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I'm currently in Belize. I wish I had read your comment before leaving the US. This is my second time bringing the drone to Belize. The first was in Dec 2015 and I had no problem. The custom rep asked me about the drone and told me to pay $20US for taxes. That was all. Although it was strange that I had to pay for something I was not going to leave in the country, I went ahead and did what he said.
Then last week when I tried to bring it back it was seized by a custom official that did not have anything in writing to show why he was seizing it. They didn't even know what I was supposed to do instead they pointed me to Civil Aviation. The rep told me to go get a permit and he will release it after I bring the permit back. I gave it to him for storage. When he opened a locked door, a little peek inside revealed about 10 DJI drone cases. These were all seized without any documentation as to why. So I proceeded to Civil Aviation in the rain only to find out that the person in charge, Mr. Lindsay Garbutt, was out of the office for the day. I spoke with Mrs.
Nirvi Bautista (Airworthiness Assistant / SSP Assistant Coordinator), who told me that they do not issue permits and that all I had to do was to take the receipt I had collected from Custom to the storage area and collect my drone. This is where the real confusion began. I went back over to the customs area and told the person whom I had spoken to earlier what the lady at the aviation office said. He said he could not release it to me. The custom reps had no knowledge why they were taking people's drone. All they knew was that Civil Aviation had told them that they must seize all drones. I went back to the CA building about five times to be pushed around again by Mr.
Nigel Carter (Chief Operations Officer / State Safety Programme Coordinator) who told me that his department had a round table and they had voted on seizing all drones. When I asked him to show me something in writing that said they can enforce such strict law, he could not produce anything. He kept on telling me that all tourist coming into Belize are no longer allowed to bring and operate drones in Belize. As to the permit, only Belize Nationals can apply and receive a permit to fly. Here is where I am at a lost. He also stated that if the drone is brought into the country it is not allowed to be taken back out of the country. To me it seems as though the CA authorities have no clue, don't know what they are doing and are making up the rules as they go along. There are no proper documentations to justify their actions. This is very unsat and I think they need to get their act straight before someone takes some legal steps to make sure they do the right thing.
