While the island nation of Cuba received over 2.3 million foreign visitors in 2023, a history of strained relations with the United States dating back to Fidel Castro’s 1959 successful coup of the American-backed government means visiting as a U.S. citizen remains riddled with challenges.
While former President Barack Obama followed a formal visit to the country in 2016 by loosening laws for American tourists, his successor Donald Trump later partially reversed those changes.
To this day, American citizens are not permitted to visit Cuba for purposes of tourism but are able to visit if their reasons fall within 12 categories. The list includes family visits, journalistic purposes, cultural and religious performances, and official business of the U.S. government.
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On the Cuban side, international arrivals are required to submit a D’Viajeros (travelers) form providing information about their identity and reasons for visiting the country.
Traveling to Cuba? These are the changes you need to know about
Prospective visitors can now submit their “e-visa” request up to seven days before their visit. The e-visa was introduced in 2023 but until now was only made available to visitors 48 hours before their arrival in Cuba.
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A statement from the Cuban Embassy in the United Kingdom said the change “responds to the requests of users interested in entering our country, adapting to the offers and stays offered by various hotel and travel entities operating in Cuba,” as well as “aims to provide greater convenience to travelers and improve the visitor experience.”
A second change aimed at encouraging more foreign travelers (Brits and Canadians are some of the foreigners most likely to visit the country for a beach holiday) has to do with postponing the validity of the Tarjeta del Turista (tourist card) until June 30, 2025.
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Visited Cuba before? These are the e-visa changes that will or will not affect you
As the country transitions to an e-visa system, it has been looking to phase out the print cards by the end of the year but transition periods almost always go less smoothly than anticipated. People who are granted the physical card between now and mid-2025 will have it remain valid for the subsequent 90 days and will not need to do anything else if returning for multiple visits during the same time period.
But a gradual phase-out period means that those who do apply for the e-visa online will be automatically transitioned to the newer system. The first arrivals to use the e-visa system are government representatives and those coming to Cuba through an official agency. The physical card was also often seen as a way to avoid the passport stamp that for many was at one point a deterrent from visiting the country (an issue that, in the age of electronic records, is increasingly becoming a non-issue).
“The Cuban electronic tourist visa management system, called eVisaCuba, will allow for a more efficient and agile service to be offered to people interested in traveling to Cuba for tourism,” the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba (MINREX) said in a statement.
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