probus - please tell your client to try to view everything in life from a much more positive perspective when dealing in belize, and i'm sure he/she will find the overall experience much more pleasant. The entire immigration department is not conspiring to bamboozle him and get double the money. They just have no clue the answers themselves, so they make it up as they go along, i suspect
for about 3.5 years i did monthly stamps, and i traveled a lot as well. I never got schnookered but then again, i wasnt looking to. i also never really "pushed" the dates, and was timely and respectful. After 6 months, i paid $100, and whenever i traveled outside the country, regardless of time out of the country (times ranging from 1 night to playa, to 2 weeks+ bopping around central america).
The reality is, you can ask and ask and ask, and your client can think he's gonna get schnookered, or not think he's gonna get schnookered...the only way to know for sure is to do it. If it's $50 or $100, if that financial difference is so great a difference as to decide if he/she should move here or not, probably not going to be the best fit anyway
not that you're saying any of this, i'm just being direct