Mexicans ease entry requirements for Belizeans
The Mexican Embassy in Belize has announced that entry into our northern neighbor has now been made easier. This is the result of the third meeting of heads of government from Central America and Mexico held last week in El Salvador. The new measures approved by President Ernesto Zedillo will primarily benefit students and tour operators, who prior to last Friday, needed special permits approved in Mexico City before entering. According to Ambassador Enrique Hubbard, most of the diplomatic red tape has been cut in order to facilitate closer ties between both countries.
Enrique Hubbard Urrea, Mexico’s Ambassador to Belize
“Without prior approval we can document a student who wants to go over there to present their tests or fulfill whatever requirement the institution asks for. Then once they have the approval we can also issue the student visa directly, right here with no waiting.
The second category that has now facilitation is the area of business in the specific field of tourism. Within the Mundo Maya framework we have gotten approval to document tourist operators, travels agents and most important drivers of charter buses. In many occasions I’d suppose everybody reads in the newspapers the announcements of excursions to Cancun or Merida. We had difficulty documenting the drivers because they do a work over there, a job over there, they would require special permit. Now we have been granted the necessary authority to document them and with the finalize, a process that began the other way. Belize had approval already: Mexican drivers and tour operations buses to come here. Now we will be able to do the same and reciprocate.”
Hubbard says that also included in last Friday’s agreement was that Belize would have greater access to the Belize-Mexico Institute on Newtown Barracks for cultural purposes. The Tuxla agreement also makes it possible for non-Belizean residents in the country for more than six months to get visas to enter Mexico. In other diplomatic news, Ambassador Hubbard says that as of next week, the Mexican embassy in Belmopan will be providing consular services twice each week, on Monday and Tuesday mornings.
