By William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 9, 2025
CARICOM nationals from Belize, Barbados, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines began enjoying the right to move freely within these four territories last Wednesday, October 1, and Belize’s banks updated their policies and practices to allow these CARICOM nationals easy access on Friday, October 3.
Prior to October 1, the CARICOM Single Market Economy (CSME) had 13 approved categories of skilled professionals who could move freely to work anywhere within the CSME, including attorneys, artisans, artists, domestic workers, farm workers, media workers, teachers, nurses, and security personnel, as long as they had a university degree or skill certificate from their CSME home territory. Now, free movement has been made available to all citizens of these four partner nations, regardless of profession, and citizens of Barbados, Dominica and St. Vincent will have their CARICOM passport endorsed with an “indefinite stay” stamp when they arrive in Belize, meaning they have the right to live and work in Belize without a visa or work permit.
Guided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the Central Bank announced the banking privileges these new arrivals may enjoy on par with resident Belizeans, via a press release on Friday, October 3. As of last Wednesday, CSME migrants from the three nations won’t need to apply for Central Bank approval to open local currency accounts. Whereas previously CSME nationals had to give prior written notice of property and business transactions, they will no longer be required to do so when selling land or property to Belizeans or when registering a company to operate in Belize.
Belizeans will still need Central Bank approval when they seek to transfer funds, with intention to migrate to Barbados, Dominica, or St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Central Bank will continue to safeguard the integrity of Belize’s financial system, so there will be no relaxing of anti-money laundering standards and the existing procedures that CARICOM nationals must undertake to counter the financing of terrorism. The frontline and compliance staff of the commercial banks and other financial institutions will adopt the new practices to effect these changes in line with the Central Bank’s instructions, and will update their internal policies accordingly.
