Thread: Visa For Belize

What is the procedure to get visa for Belize if someone attends MUA-B.

Is anybody there?

Well, if your asking about the student visa for the island then the school will give u a form that needs to be filled out by you, the school and a justice of the peace and you take it over to the immigration office in town and pay a $50 ($25US) fee. You have about a months time from the day you land to complete it.

Hope this helps!

the student visa process is quick and painless, at the airport right off the bat you get a 30 day visa automatically and then you just go down to a local office in town where the medical campus is, and submit a one page form, pay a small fee and in turn they'll stamp your passport! sometimes, they come on campus and take care of it! welcome to mua belize your gonna love it down here

Originally Posted by md2011

Is anybody there?

why would you even want to attend this school? or haven't you hears about the merger on-again, off again saga with the whole st. cris fiasco? and hope you also know as well that should you choose to attend this school, you will not be eligible to apply/and or receive teri loans. if I were you I'd think long and hard about this one. sorry to rain on your parade.

Too whom ever that wanted the question answered I hope it helps and thanks for still being interested in us!

Here's how it works: when you arrive, your status is "tourist", which lasts a month as another poster said. Sometime before that month expires, generally during the first week of the semester, you will be given -- probably at student orientation -- a form to fill out attesting that you have enough money to avoid becoming a burden on the Belize government during your stay here. You take that form into town and have it notarized (they don't call them notaries here; they're called JP -- Justice of the Peace), which is a free service. I use the JP in Milo's, a payment center on Middle Street, because it is within walking distance of the other places you have to go.

Then you go to the Post Office on Front Street and get two 75-cent stamps (Belize), which the Immigration officer will ask you for. Then you go a couple of blocks away to BelliColor, a photography shop, and ask for four driver's license photos. You will need one for Immigation, and the other three you'll use as you renew your student visa in subsequent semesters (or for a driver's license -- but that's another post).

Then you go upstairs from BelliColor to the Immigration office where you will meet either Sheldon, the chief officer for San Pedro, or his sister, who normally does passports but fills in for Sheldon in his absence. You must have your passport, postage stamps, photograph, and JP'd financial letter with you. Sheldon will have received a letter from the school with your name on it saying that you are a current student; if the school hasn't sent it, he'll send you away, so you might want to check at the school office before doing all this stuff.

Sheldon will enter your name in his Big Book and give you a little slip of paper to take, with your passport, to the government cashier's office, about 20 feet from the Immigration office. You give the paper, your passport, and fifty Belizean dollars to the clerk and get a receipt, which you bring back to Sheldon who will then stamp your passport and give you a speech about what you're allowed and not allowed to do under the terms of your student visa. Then you can go home.

All of the places mentioned above close between noon and 1 PM, so plan accordingly. Also, you might want to ask office staff to call Immigration to determine the times when visas are processed; they change it occasionally.

Your student visa will expire on the last day of final exams for the current semester. You have three days to get off the island or apply for an extension, or Sheldon will come for you. To apply for an extension, go to Immigration when your student visa expires and tell Sheldon that you want to extend. You'll need your passport. He'll give you, yes -- another slip of paper for the cashier, but this time you'll pay $25 Belize dollars for the privilege of pumping money into their economy for a couple of weeks. The extension will overlap the beginning of the following semester by at least two weeks, so you'll have enough time to repeat everything.

Some students have tried to combine the extension with the next semester's student visa in order to avoid the $25 fee, but Sheldon won't allow it. (P.S. Sheldon is one of the few honest people in government and does things strictly by the book. He's someone you want on your side if something happens, so don't harrass him.)

The student visa and the extension stamp each occupy a full page in your passport, so if you don't have at least ten pages left, you'll wind up going to the mainland to the U.S. embassy for extra pages. Before doing so, be sure to have BelliColor photocopy your entire passport. The State Department doesn't always return cancelled passports, and you may someday need to prove you spent five semesters in San Pedro. It's also suggested by the State Department that you photocopy your passport before you leave home; it will speed replacement in case you lose it.

Wish I would have read your posting before I wasted time and money here at MUA Belize.