Amnesty Program Applicants Receive Permanent Residency Documents

The Department of Nationality and Passports and the International Organization on Migration handed over the first batch of permanent residency documents to persons who applied under the government’s Amnesty Program. With their legal standing and immigration status now regularized, the recipients are one step closer towards receiving full Belizean citizenship. We heard from Diana Locke, the Head of Office at the International Organization on Migration Belize.

 

Diana Locke, Head of Office, IOM

“Today, we had the ceremony for the handing over of the amnesty permanent residents cards.  This is the end process for those recipients today who applied in the amnesty.  We partnered with the Government of Belize back in 2022 and 2023 to execute on the ground applicants and preparing applicants for the amnesty application process.  And so, today the approvals are beginning to come out, cards have been printed and persons have received their permanent residence cards for Belize.  It allows them to live, work, function in Belize as any other permanent resident.  Five years from today, they are eligible to apply for nationality through this process.  But very important for us today was the fact that we did this in the middle of what we call our identity and integration hub, so that these persons who picked up their card today can actually come to the social security desk that we have here today at the hub and they can actually make an application for their social security cards.  So it’s kind of like a one-stop shop today.  This is our intention across the country, we’re going to be having about eight to ten hubs like this across the country where we’re taking all of the identity services that the government has, bringing them in one location, bringing social security along with it and maybe others.  We have labor, we have a private sector entity.  We might be bringing in more private sector entities as we go along and we see how it’s functioning.  We might improve on it because it’s proven to be very effective.  People who live in rural communities find it very difficult to come on a regular basis into a government office during the day and then you go from one office to the other and you’re moving around.  Today, you can do everything in one location.”