Belize QRP Program: Fees, Income Rule and Who Qualifies
Verified on 7 November 2026 on the Belize Tourism Board’s Retirement Program page and its QRP forms, and on the Retired Persons (Incentives) Act, Chapter 62, and its Regulations as published by the Attorney General’s Ministry (Revised Edition 2020).
Belize’s Qualified Retired Persons (QRP) programme is run by the Belize Tourism Board, and the Board prints four fees: a US$150 application fee, a US$1000 programme fee for the principal applicant, a US$200 ID card fee, and a US$750 programme fee for each dependent. The income requirement, in the Board’s words, is “retirement income of $2K monthly or $24K annually”, from a source outside Belize, in an approved foreign currency (US Dollar, Pound Sterling, Euro, Canadian Dollar), with a written undertaking to deposit the requisite amount in a Belize bank, credit union or licensed financial institution. The Regulations designate the Tourism Board as the office that administers the Act and approves applications. The Board’s page says “All application fees must be made in US Currency and are non-refundable”.
Most fees line up across the Board’s page, its forms and the Regulations, with two printed exceptions set out below; the official sources also disagree on who qualifies and on imported vehicles — the minimum age and the vehicle-replacement interval each have two printed answers, set out below.
The fees
| Fee | As printed | Who pays / when | Source and legal basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application Program Fee | US$150 per application | New applicant | Tourism Board page; also US$150 on form QRP06-1121 and in Regulations Schedule 2 |
| Final Program Fee — principal | “Applicant Fee US$1000” | Paid on final approval; form QRP06-1121: “QRP Applicant Member Fee - USD $1,000” | Tourism Board page |
| Final Program Fee — each dependent | “Dependent Fee US$750” | Each dependent | Tourism Board page (see the note on the Regulations’ USD$7500.00 below) |
| QRP ID Card Fee | US$200 per card | Per card | Tourism Board page |
| QRP ID Card Renewal Fee | US$25 annually | Each year | Tourism Board page; Regulations Schedule 2: “US$25.00” |
| Replacement Card Fee | BZD $50.00 | Replacement card: with a police report not older than 3 months, a copy of the passport bio page and one photo | Tourism Board form QRP04-0818 |
| Statutory designation fee | “Designation as a Qualified Retired Person US$1200.00”; “Dependents of a Designated QRP US$950.00” | Made by the Minister on 7 December 2018 | Regulations Schedule 4 |
The Regulations’ Schedule 4 amounts and the Board’s figures agree: the US$1200.00 designation fee is the US$1000 programme fee plus the US$200 card, and the US$950.00 dependent figure is the US$750 dependent fee plus the US$200 card.
Two printed figures do not agree. The renewal fee is US$25 annually on the Board’s page and in the Regulations, but the Board’s form QRP06-1121 prints it as “Fifty Belize Dollars (BZD $50)”. And the Regulations’ dependent form prints the member fee as “USD$7500.00”, while the Board prints the dependent fee as US$750; the form’s own “TOTAL for Designation USD$950.00” — the figure Schedule 4 also prints for dependents — is consistent only with US$750 plus the US$200 card. Neither saved source prints a correction.
The Belize Tourism Board is the authority on these fees, and fees of this kind change by government decision; confirm them with the Board’s QRP unit before you rely on them.
Who to contact
Belize Tourism Board (belizetourismboard.org)
- P.O. Box 325, #64 Regent Street, Belize City
- Phone 501-227-2420; fax 501-227-2423; toll free 1-800-624-0686
- QRP email: [email protected] (printed in the Board’s September 2026 QRP brochure)
- Hours, as printed in the site header: “Mon - Fri 8:00 - 5:00 Sunday CLOSED”. Saturday hours are not printed, and no separate hours are published for the QRP unit.
Who qualifies
Minimum age — the sources conflict. The Tourism Board’s page says any person 40 years or older, and its September 2026 brochure says “Principal applicant must be 40+ years”. The Act as consolidated in the Revised Edition 2020 (the law as at 31 December 2020) says “at least forty-five years of age”. Search results name a 2023 amending Act (Act No. 13 of 2023), but we could not open its text (see below), so we cannot say what it provides on age. The Board administers the programme and currently prints 40; the consolidated Act we could read prints 45.
Income. The application form in the Regulations’ Schedule 1 states the amount as “Two Thousand United States Dollars (USD$2000.00) per month or … Twenty-Four Thousand United States Dollars (USD$24,000.00) annually”; the Board’s brochure describes it as an “Annual foreign currency deposit of $24,000”. The Board lists accepted sources as pension, annuity, Social Security benefits, investment account, inheritance, reverse mortgage, personal savings, retirement contribution plans “and other means of retirement income”. Regulation 5 in the 2020 consolidation still speaks of an annuity “for the life of the applicant”; the Board’s current list is broader.
Nationality. The Board lists all Commonwealth countries excluding Belize, the United States, EU member states, listed Asia-Pacific countries and all South American countries. Belizeans are not eligible.
Dependents. A spouse and children under 18. Under regulation 11 a child’s designation is cancelled at 18 unless the child cannot self-maintain through illness or disability.
Time in Belize. At least 30 consecutive days in Belize each year (Board page, brochure, and term L of form QRP06-1121).
Length and renewal. A designation is valid for one year (regulation 10). The brochure puts the annual membership renewal due date at December 31, and term K of form QRP06-1121 requires a yearly local bank statement for renewal.
Duty-free and tax exemptions
Household and personal effects. Exempt from import duty and tax, for personal use only, within the first year of acceptance; multiple entries are allowed with no limit on the dollar value, and a master shipping list must reach the Board three weeks before import. The Act, s.4(1)(b), gives the right “within one year of first entering Belize, to import … his personal effects and approved means of transportation for his personal use free of all import duties and taxes”.
Means of transport. A motor vehicle (a model within the last 5 years), a light aircraft (under 17,000 kg) or a motor boat; the Act’s Schedule I lists motor vehicle, boat and light aircraft. A replacement vehicle is allowed after proper disposal of the previous one.
Vehicle replacement interval — the Board’s own page gives two answers. Its Duty Exemptions section says “every three [3] years”, matching the Act’s s.4(1)(c) “every three years thereafter”. Its Duty + Tax Exemption Procedures section, on the same page, says “Every four (4) years thereafter”. We could not open the 2023 amending Act. Confirm the interval with the Tourism Board before planning a replacement import.
Tax. The Board says a QRP is exempt from all taxes and duties on income from a source outside Belize, from capital gains tax and from inheritance tax.
What a QRP may not do
Under s.5(1) of the Act, a QRP or dependent shall not engage in employment, carry on a business, trade or profession, or make any investment in Belize. Section 5(2) allows buying land or a home for residential use, and s.5(3) allows business that relates mainly to activities outside Belize and is conducted only with non-residents. A false declaration carries a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars (s.6). The Board also describes a separate QRP INVESTOR route: a business plan employing at least 5 Belizeans, investment capital of at least “one million BZD / $500,000USD”, and 90 non-consecutive days’ prior residence.
The QRP card is not a travel document on its own. The Board relays a notice from the Immigration Department: the card cannot be used alone at border points and must be used with your national passport, which is stamped in and out. For visitors who are not QRPs, the standard rules are on our Belize entry requirements for US citizens page, and stays beyond 30 days are covered on our Belize visa extension page.
Legal basis
The programme rests on the Retired Persons (Incentives) Act, Chapter 62, Revised Edition 2020, which consolidates Act No. 3 of 2019, together with the QRP Regulations; the commencement order was gazetted on 14 August 2010. Search results name later amendments (Act No. 13 of 2023 and SI No. 88 of 2024) whose texts we could not open. The Board’s page says benefits are granted “under the Belize Retired Persons Incentives Act”.
What we could not establish
- The 2023 and 2024 amendments. Search results name Act No. 13 of 2023 and SI No. 88 of 2024 as QRP amendments, but on 7 November 2026 the National Assembly’s site served a hosting “suspended” page and the ILO NATLEX copy returned HTTP 403. We have not read either text, so the minimum-age and vehicle-interval conflicts above stay open.
- An official first-year total. No official page prints an all-in first-year cost for a single applicant or a couple. Schedule 4’s US$1200.00 and US$950.00 are the nearest official combined figures.
- Processing time. Not printed on any official page we read.
- Saturday hours and QRP-unit hours. Not printed.
- Other official URLs. travelbelize.org/qrp returned HTTP 403 and belizetourismboard.org/qrp/ returned 404; the live page is the Board’s Retirement Program page.
How we researched this
On 7 November 2026 we read and saved the Belize Tourism Board’s Retirement Program page, along with the Board’s September 2026 QRP brochure, its form QRP06-1121 and its card replacement form QRP04-0818. We read the Retired Persons (Incentives) Act and its subsidiary Regulations in the Revised Edition 2020 PDFs on the Attorney General’s Ministry site. We tried the National Assembly and ILO NATLEX for the 2023 and 2024 amendments and could not retrieve them.
Sources
- Belize Tourism Board — Retirement Program (QRP) — the US$150, US$1000, US$750, US$200 and US$25 fees, the US-currency and non-refundable rule, the address, phones and printed hours, the 40-year age rule, the income requirement and accepted sources, nationalities, the 30-day stay, the duty-free and tax exemptions, both vehicle-replacement intervals, the QRP INVESTOR route, the border-points notice
- Belize Tourism Board — QRP Card Replacement Form QRP04-0818 — the BZD $50.00 replacement fee and what must accompany it
- Retired Persons (Incentives) Regulations, Cap. 62 subsidiary laws, RE2020 — Attorney General’s Ministry — the Tourism Board’s designation as administering office, Schedule 2 fees, the Schedule 1 forms’ income wording and USD$7500.00 dependent-form figure, Schedule 4’s US$1200.00 and US$950.00, dependents (reg. 11), one-year validity (reg. 10), regulation 5’s annuity wording, the 14 August 2010 commencement
- Retired Persons (Incentives) Act, Chapter 62, RE2020 — Attorney General’s Ministry — the 45-year age rule as at 31 December 2020, s.4(1)(b) and (c), Schedule I, the s.5 work and investment restriction, the s.6 fine, the Act No. 3 of 2019 consolidation
- Belize Tourism Board — QRP Incentives Program brochure (September 2026) — the QRP email, “40+ years”, the “$24,000” deposit wording, the December 31 renewal date
- Belize Tourism Board — QRP member application form QRP06-1121 — the US$150 and US$1,000 lines, the BZD $50 renewal figure, terms K and L
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.