CARICOM Free Movement into Belize
Belize is a CARICOM member and gives CARICOM free movement domestic effect through two separate statutes, which is why the answer depends on which passport you hold. The older one, the Caribbean Community (Free Movement of Skilled Persons) Act, Chapter 17:02, is the Skills Certificate regime: a national of a qualifying member state is admitted for six months on arrival, and if they hold a Skills Certificate issued by their own state they may apply within that six months for indefinite stay to work or be self-employed, decided in thirty working days. Once granted, they may not be restricted in movement, in acquiring property, or in working, in any way a Belizean would not be. The newer one covers Barbados, Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and is not about skills at all - it is full free movement, recorded separately.
At a glance
- Provisional entry on arrival
- a period of six months
- Decision on an application for indefinite stay
- within thirty working days of submission
- Qualifying states in Schedule II
- Thirteen, before the 2026 deletions
Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Christopher and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Items 2, 3 and 11 - Barbados, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines - were deleted in 2026 because those three moved to full free movement.
- Skills Certificate application fee in Belize
- $225.00
- Work permit needed once the Certificate is recognised
- No
- Who may hold a Skills Certificate
- Graduates, artistes, musicians, media persons, sportspersons, non-graduate teachers and nurses, and artisans and household domestics with a Caribbean Vocational Qualification
- Spouse and dependants
- Admitted on the same terms, on proof of the relationship and a copy of the national's qualifying certificate
Requirements
- Nationality of a qualifying Caribbean Community state listed in Schedule II to Chapter 17:02
- A valid passport issued by that state, valid for at least six months from the date of entry
- For indefinite stay: a qualifying certificate issued by the competent authority of your own state certifying you as a Caribbean skilled person
- A police record for yourself, your spouse and any dependant over seventeen
- The approved fee - BZ$225 for a new Skills Certificate issued in Belize
- An application lodged with the Department of Border Management and Immigration Services within the six-month period of provisional entry
In detail
Six months first, then a decision
A CARICOM national arriving in Belize does not need to show a Skills Certificate at the border. Section 3 gives them, their spouse and their dependants six months on arrival, and section 19B of the Immigration Act repeats it. The Certificate matters for what comes next: within those six months, a national who wants to stay and work applies to the Department of Border Management and Immigration Services with the Certificate their own state issued, and the Department has thirty working days to refuse or approve. Approval is indefinite stay - not a renewable permit. In the meantime, section 4(3) lets the applicant, their spouse and dependants work while the Certificate's validity is being verified.
What indefinite stay actually confers
Section 8 is the part worth reading twice. A Caribbean skilled person admitted under the Act may not be subject to any restriction on freedom of movement, including leaving and re-entering Belize without further permission; on acquiring property for use as a residence or a business; or on engaging in gainful employment or any other occupation - in each case measured against what would apply if they were a national of Belize. Section 9 then makes that permission revocable only for cause, and only by a procedure that would expose a Belizean to deportation from the applicant's own country. That is a far stronger security of tenure than a Belize permanent residence permit, which the Minister may revoke under the Immigration Act.
Who counts as skilled keeps widening
Schedule I started with degree holders and has been extended by amendment, most recently by Act No. 29 of 2020. It now reaches associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from accredited universities anywhere in the world; qualifications certified by the University of Belize; teachers and nurses without those degrees, artisans and household domestics holding a Caribbean Vocational Qualification; and artistes, musicians, media persons and sportspersons recognised by their own state's competent authority. The 2020 amendment defined all four of those last categories expansively - an artiste includes a barber, a costume builder and a holder of traditional knowledge; a media person includes a camera operator and a newsroom clerk; a sportsperson includes a massage therapist.
Country-level policy
Every Chapter of the Substantive Laws of Belize that you can download today is the Revised Edition 2020, and each one says on its face that it shows the law as at 31 December 2020. Amendments made since are published separately, as numbered Acts and statutory instruments, and they are not worked into the Chapter. The consequence is practical and it bites hardest on the two subjects people read about most: the Chapter on the retirement programme still prints an age of forty-five that an Act of 2023 reduced to forty, and the Chapter on CARICOM skilled persons still lists thirteen qualifying states when an Act of 2026 removed three of them. Reading the Chapter and stopping there produces a confidently wrong answer. The Chapter plus every amending Act since 2021 is the law.
The fee schedule under the Immigration Act is organised around nationality in a way nothing else in the region is. Permanent residence costs BZ$1,000 for a CARICOM citizen, BZ$1,500 for a Central American, Mexican or Dominican one, BZ$3,000 for a Commonwealth citizen, BZ$4,000 for an American, Cuban, Chinese or South American one, and BZ$6,000 for a European. Temporary residence is one fifth of whatever your band is, and a minor pays half. Entry permits work the same way: a visa for a Chinese national costs BZ$3,000 single entry against BZ$200 for most other passports. Work permits are the exception that proves the rule - they are priced by occupation and nationality is irrelevant.
Exceptions by origin
Barbadian nationals: full free movement, not a Skills Certificate
Barbados is one of three states for which Belize has given effect to the CARICOM Protocol on Enhanced Cooperation, and the result is not a better version of the Skills Certificate - it is a different thing entirely. A Barbadian national presenting a passport valid for at least six months and proof of the address where they intend to live gets an Indefinite Stay Stamp at the port of entry. No qualification, no certificate, no occupation on a schedule. Once admitted they are to be treated as a national of Belize: they may work without an employment permit, establish a business, study at a public school or tertiary institution without a student permit, open a local currency account without Central Bank approval, access emergency and primary healthcare at public facilities, drive on their Barbadian licence for a year, and claim social support. Family members are covered, and a common law union of at least five years counts. The same Act removed Barbados from Schedule II of the Skills Certificate Act, so that route no longer applies.
- A valid passport of Barbados, valid for not less than six months
- Proof of the address at which you intend to reside within Belize
- For a family member who is not a Caribbean Community national: documents establishing the family relationship, a Belize visa if their nationality needs one, and proof of the Belize address
- Not presenting a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to public morals, public order and safety or public health, and not likely to become a charge on public funds
Dominican nationals: full free movement under the 2026 Act
Dominica is listed as a protocol member state in Schedule I to the Caribbean Community (Free Movement and Contingent Rights) Act 2026, which means a Dominican national no longer needs a Skills Certificate to settle in Belize. An immigration officer must grant the right to enter, re-enter and remain indefinitely on production of a Dominican passport valid for at least six months and proof of the Belize address where you intend to live, and the holder is then treated as a national of Belize for the Act's purposes: work without an employment permit, study without a student permit, open a Belize dollar account without Central Bank approval, access emergency and primary healthcare, and drive on the Dominican licence for a year. The same Act deleted Dominica from Schedule II of the Caribbean Community (Free Movement of Skilled Persons) Act, so the older route is closed to Dominican nationals.
- A valid passport of Dominica, valid for not less than six months
- Proof of the address at which you intend to reside within Belize
- Not presenting a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to public morals, public order and safety or public health, and not likely to become a charge on public funds
Vincentian nationals: full free movement under the 2026 Act
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is the third protocol member state in Schedule I to the Caribbean Community (Free Movement and Contingent Rights) Act 2026. A Vincentian national presenting a passport valid for at least six months and proof of a Belize address is granted the right to enter, re-enter and remain indefinitely, evidenced by an Indefinite Stay Stamp, and is then treated as a national of Belize for the Act's purposes. The Act also sets out what happens when entry is refused, and it is far more protective than anything in the Immigration Act: the decision goes to a Senior Immigration Officer, the person must be told of their right to contact an attorney and a consular officer and to activate the CARICOM Complaints procedure, an administrative review by the Director must conclude within fourteen days, judicial review lies to the High Court within fourteen days of that, and the applicant is permitted to remain in Belize while either is pending.
- A valid passport of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, valid for not less than six months
- Proof of the address at which you intend to reside within Belize
- Not presenting a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to public morals, public order and safety or public health, and not likely to become a charge on public funds
What the law says
«an immigration officer shall, subject to section 5, permit a national, the spouse or any dependant of that national, to enter and remain in Belize for a period of six months.»The same six months is written into the Immigration Act itself at section 19B, inserted by Act No. 28 of 2020, so the entitlement appears in both statutes.
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Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
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«a national who seeks to remain in Belize beyond the period stated in section 3, for the purpose of engaging in or finding gainful employment with an employer or as a self-employed person shall, within that period, submit an application to the department in the approved form, together with–»The four items required are the qualifying certificate issued by the competent authority of the applicant's own state, a passport of that state valid for at least six months from entry, the approved fee, and police records for the national, the spouse and any dependant over seventeen.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«the department shall, within thirty working days of submission of an application, refuse or approve the application.»About this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Where an application is approved, the department shall grant to the applicant, the spouse or any dependent of that applicant, indefinite stay.»About this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«a Caribbean skilled person or the spouse or any dependant of the Caribbean skilled person permitted to enter Belize under this Act shall not be subject to any restriction on–»The three freedoms listed are movement including leaving and re-entering Belize without further permission, acquiring property for use as a residence or business, and engaging in gainful employment or other occupation - each measured against what would apply to a national of Belize. Section 9 then makes the permission revocable only for cause and by a procedure that would expose a Belizean to deportation from the applicant's own state.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
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«1. Antigua and Barbuda»Schedule II lists thirteen qualifying Caribbean Community states. The Bahamas, which is a CARICOM member but not part of the single market, is not among them.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
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«The Caribbean Community (Free Movement of Skilled Person) Act is amended in Schedule II by deleting items 2, 3 and 11.»Items 2, 3 and 11 of Schedule II are Barbados, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Those three nationalities left the Skills Certificate regime because the same Act gave them something better.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
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«(d) CARICOMSingleMarket and Economy Free Movement of Persons Skills (CSME Certificate (i) Application for new Skills Certificate | | $225.00»Quoted as printed, including the run-together words and the unclosed bracket. The substitution took effect on 1 August 2023 and dropped the two dependant fees - BZ$50 under eighteen and BZ$100 over eighteen - that the previous version of item 4(d) carried. The Immigration Department still publishes both.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The Immigration Department's CSME page still lists dependant fees of BZ$50 under eighteen and BZ$100 over eighteen. SI No. 47 of 2023 repealed and replaced item 4(d) of the Schedule with effect from 1 August 2023, and the replacement has no dependant fees at all. The Department is publishing a fee the regulations no longer prescribe.
The Department's list of participating CSME countries omits Haiti and Montserrat, both of which appear in Schedule II to Chapter 17:02, and includes St Kitts and Nevis, which the Schedule calls St Christopher and Nevis. Treat the Schedule as the list of states whose nationals the Act reaches.
SI No. 47 of 2023 is signed off "MADE by the Minister responsible for fisheries", while the recital names the Minister responsible for Immigration and the signature is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Immigration. The error is the publisher's and is reproduced here as printed.
The Skills Certificate is issued by the applicant's own state, not by Belize; the BZ$225 in the Belize fee schedule is for a Certificate issued to a Belizean national by Belize. A visiting national presents the Certificate their own competent authority issued.
This record rests on Chapter 17:02 as consolidated to 31 December 2020, sections 19A to 19D of the Immigration Act, Act No. 15 of 2026, SI No. 47 of 2023, and the Immigration Department's CSME page.
- consolidatesCaribbean Community (Free Movement of Skilled Persons) Act, Chapter 17:02 of the Substantive Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2020
Attorney General's Ministry of Belize · consolidated to 2020-12-31
About this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesImmigration Act, Chapter 156 of the Substantive Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2020
Attorney General's Ministry of Belize · consolidated to 2020-12-31
About this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesCaribbean Community (Free Movement and Contingent Rights) Act, 2026 (No. 15 of 2026)
Attorney General's Ministry of Belize
About this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesImmigration (Permits and Fees) (Revised) (Amendment) Regulations, 2023 (SI No. 47 of 2023)
Attorney General's Ministry of Belize
About this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- administersCSME Skilled Certificate
Belize Immigration and Nationality Services
About this source
The department that decides permits, residence and nationality applications, and publishes the fee tables and requirement pages applicants work from.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for what the law requires. It diverges from the instruments on at least six counted points - two work-permit fees, the student permit fee, an absence rule with no statutory basis, the marriage test, and the list of qualifying states - and in each case what it publishes is what you meet at the counter rather than what is enacted. It also cannot be cited for the visa-requirement list, which is a client-side table that does not survive capture. News posts here are announcements, not law.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source