Belizean passports are issued to Belizean citizens to travel outside
Belize
Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...
. The passport is a
Caricom passport
The CARICOM passport is a passport document issued by the 15 member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for their citizens. It can be used both for intra-regional and international travel. The passport was created to facilitate intra-re ...
as Belize is a member of the
Caribbean Community
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM or CC) is an intergovernmental organization that is a political and economic union of 15 member states (14 nation-states and one dependency) throughout the Caribbean. They have primary objectives to promote econo ...
.
Appearance and issuance
The issuance of passports is governed by the Passports Act (Cap. 164.
In early 2004, Belize suffered a "passport crisis" due to a shortage of blank passports when a delivery from the country's United Kingdom-based passport supplier
De La Rue was delayed. The Ministry of Home Affairs tried to handle the crisis by recalling unused passport blanks from Belizean diplomatic missions abroad, while newspapers urged those who did not immediately need passports to wait until September or October when the switchover to the new
machine-readable passports would begin. The problem came to an end in August, though delays in issuance of up to four weeks persisted.
In 2009, Belize began issuing passports in the common
CARICOM design, with additional security features such as
intaglio printing of certain text, a ''
guilloché
Guilloché (; or guilloche) is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name, also called a r ...
'' pattern on the inside pages, and a "ghost image" on the biodata pages.
Passport statement
Belizean passports contain on their inside cover the following words in English only:
::
Visa requirements
As of March 2019, Belizean citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 100 countries and territories, ranking the Belizean passport 51st in terms of travel freedom (tied with the South African passport) according to the
Henley visa restrictions index.
See also
*
Caribbean passport
The CARICOM passport is a passport document issued by the 15 member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for their citizens. It can be used both for intra-regional and international travel. The passport was created to facilitate intra-re ...
*
Visa requirements for Belizean citizens
References
Government of Belize
Belize
Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...
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