In recent world news, 9 CARICOM countries have received visa waivers for Spain. But, not Belize. That caused quite a stir online since it seems to many that Belize is consistently losing out on these visa-on-arrival exemptions.
A release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pushed back on that narrative saying, quote, "The Foreign Ministry… has, for a number of years, been actively engaged with both Spain and the EU in pursuit of a full Schengen visa waiver for Belizean nationals." End quote.
So far, that effort has only made Belizeans with biometric passports eligible for multiple-entry Schengen visas valid for up to five years. So, still no waiver.
One of the speculations as to why Belize has not been added to the list for visa waivers is because of the perceived weakness of our passport. Minister of Immigration Kareem Musa rejected that argument:
Kareem Musa, Minister of Immigration & Labour
"I've heard the Minister of Foreign Affairs speak on that particular issue, and from what I understand, that was a consideration that has been in the pipeline for quite some time. And so it's only now coming to the end of that process, the deliberations."
"Whether where we stand, I know what I can tell you in terms of the security features of our passport have improved significantly with the infrared features, the barcode and all of that. So the strength of the passport has definitely improved in terms of security."
"And I'm sure that we can always do better in terms of improving the overall strength of our passport across the world."
Reporter
"So in terms of notability, does that add value to a country's passport?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Immigration & Labour
"Absolutely. The security features, absolutely."
Reporter
"Now, the notability, as this is a country that is notable and their passport holds some sort of weight when you go to a country. Does that add some sort of?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Immigration & Labour
"I believe, of course, our passport has a lot of value when it comes to notability. bsolutely."
Sources tell us a major obstacle to securing the Schengen waiver is that over the years, Belize has issued numerous diplomatic passports to politically connected individuals who are not official state representatives.
