimited proxy-based information from UN migrant stock estimates indicates a relatively stable U.S.-associated migrant population in Jamaica, fluctuating from approximately 6,329 individuals in 2010 to 6,286 in 2019. Despite the availability of these estimates, no official Jamaican administrative migration flow dataset identifying U.S. nationals was found.
Visitor FlowsVisitor flow data available through the Jamaica Open Data Portal lacks year identifiers and sufficient metadata, preventing reliable longitudinal analysis.
Data transparency1.0 out of 5 (low confidence) — how much Jamaica publishes about resident Americans, how often, and how easily the figures can be checked. Scored under How Far to Trust These Figures below.
04
The Figures as Data
The EvidenceMachine-readable copy of the figures on this page, each with the year its source published it. Free to download and reuse with attribution.
Key Figures as Data
Jamaica · every figure with the year its source published it
| Figure | Value | Vintage | Publisher |
|---|
| US-born residents | 6,286 | — | STATIN |
Vintage is the year the publishing authority reported the figure. A dash means the year or publisher is not yet recorded in our dataset for that figure; the Sources and Datasets section below names every publisher behind this page.
05
How Far to Trust These Figures
The Publishing RecordWhat Jamaica publishes, how often it publishes, and the sources behind every number on this page.
What We Know · What’s Missing
Low confidence · transparency 1.0/5published every yearone-off figurenot published
The gaps: Published as a regular series: US-born residents. Not published: resident US citizens, annual arrivals, naturalizations, residence or work permits: those gaps set the grade; they do not make the published figures wrong.
Sources & Datasets
4 publishing authoritiesEvery figure on this page comes from one of the publishers below. Links go to the authority and, where stable, straight to the dataset.
06
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick AnswersEvery answer is drawn from the official record, from the same sources cited across this page.
Does Jamaica recognize dual citizenship with the United States?
Yes. Americans may keep their US passport when they naturalize in Jamaica; the minimum residency requirement is 5 years.Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN)
Where do the figures for Americans in Jamaica come from?
Every figure on this page comes from Jamaica's own official publishers: Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT) for consular and diplomatic matters, and Jamaica Open Data Portal (data.gov.jm) for cross-agency open data publication. These are counts those bodies published themselves, not estimates or projections. Where Jamaica publishes nothing, the page says so rather than filling the gap. Jamaica's published record scores 1.0 out of 5 for transparency, which measures how much it publishes, how often, and how easily the figures can be checked.Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN)
Edited by
Daniel Atz, Founder and Editor in Chief.
The full series, every year, every country
The public view shows a limited year window for each series. Researchers and journalists can request access to the complete annual record for every country in the project.
© 2026, American Emigration Revue. Every figure from a named official source.