Simplifying passport applications

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1953

Effective February 3, the requirements for persons to attain their passports has been simplified. Officials of the Ministry of Immigration have been making their media rounds explaining that requirements for obtaining a passport are not as cumbersome as they once were. In February of 2013 there were changes in the process by which persons would be able to get a passport. That process added two layers of persons to identify the persons applying for a passport.
Under the old system, there was a Section 5 where two persons were asked to authenticate an applicant’s identity. The first group of authenticators would be a Justice of the Peace, Minister of Religion, Medical Practitioner, Notary Public of Attorney at Law. The second group of authenticators included a member of the National Assembly, Retired Member of the National Assembly, Retired Permanent Secretary, Retired Chief Executive Officer or current Chief Executive Officer in any Ministry of the Government of Belize, Head of Department of any Department of the Government, Retired Teacher or a Licensed Teacher. Needless to say it took a lot of effort for persons to acquire these recommendations.
With the new system, the Section 5 now only requires one recommender and that persons only need to be a born Belizean or by nationality, be 18 years or older, and with a valid passport. That is as far as the recommender goes.
For born Belizeans renewing passports, the only document needed is the old passport and another form of identification like a Social Security Card. If a passport is lost or is being applied for the first time the applicant must present a birth certificate. In the event that it is not a born Belizean and passport is lost then their nationality certificate is required.
Officials say that it should only take four to eight weeks for the passport to be issued.