Belize Launches New ePassport

After a year and a half of planning with a team of designers and technology experts from various Belizean government departments, the administration has introduced a new passport. The travel document, along with a new electronic passport issuance and control system, succeeds an older process that was considered open to fraud.

The ePassport will include an electronic chip to safeguard the user’s personal information and photograph, as well as a verification feature for use at smart gates at international borders.

Governor General Froyla Tzalam was the first to receive the new, passport at a ceremony that signalled a transition to the modern system.

The government partnered with Canadian Bank Note Company (CBN) on the project, whose client list includes national and regional governments, central banks, and excise authorities around the world.

‘The launch of the new electronic passport system will result in the implementation of many enhanced features including a new business process for the handling of applications which will accelerate the ePassport issuance in a paperless environment. We have also introduced an electronic chip in the passport which will carry the passport holder’s digital image and the Government of Belize’s digital signature,’ commented Fuencisla Leal Santiago of CBN.

Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs, had this to say about the new ePassport:

‘The Government of Belize proudly launches Belize’s electronic passport issuance and control system and our ePassports. With national pride as its theme, our new passport was designed by a team of officials from the Ministry of Tourism & Diaspora Relations, the National Institute of Culture & History, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade & Immigration. It has been expertly produced by Canadian Bank Note.’