Can I get a work permit?

Getting work permits in San Pedro is usually a long and frustrating ordeal, by any measure.  One must seek a broker early on to help you "hurry up and wait between six months and a year to get a work permit (if it doesn’t get "lost", in the meantime.).   Massive doses of patience are the watchwords for obtaining a permit. After one has gone through several postponements - the secretary that buffers the board will refer you to your passport and point out that you must see the Minister of Immigrations (in Belize). Cut to the chase and get the proper papers and sequence of actions to do, when you renew your visitor visa, should you opt to live in Belize for extended periods. Otherwise - you could just as well stay on for $25.00 per month ($12.50 U.S.) as a visitor, then, after 6 months BZ$50.00 per month, indefinitely, so long as you don’t wish to work for money or for free, in any capacity in Belize.

Purchasing a business is the most straight forward means to obtain the right to work, or least it appears at the outset.  Prior approval by the Town Board, that will allow one to actually produce the products of the business being bought is a minimum cautionary action, however, before buying an existing business from a Belize national. Common sense dictates that one needs to be starting a business that has little or no impact on Belizean current job standings, and has a real potential to put more Belize citizens to work at the outset. Putting in clauses that insure that current employees will not be dismissed or other horrendous changes will not occur appears to assuage the Town Board’s concerns along this line, to some degree.

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