Immigration C.E.O Discuss Travel Policies for Jamaicans

Gilroy Middleton

C.E.O. Middleton also responded to questions on the concerning number of Jamaican and Haitian nationals that are using Belize as a transit point to the U.S. He was asked if any special policies are being developed for Jamaicans entering Belize, since Haitians are now required to present a visa at their point of entry. Here is what he told us.

Gilroy Middleton, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Immigration

“There’s no policy in terms of a special policy for Jamaicans. They are CARICOM nationals, so they would fall under the same policy of all CARICOM nationals. In terms of Haitians, we re- instituted the Visa requirement. No visa requirement was placed on Jamaicans, and no additional requirement or policies have been placed on Jamaicans.”

Paul Lopez

“Now, I would imagine since the discussion was raised, that this hasn’t deterred these activities from continuing.”

Gilroy Middleton

“Well, what we’re working on now is internal communications, communicating with the other security forces, communicating with the airline companies, even internal communications within the government, communicating with, Ministry of Civil Aviation, which falls under Blue Economy, communicating with Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations so that we are able to balance tourism, civil aviation, national security, and immigration. So we’re information sharing. And also, I just returned from a security briefing in Salvador on Tuesday, so also getting regional information and sharing all information in terms of what’s happening here in Belize from a regional level.”