Belize Drone Laws: Can You Bring a Drone to Belize and Fly It?
Verified on 14 November 2026 on the Belize Department of Civil Aviation’s Drones page, its Operational Directives page and the draft drone directive listed there, and on the National Institute of Culture and History’s code of conduct for archaeological reserves.
The Belize Department of Civil Aviation (BDCA) states that “The Government of Belize currently prohibits the temporary importation of drones for recreational/personal usage.” Drone authorizations for foreign operators are accepted, in the department’s words, only from “international drone operators who have been commissioned for works/services from an approved local business/organization in Belize”, and the permit costs $30.00, which the page calls BZE Currency (US$15.00, our conversion at Belize’s fixed 2:1 peg). That is the rule as the department’s Drones page printed it when we read it on 14 November 2026.
| Rule | As the source prints it | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Drones for recreational or personal use | Temporary importation prohibited by the Government of Belize | BDCA Drones page |
| Foreign operators | Applications accepted only from international operators commissioned by an approved local business or organization | BDCA Drones page |
| Permit fee | $30.00 BZE Currency, paid at the Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) office, first floor of Philip Goldson International Airport | BDCA Drones page |
| Near airstrips | No authorizations for areas near 0 to 3 miles of an aerodrome without the department’s written approval | BDCA Drones page |
| Archaeological reserves | Using a drone within the boundaries of the reserves is prohibited | NICH code of conduct |
The Drones page ties its prohibition to the purpose of the import, recreational or personal, and prints no weight limit or exemption alongside it.
Who the permit is for
The BDCA’s page sets out two groups of applicants: international operators, whose request comes from the commissioning business or organization, and Belizean operators. Both pay the same $30.00 fee at the AIS office at Philip Goldson International Airport.
For visitors, the same page says “The Government of Belize is currently developing requirements and regulations for recreational drone travelers to Belize.” It gives no date for them.
Where authorizations are not issued
The department’s note reads: “Drone authorizations are not issued for areas near 0 to 3 miles of an aerodrome (airstrips).” The places it names are Ladyville, Placencia, Caye Caulker and North of San Pedro, “without written approval from the department”. For the island town itself, see Ambergris Caye and San Pedro.
The National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) lists, among the acts prohibited at Belize’s archaeological reserves, “Use a drone within the boundaries of the archaeological reserves”. Its code says a prohibited act brings “the immediate expulsion of the visitor without reimbursement” and names the Institute of Archaeology’s park staff as the authority inside the reserves, which include sites such as Caracol.
The DRAFT directive and its weight classes
The BDCA’s Operational Directives page lists a Draft OD - Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Consultation. The draft is dated 01 June 2025 in its record of revisions, and its preamble says it was developed from workshops held in March 2022 and April 2024 at the headquarters of the Central American Agency for Aeronautical Safety (ACSA) in Alajuela, Costa Rica. It says it “will take effect from its publication by the Belize Department of Civil Aviation”. It is a draft for consultation: none of the following is the rule on the Drones page above.
| Class in the DRAFT (OD UAS 1.05) | Weight as printed |
|---|---|
| Micro UA | W ≤ 250 grams (0.55 lbs) |
| Small UA | 250 g < W ≤ 2 Kg (4.4 lbs) |
| Light UA | 2 kg < W ≤ 25 Kg (55 lbs) |
| Heavy UA | W > 25 kg |
The DRAFT also says that drones weighing less than 250 grams would not require registration unless they have an integrated onboard camera sensor; that its Open category (OD UAS 1.200) is limited to a take-off mass under 25 kg, flight within VLOS and never over large assemblies of people, and an altitude of no more than 400 ft (120 m); and that a BDCA Remote Pilot Certificate of Competence would be required to fly a drone weighing more than 250g in that category (OD UAS 1.205).
The Belize Department of Civil Aviation is the authority on drone permits; this page only reports what its published pages say. Its Drones page lists the Director of Civil Aviation at +501-225-2052 and +501-225-2014.
What the department doesn’t publish
On its Drones page, read 14 November 2026, the BDCA printed no penalty for importing or flying a drone without a permit, no date for the recreational rules it says it is developing, and no list of the approved local businesses. Its Operational Directives page, read the same day, gave no date for a final version of the drone directive.
How we researched this
We read the BDCA’s Drones page and Operational Directives page on 14 November 2026, downloaded the draft directive from the Operational Directives page and extracted its text, and read NICH’s code of conduct the same day. The US-dollar figure is our conversion at Belize’s fixed 2:1 peg to the US dollar, explained on our Belize currency page; nothing else here is calculated.
Sources
- Belize Department of Civil Aviation — Drones — the recreational import prohibition, the commissioned-operator rule, the $30.00 BZE Currency fee and the AIS office, the 0 to 3 mile aerodrome note and the four named places, the recreational rules under development, the Director’s phone numbers
- Belize Department of Civil Aviation — Operational Directives (OD) — the listing of the draft drone directive for consultation
- Belize Department of Civil Aviation — Draft OD Unmanned Aircraft Systems (PDF) — the 01 June 2025 date, the workshops, the effect-on-publication clause, the four weight classes, the registration line for drones weighing less than 250 grams, the Open-category limits and the certificate rule
- National Institute of Culture and History — Code of Conduct — the drone ban inside archaeological reserves, expulsion without reimbursement, park staff as the authority
Last verified: 2026-11-14
Researched and written by Estuardo Enriquez for belizetravelblog.com, an independent site with no connection to any airport, airline, tour operator or government body.