Lorna and her family have been established in Belize for decades. They have always worked above board and contributed to the country.

Wow Cooper, I am dismayed with your assessment of Lorna. She has more than done her share of earning her stripes here in Belize.

Oh dear! I post up a genuine comment about looking for work in San Pedro under the employment section and some small minded person responds negatively!

Thank you very much to all my friends for standing up for me!

I'll not stoop to the low level of whoever 'Cooper' is!

Thank you

Sorry, but lots of very nice people dont understand Belize laws. I was not meaning she is not a qualified good intention person. However if she has a working residency..it will be specific as to the work she can do. If she has a retirment residency she cant work at all. It is not possible to have a working residency as a health care provider and a bartender so either she needs to know her laws better to avoid problems, if she does know the laws then she is trying to break them. Very true I do not know her. I do know good people that have been ordered to leave the Country for working as bartenders when they have residency. Certain jobs are held for Belizeans as it should be. I would think a residency allowing Bartending would be hard to get.
I apologize to the woman posting, I did sound negative, I hope she learns the laws regarding her residency, she just sounded so uninformed, it sounded like a bit of a scam...again sorry..

Not nearly good enough, Cooper

Okay I am confused. I was lead to believe that once you became a permenant resident you were able to work without a permit. I have not heard of a working residency but again I have only visited Belize and am looking to move there in the near future. Also the few expat bartenders that I met were residents. They did say that you could not get a work permit to be a bartender. However as residents they could work the bar.
I know that this may be highjacking the thread but can someone correct me on the difference between working residency and permenant residency.

You can pretty much work at any field that you are qualified to work in once you have permanent residency status.

In most cases I think you might need to be a citizen to be a tour guide.

Just read Cooper's post. Work permits allow you to work in specific fields. Full residency status allows you to work in just about any field. Retirement residency status does not allow you to work.

With full residency status you can be a bartender. If someone was kicked out of the country for bartending with full residency status then there was a lot more to the story than you were privacy to.

Cooper I think you misunderstood what Lorna said. She said she is a qualified dental nurse so could work in that capacity. And although she could work as a barmaid, she would prefer not to. It might be a bit of a cultural miscommunication. I know what she meant since I know her and understand the way she speaks.

After becoming a permanent resident, go to the nearest office of the Social Security Board and get registered.

You'll get your photo taken and be issued a Social Security card.

I didn't ask for this, but mine says, "Valid for Employment".
The stamp in my passport says, "Retiree".

The SSB should be able to answer any questions regarding employment.

Not true, you are specified to work at a certain position. I am about done with this post. Just a few more things, my residency stamp reads artist. My neighbors reads Business Woman, what a great choice that was, as she can do just about anything. Neighbor on the othersides residency reads designer, he is a contractor and has lots of opurtunity on his. If you are from the U.K. you also have more options. This is why I get mad, yes its true you can do anything you want with residency, but you are not following the laws, Very little chance immigration will bust you, they are not spending much time checking documents. The few cases I know of where people have been arrested for working outside thier residency are when they are turned in by pissed off Belizeans. My point here is this is not our country, Amanda actually believes you can do anything you want once you have residency and thats just wrong, thats the I have entitlement
factor. I spend so many hours working a non profit for the community, I feel so blessed to be able to live here, and I try so hard to be non evasive to the locals, it is thier country, and again, No you cant work just any job because you have residency..knowone will probably catch you...guess its a issue for the guidelines you want to live with.
The poor woman the made this post, to her I am sorry, but all tthe other post I am amazed you dont know the laws here. Some of you have been here for a long time. What you can do with residency and what the laws say you should do are extremly different, then its up to you to do the right thing.