If you have a valid Belize passport - most likely it was made using biometric features developed by 3M technology. But, that company went out of the identity management business in 2017, leaving the Immigration Department grappling for ways to keep the constantly crashing Belize Passport Issuance System going.
Back in May Prime Minister John Briceno said that government would have to spend 20 million dollars to get a state-of-the-art replacement.
Today, the top brass at the Ministry of Immigration concluded the planning and design phase for the roll-out of that new electronic passport system.
Here's what the Minister of State and the CEO responsible for Immigration had to say on the next step for this new system, which should significantly boost the security features of a Belizean passport:
Dr. Gilroy Middleton - CEO, Ministry of Immigration
"The Cabinet approved the E-passport/E-passport systems in February 2021. In April of 2021, Belize signed an agreement with Canadian Bank Note Limited in terms of procuring the system. Since then, we've been working feverishly. We've currently worked on the design process, working with our colleagues from NICH, the Belize Tourism Board, and members from the Ministry of Immigration. So, we're wrapping up the design process, and now, we transition into the actual processing of passports. So, we have the CBN officials here meeting with officials in different capacities, here in the country, and visiting our various offices to see where the system will be utilized. We expect that this entire process will be finished by July 2022, and the first passport will be issued in early 2022, August."
Hon. Ramon Cervantes - Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade & Immigration
"One of the greatest - or the major thing is the issuance of E-passports. It will be able to produce 20,000 E-passports per year. These E-passports have added security features, such as the 10-print fingerprint identification and verification, and also facial recognition, which are very important security features. Also, the system will take the passport system to the districts, where people will be able to have their data captured at the different districts. And also, when it comes to renewals of passports, Belizeans will be able to do it online."
The officials say that the new system should be ready to produce these new e-passports by August of next year.
