New Cuban Passports Now Good for 10 Years
Plus the need to pay for an extension every two years is eliminated
HAVANA TIMES – The Cuban government decided to extend the validity of their passports to ten years for those over 16 years of age, and to five years for those under 16 years of age. The announcement came from Ernesto Soberon, director of Consular Affairs and Cuban Residents Abroad at the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
This change is part of a group of measures that, according to Soberón, “seek the continuous strengthening of Cuba’s ties with its nationals abroad.” The new policy announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) will enter into force on July 1, 2023.
In addition to extending the validity of passports, the regime decided to eliminate the requirement to pay for an extension every two years, which currently costs 90 euros. He also said that passports issued at consulates will now cost 180 dollars or euros for those over 16 years of age, and at 140 dollars or euros for children under 16 years of age.
The passports issued from this new decision will be those that will be valid for ten years, not those currently in force.
Soberon added that, starting next July, a Cuban passport will be required to visit the island for those who emigrated from the Island before January 1, 1971, as established in the new Constitution. It doesn’t matter that they have long taken on another nationality.
Finally, the MINREX official announced: “The extension of stay abroad, beyond 24 months [without losing their residency rights in Cuba], automatic and free of charge, announced in March 2020, with the aim of supporting Cubans who were outside the country during the critical period of Covid-19, remains in effect.”
In the thread on Twitter, Soberon said that “more details about these migratory-consular measures will be informed in the coming hours through the Round Table, the Nation and Emigration websites, the DIIE (Immigration and Aliens Directorate), the MININT (Ministry of the Interior) and the Cuban consulates”.