New Belize Digital Immigration and Customs
If you have been following along on my Instagram account recently you would know that I just got back from a week-long trip to Belize. It had been 5 years since the last time I was in Belize and a few things have changed in regards to their immigration and customs procedure. When we arrived the new digital immigration and customs system was only a few days old, but I wanted to share with you what we experienced and what you should know if you are headed to Belize soon too!
How to Prepare for Your Trip to Belize
On my previous trip to Belize, while on the plane, the flight attendants passed out paper copies of the Belize Immigration Forms. This time around, we prepared before even boarding our plane to save a bit of time. The new immigration system is called iDeclare and you can access it on the Belize Immigration website. When you arrive on the website there will be a Captcha code you must enter to prove that you are not a robot. It takes just a second and will get you into the actual form system.
One in the system you will be prompted to pick if you are arriving or departing from Belize. Select your country of origin and proceed to the next step.
The next page is about your personal information and reasons for traveling to Belize. Make sure to have your flight information, passport number, intended district you are visiting in Belize, and your accommodations. This is will help speed things along when you arrive.
Lastly, you will be asked to fill out your Customs Declaration Form. If you are traveling as a family, only one member of the family must fill out the customs declaration form. This form is going to ask you about what you are bringing into the country and if you have any items that you need to declare. Items such as fresh foods, animal products, large sums of money, etc. Once you finish filling out the form you will be given a PDF copy of your document that you can save to your phone or print out if you prefer to do it from a computer ahead of time. The PDF also contains a QR code that will be important once you land in Belize.
Belize Digital Immigration Form at Arrival
While we were on the plane approaching Belize, the flight attendants on our Southwest flight had paper copies of the immigration forms because the system was so new. But since we had the digital versions on our phones already, we did not have to fill them out again which was nice. Especially because a lot of people didn’t have pens, and messed up the dates. In Belize they do their dates as Day, Month, Year, so keep that in mind when filling out the forms.
Another fun tip about Belize is that most airlines load and unload from the front and the rear of the plane. So if you are looking to get to the front of the line for immigration, snag one of those back seats and head out the stairs at the rear of the plane when you arrive before walking to the terminal and heading into customs. We made our way across the terminal and got in line with the rest of the passengers from our plane.
Did the Belize Digital Immigration Save Time?
This is probably the question most people are wondering with a new digital immigration system. I was hopeful that when we arrived there would be a separate line for anyone who used the new system, but unfortunately, during our visit, there was not. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be one in the future. The Belizean government had just announced the new digital immigration forms at the start of December 2024 and we landed in Belize on Dec. 4, 2024 (04/12/2024 in Belize format). So the system was brand new and everyone was still learning.
We waited in line with everyone else until one of the immigration officers was available. Once we walked up he scanned the QR code on our digital form and stamped our passports without any additional questions, which was nice and quick. So from an immigration perspective, I 100% think it was worth doing it online. When it came to the customs declaration we had a few issues. The QR code didn’t scan at the customs checkpoint, so we had to quickly fill out a paper declaration, but the officer was really nice and patient because the new system was causing the issue. After quickly filling out the paper form, we were on our way to start our Belizean adventure.
Overall I still recommend doing the online digital immigration form to save some time on the plane. I would imagine that as time goes on there will be a separate line at the airport as well. And if anything, you save a bit of stress from having to fill out paperwork on a tiny tray on the plane. If you have experienced the digital immigration system, drop a comment below and let us know what you think of it. And be sure to check back to learn more about our week of adventures in Belize!