Driving in Belize on a US Licence: How Long It Is Valid
Verified on 7 November 2026 on the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Chapter 230, Revised Edition 2020, as published by Belize’s Attorney General’s Ministry. The Department of Transport’s own website returned a 404 page that day.
Under section 45(2) of Belize’s Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Chapter 230, the holder of a valid domestic driving licence issued outside Belize — a US state licence included — is exempt from holding a Belize driving licence “during a period of twelve months from the date of his last entry into Belize”, for as long as that licence remains valid. The exemption does not cover a driver disqualified from holding a licence “in consequence of a conviction or of the order of a court”, and it is without prejudice to section 36, under which a person under seventeen is not eligible for a licence. The same section gives the identical 12-month exemption to holders of a valid international driving licence, so the Act does not require an International Driving Permit on top of a valid US licence. Licences are issued by the Department of Transport. This is the law as consolidated to 31 December 2020; a 2026 amending Act exists and we could not read it.
The statute is generous and specific on how long a foreign licence works; speed limits, licence fees and office hours are either set outside the Act or were unreachable on the government’s sites on the day we checked.
The rule and the numbers in the Act
| Item | What the Act says | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Driving on a valid foreign (US) domestic licence | Exempt from a Belize licence for twelve months from the date of last entry, while the licence remains valid; not for a driver disqualified by a conviction or court order, and without prejudice to the s.36 minimum age of seventeen | s.45(2) |
| International driving licence | Same twelve-month exemption | s.45(2) |
| Temporary Belize licence for a bona fide visitor | Any period not exceeding three months, with or without a driving test, on payment of the prescribed fee (amount not in the Act) | s.45(1) |
| Minimum age for a driving licence | Not under seventeen; goods-vehicle licence not under eighteen; public service vehicle licence under eighteen not without one year’s Belize licence | s.36, s.35 |
| Visitor’s own car or motorcycle | Exempt from registration for a period not exceeding three months, subject to prescribed conditions | s.9(1)(b) |
| Visitor’s vehicle without an international certificate | The Department may issue a temporary licence not exceeding three months from issue, on payment of a prescribed fee (amount not in the Act) | s.28(1) |
| Speeding | Fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars, and disqualification for such period as the court thinks fit | s.73(2) |
| Drink-driving limit | 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, or 107 milligrammes in 100 millilitres of urine | s.75; “prescribed limit” defined in s.81(2) |
| Driving unfit through drink or drugs, or over the limit — first conviction | Fine not less than five hundred dollars, or imprisonment for one year, or both | s.74(1), s.75(3) |
| Second or subsequent conviction | Fine not less than one thousand dollars, up to five thousand dollars, or two years’ imprisonment, or both | s.74(1), s.75(3) |
| In charge of a vehicle while unfit (not driving) | Fine of five hundred dollars or imprisonment for six months, or both | s.74(2) |
The Act writes its fines in words and in “dollars”; we did not check which dollar the Act means. No amount on this page has been converted.
The Department of Transport is the authority on these rules and on the prescribed fees, and they change by Act, Order and regulation; confirm with the Department before you rely on them.
Who issues licences
The Act names the Department (the Department of Transport) as the body that issues driving licences, with appeals against a refusal going to the Minister (s.44(3)). The Department can also, by Order in a statutory instrument, withdraw the foreign-licence right for domestic licences of a specified description or holders of a specified description (s.45(2)(b)). We found no such Order, but we searched only the 2020 text of the Act.
We cannot give the Department’s office address, hours, phone number or fee schedule: on 7 November 2026 transport.gov.bz redirected to a 404 page, dot.gov.bz did not resolve, and belize.gov.bz returned HTTP 503.
Where the Act uses three months
The Act does contain three-month periods, but they apply to things other than a foreign licence: the temporary Belize licence a visitor can be issued (s.45(1)), and a visitor’s own vehicle (s.9 and s.28). Because the 2026 amending Act could not be read, we cannot rule out that it changed s.45; the Department of Transport is the body to confirm with.
Renting a car or cart
The Act’s rule is about the licence, not about rental contracts; rental-company rules may differ, and we did not research them for this page. What each operator publishes on driver age, extra drivers and insurance is on our Belize car rental costs page, and the licence and age terms that Ambergris Caye’s cart operators write into their contracts are on our golf cart rental on Ambergris Caye page.
What we could not establish
- Speed limits. Maximum speeds are set by the Minister’s Order under s.73(1), not in the Act, and we found no Order. Figures on secondary sites conflict with one another and are not sourced, so we give none.
- The Department of Transport’s offices, hours, phone and fees. Its website returned a 404 page; dot.gov.bz did not resolve; belize.gov.bz returned HTTP 503 on 7 November 2026.
- The fee for a temporary visitor licence or a Belize licence. Prescribed by regulations; not found.
- Seat-belt and mobile-phone rules and fines. SI No. 146 of 2023 (Electronic Devices Regulations) and SI No. 147 of 2023 (Seat Belts Amendment) exist, but the National Assembly site served a hosting “suspended” page.
- Recent amendments. Act No. 11 of 2026 (Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic, May 2026), SI No. 148 of 2023 (Speed Measuring Device Amendment), and SI No. 22 of 2024 and SI No. 100 of 2024 (Amendment Regulations) are known to us by title only. Every figure on this page is as consolidated to 31 December 2020.
- Which side of the road, and third-party insurance. Not taken from an official source in this pass; we did not fetch the Motor Vehicle Insurance (Third Party Risks) Act.
- Tourism Board and US State Department guidance. travelbelize.org/driving-in-belize/ returned 404 and the State Department’s Belize page returned HTTP 403.
How we researched this
On 7 November 2026 we read the Revised Edition 2020 of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Chapter 230, on the Attorney General’s Ministry site, which consolidates the law to 31 December 2020 (including Act No. 8 of 2008 and Act No. 22 of 2018). We tried the Department of Transport’s website, the Government of Belize portal, the Belize Tourism Board and the US State Department, and the National Assembly for later amendments, with the results listed above. The three-month figure was found on two expat sites and is reported only as their claim.
Sources
- Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Chapter 230, Revised Edition 2020 — Attorney General’s Ministry — the twelve-month foreign-licence exemption and the international-licence equivalence (s.45(2)), the withdrawal power (s.45(2)(b)), the temporary visitor licence (s.45(1)), licence issue and appeals (s.44(3)), minimum ages (s.35, s.36), visitor-vehicle exemptions (s.9(1)(b), s.28(1)), speeding penalty and the Minister’s Order (s.73), drink-driving penalties and limits (s.74, s.75, s.81(2))
- National Assembly of Belize — Act No. 11 of 2026, Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic — the titles of the 2023, 2024 and 2026 amending instruments, taken from National Assembly file addresses returned by web search (titles only; the site itself served a hosting “suspended” page on 7 November 2026)
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.