Belizean passport
Belizean passport | |
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The front cover of a contemporary Belizean passport. | |
Date first issued | 16 September 2011[1] (current version) |
Issued by |
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Type of document | Passport |
Purpose | Identification |
Eligibility requirements | Belizean citizenship |
Belizean passports are issued to Belizean citizens to travel outside Belize. The passport is a Caricom passport as Belize is a member of the Caribbean Community.
Appearance and issuance
The issuance of passports is governed by the Passports Act (Cap. 164.[2]
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.[3] The problem came to an end in August, though delays in issuance of up to four weeks persisted.[4]
In 2009, Belize began issuing passports in the common CARICOM design, with additional security features such as intaglio printing of certain text, a guilloché pattern on the inside pages, and a "ghost image" on the biodata pages.[5]
Visa requirements
As of 1 January 2017, Belizean citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 95 countries and territories, ranking the Belizean passport 56th in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley visa restrictions index.[6]
See also
References
- ↑
- ↑ "Passports Act, Chapter 164". The Laws of Belize (PDF) (Revised ed.). Attorney-General of Belize. 2000. Retrieved 2012-04-27.
- ↑ "G.O.B. hopes to ease passport crisis". News 5 Belize. 2004-05-21. Retrieved 2012-04-27.
- ↑ "Passport shortage ends as first batch arrives". 2004-08-24. Retrieved 2012-04-27.
- ↑ "CARICOM passport comes with new security features". News 5 Belize. 2009-03-24. Retrieved 2012-04-27.
- ↑ "Global Ranking - Visa Restriction Index 2017" (PDF). Henley & Partners. Retrieved 14 March 2017.