More than 12,000 Individuals Applies For Amnesty in Belize

Gilroy Middleton

We also asked C.E.O Middleton for an update on the Amnesty Program. The timeline for applications to be submitted was officially closed in March. Middleton says more than twelve thousand individuals have applied for amnesty.

Gilroy Middleton, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Immigration

“Well, we are currently going through a detail process.  A major hurdle for us to cross is to do the security clearance for some twelve thousand plus individuals, and this is a detailed security clearance. We’re not only looking at international database, this is security forces,  police going to your house, interviewing you, checking with your neighbors to make sure you said you are who you are, to ensure that all individuals that have applied in the event that it is approved, that you have no security issues.”

Paul Lopez

“And about how long will that take to go through all those people?”

Gilroy Middleton

“The original estimate was six months, but we’ll have to re-look at that. The police department is assisting us greatly. We’re looking at getting equipment for them to go into the field in terms of tablets so they could input that data. Initial estimate was six months, so that’s what we’re working with. In a simplest sense, as noted, a mandate is managing migration for the national security and the socioeconomic development of Belize. So this would be the national security aspect. Again, we are talking about refugees, all refugees’ application get security clearance. We’ve had issues where individuals had been not cleared in terms of the security aspect. Immediately, those applications were not approved, so we have to make sure that we are getting the right people to come in and contribute to our economic development.”