POSTERN

Belize

General Permanent Residency. Belize’s standard permanent residency needs 1 year of continuous legal residence, but retirees with a regular qualifying income source can bypass the wait.

Free, with the law behind every answer

General Permanent Residency

Permanent residency in Belize.

Who qualifies

Whether you keep your U.S. citizenship depends on the option you choose later.

1

It could fit.

Belize’s standard permanent residency needs 1 year of continuous legal residence, but retirees with a regular qualifying income source can bypass the wait.

Every option that fits your family

Not legal advice.

2

What it takes.

Time
1 year minimum residence, or immediate for qualifying retirees.
Cost
Government residence and card charges vary by nationality, plus police-record, medical and document-legalisation costs.
The hard part
The standard option requires a full year of near-continuous physical presence, with a maximum of 14 days’ absence.
3

Citizens by 2034.

If your first permit is issued in 2027 and you keep living there, this is the road.

  1. 2027
    Residence begins

    No permit term of its own; the clock runs on legal residence.

  2. 2028
    Permanent residence

    One year of legal residence, with no more than 14 days out of the country in total in that year, proof you can support yourself, and no sentence of 12 months or more.

  3. 2033
    Apply for citizenship
  4. 2034
    Citizenship
Time away
Five years as a permanent resident, with no stay abroad longer than 30 days in a row or three months in total in any 12 months (work in Belize or medical reasons can excuse longer trips).
Two passports
Yes. You keep your U.S. citizenship.
  • Not a permit of its own: after a year of legal residence with no more than 14 days abroad, apply for permanent residence; citizenship five years after that.
  • How long the decision takes isn’t published; we allow a year.
The law behind these dates
4

Living there.

Time you must spend there
1 year continuous residence, maximum 14 days absence, for the standard option.
Tax
Belize taxes only Belize-source income; foreign pensions and investment income used to qualify are not taxed.

We never file a tax return. We tell you what applies and brief the professional who does.

5

Start today.

  1. File a permanent residency application with Belize’s Immigration Department once the residence or income qualification is met.Open immigration.gov.bz ↗
  2. Gather these documents.
    • Proof of how you will support yourselves
    • Request your FBI Identity History Summary
    • Health cover for the move
6

Postern can’t run this for you yet.

The official application forms, submission and recovery specification are not complete. Postern cannot run this application yet.

Options open to you today →
7
ISSUED TO

YOUR FAMILY

Cover