Belize-Mexico Border at Santa Elena and Chetumal: Fees on Both Sides
On this page 4 sections
Verified on 7 November 2026 on Mexico’s Diario Oficial de la Federación and the Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM) land-entry fee table, the Belize Tourism Board’s Mexico-to-Belize page (read rendered in a browser), and Belize Immigration’s and the Press Office’s pages.
Crossing between Belize and Mexico at Santa Elena (Corozal District) and Subteniente López outside Chetumal, there are two separate charges, set by two governments. On the Mexican side, the visitor fee under Article 8, section I of Mexico’s Ley Federal de Derechos — for the category “Visitante sin permiso para realizar actividades remuneradas” (visitor not permitted to do paid work) — is $983.00 (MXN), in force from 1 January 2026, per the decree published in the Diario Oficial. INM states that foreigners who enter Mexico by land and stay no more than seven days do not pay it; otherwise it is paid at the moment of leaving Mexico. On the Belize side, the Belize Tourism Board lists three land-border exit charges at the full rate: a BZ$30.00 Departure Processing Fee, a BZ$2.50 Border Development Fee and a BZ$7.50 PACT Conservation Fee — BZ$40 (our sum), which matches the BZ$40 the Board’s page itself quotes.
The two sides are mirror images in one respect: both governments exempt short stays by some travellers, but Mexico’s seven-day rule applies to any foreigner entering by land, while the Belize Tourism Board lists full exemptions for residents of named Mexican states and a reduced BZ$2.50 charge for Mexicans from other states visiting less than 2 days.
The fees
| Charge | Amount as printed | Who pays / when | Set by | Legal basis / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico visitor fee (DNR, Art. 8 fr. I) | $983.00 (MXN) | Visitors who are not permitted to do paid work; land arrivals staying more than seven days, paid on leaving Mexico | Government of Mexico | Ley Federal de Derechos Art. 8 fr. I, as reformed by decree in the Diario Oficial (in force 1 January 2026); seven-day rule Art. 11 fr. II |
| Belize Departure Processing Fee | BZ$30.00 | On leaving Belize by land, full rate | Government of Belize | Belize Tourism Board page |
| Belize Border Development Fee | BZ$2.50 | On leaving Belize by land | Government of Belize | Belize Tourism Board page |
| Belize PACT Conservation Fee | BZ$7.50 | On leaving Belize by land | Government of Belize | Belize Tourism Board page |
Mexico’s fee is printed in pesos only and Belize’s in Belize dollars; no official page we read gives a US-dollar figure for either, and we have not converted them. The Press Office’s Cabinet brief names the Belize levies as the “Border Development fee, Conservation fee, and the Belize Departure Tax”, without amounts.
These fees are set by Mexico’s government and by Belize’s, and they change by decree — the Mexican fee has changed every year we found; confirm with INM and with Belize Immigration before you rely on them.
Earlier Mexican figures (superseded)
| Year | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $717.00 MXN | INM land-entry table, 2024 |
| 2025 | $860.56 | Diario Oficial decree signed 18 December 2024 |
| 2026 | $983.00 (MXN) | Diario Oficial decree signed 5 November 2025, in force 1 January 2026 |
The INM table that sets out the seven-day rule still prints the 2024 amount; the 2026 figure is the decree’s. We searched the 2026 decree text and it contains no change to Article 11, the seven-day rule.
Not the tourist fee: Mexico’s consular extract of the 2026 law lists US$321.00 for “Visitante con permiso para realizar actividades remuneradas” — the visitor category that is permitted paid work. It is not the charge a tourist pays at Subteniente López.
How Mexico takes payment
INM’s table lists bank cards (Visa and Mastercard, on a PIN pad), payment at a bank counter using the “hoja de ayuda” (the help sheet), and internet payment by electronic transfer. Cash is not listed. INM’s information line: 800 00 46264.
Belize’s exemptions for Mexican residents
From the Belize Tourism Board’s page:
| Who | What they pay on leaving Belize by land |
|---|---|
| Residents of Othón P. Blanco (the Chetumal municipality) | Exempt from all departure-fee charges, regardless of length of stay |
| Residents of Campeche, Yucatán, Tabasco, Chiapas and Quintana Roo | Nothing if the stay is “less than 7 days” (the Board’s wording; Cabinet Brief 105 says “up to seven days”, so the two differ on a stay of exactly seven days); longer stays BZ$40 (the Board prints “approximately $405 MXN”) |
| Mexicans from other states | Visit under 2 days: a minimum fee of BZ$2.50 (the Board: “approximately $25 MXN”); longer: BZ$40 |
The five-state exemption was approved by Cabinet (Press Office Cabinet Brief 105). Separately, Belize Immigration announced on 27 October 2026 preparations for the launch of an expanded Digital Border Crossing Card, which it says is intended to allow eligible Mexican nationals visits of up to seven days throughout Belize, compared to the previous three-day provision limited to the northern districts; “there is currently no application fee”, and its requirements “will be published shortly”.
Everything about the airport departure charges, and the land-border charges in more depth, is on our Belize exit fee page. What a US citizen needs to enter Belize — at a land border or the airport — is on our Belize entry requirements for US citizens page; we did not re-research entry rules here.
Offices and hours
No official opening hours were found for either crossing. Neither Belize Immigration nor INM publishes a page we could find with the hours of the Santa Elena or Subteniente López crossings.
The only hours we found are for an office, not the crossing, and come from a secondary source — the IOM migrant information portal, which says it was “Updated November 2024”. For Belize Immigration’s northern border office at Santa Elena, Corozal District, it lists: Mondays to Thursdays 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM; Fridays 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM; phones +5014238315 and +5014038016; email [email protected]. These are office hours, not the hours the border is open.
Belize Immigration headquarters (its own Contact Us page): Belmopan +(501) 822-3860; WhatsApp +(501) 610-2143; online contact form.
The legal name of the crossing. Belize’s SI No. 19 of 2025 (border-point transport regulations, gazetted 3 February 2025) defines the border point with Mexico as Santa Elena in the Corozal District. That instrument regulates cargo transport, not passenger fees.
INM’s own office details for Subteniente López or Chetumal — address, phone, hours — were not found on gob.mx.
What we could not establish
- Crossing hours on either side. No Belize Immigration or INM page we found prints them.
- INM’s Subteniente López / Chetumal office details. Not found on gob.mx.
- US-dollar equivalents. No official page prints a US$ figure for the BZ$40 exit charges or the $983.00 MXN fee.
- A Belize government page with the exit amounts. The amounts come only from the Belize Tourism Board page; the Press Office briefs name the levies without amounts.
- Buses between Chetumal and Belize City. Not researched for this page; we saved no operator page, so we give no operators, times or fares.
- Fees for temporarily importing a vehicle at Santa Elena. Not found on an official page.
- Mexico’s consolidated law text. The diputados.gob.mx copy of the Ley Federal de Derechos timed out on 7 November 2026; we used the Diario Oficial decree instead.
How we researched this
On 7 November 2026 we read the Diario Oficial decrees reforming the Ley Federal de Derechos for 2026 and for 2025, INM’s 2024 land-entry fee table on gob.mx, and the SRE consular extract of the 2026 law. On the Belize side we read the Belize Tourism Board’s Mexico-to-Belize page as rendered in a browser (its raw page refused our fetch), the Press Office’s Cabinet briefs, Belize Immigration’s 27 October 2026 notice and its Contact Us page, and SI No. 19 of 2025. The office hours come from the IOM portal and are labelled secondary.
Sources
- Diario Oficial de la Federación — decree reforming the Ley Federal de Derechos (for 2026) — $983.00 (MXN), the “Visitante sin permiso para realizar actividades remuneradas” category, in force 1 January 2026, no change to Article 11
- Diario Oficial de la Federación — decree of 18 December 2024 (for 2025) — the 2025 figure of $860.56
- INM — Tabla de costos de pago de derechos, Internación vía terrestre (2024) — the seven-day land-arrival rule (Art. 11 fr. II), payment on leaving Mexico, payment methods, the 800 00 46264 line, the 2024 figure of $717.00 MXN
- SRE — Extracto de la Ley Federal de Derechos para 2026 — the US$321.00 paid-work visitor category
- Belize Tourism Board — Transportation from Mexico to Belize — the BZ$30.00, BZ$2.50 and BZ$7.50 charges and the BZ$40 figure, all three Mexican-resident exemptions and their peso approximations
- Government of Belize Press Office — Cabinet Brief 89 — the names of the three levies
- Government of Belize Press Office — Cabinet Brief 105 — Cabinet approval of the five-state exemption
- Belize Immigration — Mexican Border Crossing Card update, 27 October 2026 — the seven-day card, the three-day provision it replaces, no application fee, requirements to be published
- Belize Immigration — Contact Us — headquarters and WhatsApp numbers, contact form
- SI No. 19 of 2025 — Regulation of Transport at Border Points (Press Office) — Santa Elena, Corozal District as the legal border point with Mexico
- IOM migrant information portal — Belize northern border office — secondary: office hours, phones and email at Santa Elena, “Updated November 2024”
Last verified: 2026-11-07
Researched and written by Estuardo Enriquez for belizetravelblog.com, an independent site with no connection to any tour operator or government body.