Mexico gives out border passes

Regular visitors to Chetumal will be happy to know that the Mexican Government, working with Belizean authorities, has began handing out border crossing cards. Enrique Hubbard, Mexico’s Ambassador to Belize, tells Five that the new card will mean a drastic reduction in paperwork and should promote a closer relationship between Mexico and Belize.

Enrique Hubbard, Mexican Ambassador to Belize

“It’s a border crossing card that will last for 5 years and would allow Belizeans to go across for as many times a they want during the validity of that card. Now the idea is not new, it’s been on for about 5 years but we had some technical problems developing this card. The original idea was that the border crossing card, as the name indicates, was only for people domicile at the border and that really didn’t help us that much. If you consider the other examples that we have is that in the northern border worked, like that because the population of the border is so intense, so large, then you understand why they limited it to the border, but not in Belize. More than 600,000 crosses in one year, is more that enough evidence of what is going on. Now it helps us for instance because we had to deal with each individual permit every time, every trip, here and at the border. This new card also has an electronic reading that you can just pass it through the computer, and that’s the whole registration of their entry.”

Requirements for the new card are copies of your birth certificate or passport or other evidence of nationality, a picture I.D. and two color pictures of you in a three quarter profile. The consular section of the Mexican Embassy will be accepting applications until the 30th of June. Perhaps the one downside to the new border pass is that it will only get you into Chetumal and Bacalar. You will still need a special permit to travel to Cancun.