BELMOPAN, Thurs. June 3, 2021– On June 2, 2021, the US Embassy in Belmopan resumed its routine non-immigration visa services. Fourteen months ago, as the coronavirus became widespread across the globe, all of the United States’ embassies and consulates overseas temporarily discontinued their visa services. Since then, the US Embassy in Belize has only offered emergency services to passengers who must return to the US. This has caused a backlog of applicants, leaving the embassy booked until July. Interested applicants for visas, however, are encouraged to apply via the embassy’s website, bz.usembassy.gov.

The Consular Chief of the U.S. Embassy in Belmopan, Wilbur Zehr, engaged in multiple television press interviews geared towards making the public aware of the embassy’s resumption of visa interviews. Zehr told one local media outlet, “We are very pleased that today, June 2nd, we started offering the regular non-immigrant visas for Belize. Anybody who comes in for an appointment, whether you are an American citizen seeking a passport or other service, or visa applicant, whether that is for an immigrant visa to travel and live in the United States or just a nonimmigrant visa applicant coming in for a tourist visa, or student visa, or the like. We are just asking people to please wear your mask, to continue social distance. We have our chairs socially distanced in our waiting room. We have a separate outside waiting room to keep people separate. We have wash stations in place. We have got places with hand sanitizers around.”

The embassy believes these protocols will help keep staff and applicants alike safe. Staff will also ensure frequent disinfection of areas with high traffic. The Consular Chief further urged applicants who are not feeling well to not show up to their scheduled appointment. Applicants who are ill are advised to contact the embassy at the email address [email protected] to schedule a new appointment.