Does an e-Passport Cost Less Than Your Driver’s License?
Data compiled by the Immigration Department indicates that as many as twenty-five thousand, fifty-eight domestic passport applications were submitted between October 2022 and C.E.O. 2023. A majority of those applications were turned in at the C.E.O. office. C.E.O. Middleton also went on to compare the cost of the new e-passport to similar travel documents in other jurisdictions, including the United States, C.E.O. and C.E.O. and even went a step further to note that the cost of the new passport, over a ten-year span, is considerably less than the cost of a drivers license over the same period.
On the phone: Dr. Gilroy Middleton
On the phone: Dr. Gilroy Middleton, C.E.O., Ministry of Immigration
“The cost of the passport is two hundred dollars. We’re looking at adults, and this is a ten-year passport, so this is equivalent to twenty dollars per year. When we look at a drivers license, we’re looking at sixty dollars per year. So we have a state-of-the-art passport. Additionally, we’ve subscribed to ITO, PKB, which ensures that any country that we travel to with our passport that is also a member of this group, via their system they can immediately know that your passport is authentic. No questions asked in terms of the authenticity of the document and we can do the same for travelers, let’s say from Canada and U.S. coming into Belize. So we have added security. Additionally, the passport is a national document representing our flora, fauna, tourism, architecture, bridges, industry and it’s a modern travel document. So it literally works out to twenty dollars per year for the ten years. And finally, I have some numbers here: Grenada – their e-passport is equivalent to Belize dollars, $210. USA – BZ$260, Barbados – which is the lowest, I must note – BZ$150, Mexico – a year ago, they sent us a copy of their document with the specification. Their e-passport is equivalent to BZ$384, and Panama – their document is equivalent to BZ$200, however, that is only for five years, while ours is for ten years. So I just wanted to reiterate that specific note there. People are saying that we’re taking advantage of the customers and you must note that with these new prices we’re only looking at breaking even and honorable Eamon Courtenay had already noted in October when the new e-passport was introduced that the decision of cabinet was to allow the old prices of the old passport which was a seventeen-year-old document to remain at least for 2022. I recall him stating that. The ministry is of the position that it is time for us to charge, to implement these new fees so that we could at least break even in terms of covering the cost of this new modern travel document and this is the mandate of the Ministry of Immigration, both in the Haitian issue and in the new passport. We’re managing migration for the national security and socioeconomic development of Belize.”
