Tonight there is good news for Belizeans who are planning on visiting anywhere within Mexico - that is because Belize has been added to the special list of countries whose citizens no longer need a visa or a consular stamp to travel as a tourist or in transit through the Mexican territory. It is a privilege enjoyed already by citizens and residents of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, most European countries, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica and Panama. According to public relations officer for the Mexican Embassy and the officer in charge of border affairs Marcelino Miranda the new policy has far reaching benefits for Belizeans. Under the new arrangement, all you’ll need to travel in Mexico is a valid Belize passport and forty four Belize dollars to pay the standard exit tax. Miranda gave us all the details.
Marcelino Miranda, PR Officer – Mexican Embassy
“The idea for Mexico is to strengthen the relationship to facilitate the trade and the exchange with Belize and especially to facilitate the free movement of people between both countries. Mexicans don’t need a visa to come to Belize and we thought that was unbalanced. In a fair relation we think that it is not fair that Mexicans don’t need a visa and that is the reason Mexico is honouring now an agreement of the elimination of visa between both countries.
Also Belizeans can travel through Chetumal, they can go to Playa del Carmen, to Merida, to Cancun, to Mexico City, to Los Cavos, to anywhere in Mexico and this is also good news for the car dealers for example. They travel along the Mexican territory so they can go to the US border and they can come back to Belize and they won’t need any visa. So our advice to all Belizeans is that they just need to hold their passport, a valid passport, a Belizean passport, and at the border they just need to fill out a form, it is a special form that all those nationalities, American, Europeans, fill out. It is going to be the same for Belizeans as well and the only thing is that there is a normal tax, this is an exit tax that everybody pays and if you stay longer than seven days in Mexico, you have to pay the equivalent of US$22 and if you are in transit in Mexico, even if it is just one day, you have to pay the same tax. That is the normal tax that everybody pays.
At the border in Chetumal there is going to be the normal line but we are encouraging Belizeans to get a special card, a visitor’s card. It is a border card because if they want to go to Chetumal for example or to any other part in Quntana Roo they might get this card because with this card it is faster. This card allows you to stay up to three days in Quintana Roo but if you want to stay longer you are going to in any case you are going to also, the processing at the border is going to be very fast, you just fill out a form and that’s it, you can go in. And this is going to be good when you are coming back also from the US because you won’t need to go to any Mexican consulate anymore. So you are just going to buy your ticket, you take your plane, and you arrive into Mexico and then you fill out your form and that’s it. That is going to facilitate, that is going to be faster because people don’t want or need to go to Mexican consulate in the US to get the visa on the way back to Mexico and then to Belize. So this is going to be very good for Belizeans in terms of time and Mexico wants to continue to facilitate and open more the border to Belizeans.
Just take your passport, your Belizean passport and that’s it. You can go anywhere in Mexico whenever you want and you can enter from the US, from another country, you can enter the ports, the international airports, by boat, you won’t need any visa and it is also worth to remind that the entry is free. You won’t have to pay for this form that you have to fill out at the border. You won’t have to pay anything. The only thing you have to pay tax when you exit, when you leave Mexico.”
The Mexican Embassy especially advises Belizeans who are holders of an FMVL card that they can continue to use it to travel exclusively to Quintana Roo with a maximum stay of seventy two hours. While Belizeans looking to work, study or do business in Mexico will need to apply for the appropriate migratory form. Those who still have questions can call the Mexican Embassy at 223 – 0193 or 223 – 0194.
