On July 20, 2026, Belize’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT) issued an official statement to clear up widespread public confusion sparked by Spain’s recent publication of an updated visa-free travel list for the Schengen Area, which failed to include Belize.
The MFAFT emphasized that the July 14 list released by Spanish authorities does not represent a new policy change targeting Belize. Instead, it is merely a consolidated restatement of long-standing visa exemption rules already codified in European Union Regulation 2018/1806, which has kept Belize excluded from the Schengen visa-free regime since the regulation took effect. All decisions on visa exemption status for non-EU countries are made collectively by all EU member states, not unilaterally by any single national government, the ministry noted.
For Belize to gain full visa-free access to the entire Schengen Area, a formal amendment to existing EU-level legislation is required. This legislative process is entirely separate from domestic announcements individual member states like Spain issue to update their own public travel guidance, the statement explained.
According to the MFAFT, Belize has pursued full Schengen visa waiver status for Belizean nationals through years of sustained diplomatic lobbying, targeted at both Spanish authorities and EU governing institutions. That long-term effort already delivered a major breakthrough in November 2025, when EU officials approved a new arrangement that allows Belizean citizens holding valid biometric passports to obtain multiple-entry Schengen visas valid for up to five years.
The ministry framed that 2025 reform as a meaningful step forward that has significantly streamlined travel for Belizeans visiting Spain and other Schengen Area countries for a wide range of purposes, including business trips, leisure tourism, educational exchanges, and family visits. The new regime represents a substantial improvement over the stricter, more restrictive visa rules that were in place before the 2025 agreement, the statement added.
The nine CARICOM member states that are included on Spain’s updated visa-free list, all of which already hold full Schengen visa exemption under existing EU rules, are Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The 27-country Schengen Area, which allows for free movement across internal borders between participating European states, counts Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland among its current members.
In closing, the MFAFT reaffirmed that it will continue advancing Belize’s request for full visa-free access through all appropriate diplomatic channels, with the goal of securing the legislative change needed to fully remove the visa requirement for all Belizean travelers.