Our Journey to Permanent Residency - Part Four: First Interview

On our June 11 jaunt to Belmopan, we came away with our residency package being submitted to Immigration and an interview date for yesterday.

Our appointment was scheduled for 9:00 am, so we hit the road around 6:00 am, armed with our paperwork. I took the wheel for the 2 1/2 hour drive down and was treated to being passed by a bus on a curve, playing chicken with oncoming traffic trying to pass slow trucks, and a severe downpour while on the Western Highway. Oh, and one speed bump that came out of nowhere. In other words, a typical driving experience for these parts.

One of the few elusive signs to let you know about bumps in road

But we arrived safe, sound, and even a bit early for our interview. One other couple was standing outside the interview office, so we figured we may not have to wait real long before our turn came.

A few minutes after 9:00 a.m., an officer opened the door and asked all of us inside. The gentleman we were assigned was very nice. Turns out he lives in Corozal and knew exactly where we live.

Other than wanting to know why we wanted to live in Belize, the entire interview consisted of him asking questions that had been covered on the application form. The whole thing took no more than 10 minutes. He let us know that our packet would be sent to the Special Branch office at the Corozal police station and to expect a call from them for an interview in the next couple of weeks.

That was it.

With the interview over, we hopped back in the car and made the reverse trip home. We thought about stopping for lunch, but it was still fairly early. I must say though that there was one little place on the way back advertising armadillo on their menu board that made us pause -- but we gave it a pass. In a weird sort of way, we ended up having almost the same driving experiences coming back as we did going down -- bus passing on blind curve, games of chicken with oncoming traffic, and more downpours.

We got home tired, but satisfied this stage was over and done with.

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Our Journey to Permanent Residency -
Part One: Hopping on the Crazy Train
Part Two: Chasing Paper
Part Three: Road Trip to Belmopan