If you are thinking of visiting Cuba and aim to travel to the US on an ESTA visa-waiver at any stage in the next few years, the advice from travel experts is simple – don’t.
Anyone who has visited the communist island since January 2021 is no longer eligible for an ESTA visa waiver – making it much more difficult and expensive to travel to or through the US.
The Electronic System for Travel Authorisation is the swift, cheap and easy online approval process used by anyone travelling to the US on UK passports and a number of other eligible countries.
People who have been granted ESTA visa waivers – which last for two years – have been contacted in the past week and told that those waivers have been cancelled and they cannot apply for a new ESTA.
In every case, this was because the US authorities had become aware that they had travelled to Cuba since January 2021.
As of this month, the ESTA visa application form contains a question asking applicants to indicate if they have been to Cuba. Anyone who checks ‘yes’ will not be eligible.
That means that instead of a 10-minute, US$21, online application for a visa-waiver, they will have to apply for a full visa and travel to the US consulate in Jamaica for an in-person interview, and pay an application fee of $160, before being eligible to visit the United States.
That process – required even to transit through the US – can take several months to complete and success is not guaranteed.
“Right now we are advising people not to travel to Cuba if they normally use the ESTA scheme to fly to or via the USA,” said Fiona Brander, of Travel Pros of Grand Cayman.
“A visa can take months to get and involves travelling to Jamaica. If you need to go to the US, or even travel through the US, it doesn’t make sense to visit Cuba.”
Once you have a US visa it is valid for 10 years, so if you have the need to travel to Cuba and the US, that’s considered the best long-term option but Brander warns it can take a while.
‘Sponsor of terror’
The Compass reported late last year that travellers were starting to feel the impact of a US government decision to reclassify Cuba as a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’, which came into effect in January 2021.
At the time, the exact details of the policy or how it was being enforced were vague and travellers’ experiences seemed to vary.
Some were turned away if they had a Cuban stamp in their passport, while others got through.
The US stance seems to have been clarified and hardened in the past week, however, with several people from Cayman having ESTA applications refused or past authorisation cancelled on the basis of travel to Cuba since 2021.
Previously, Cuban authorities had been willing to forego the passport stamp to make it easier for people to visit. That loophole, which allowed some to travel freely to the US despite having visited Cuba, appears to have been closed.
‘Big Brother is watching’
Even people without a Cuban stamp in their passport have been refused entry in recent weeks.
“If you have been to Cuba they seem to know about it. I’m not sure how they know, but they know,” said Brander.
“Big Brother and his family are watching.”
She said a number of clients had ESTA visa waivers pulled while others had been refused. Anyone with an ESTA who has visited Cuba since January 2021 should check if it is still valid, she said.
The recent addition of a specific question about Cuba on the application form – as of 12 July – makes it crystal clear that anyone who has visited one of Cayman’s closest neighbours will not have easy access to the US.
Brander said lying on a TSA (Transportation Security Administration) form was not an option and carries significant penalties.
Maria Leng, deputy head of the Governor’s Office in Cayman, confirmed that the US had recently updated its official websites to make the policy clearer.
“If you have visited Cuba on or after the date it was designated a State Sponsor of Terrorism (12 January 2021) then you are not eligible to enter the US on an ESTA and anyone who already holds an ESTA but has travelled to Cuba since 12 January 2021 could have their ESTA revoked,” she said in an emailed response to the Compass.
Leng added that the US authorities appeared to have information about passenger travel history regardless of whether a passport was stamped.
“I have been advised of individuals with no stamp in their passport having the ESTA revoked,” she said.
She added that some had been informed of this while trying to board flights to the US. Others had been contacted and advised their ESTA was revoked, even without any planned travel to the US.
The policy, which affects travellers all over the world, has a disproportionate impact on Cayman. Cayman Airways flies twice a week to Cuba and many living in the jurisdiction are likely to have visited the island at some point.
Some rely on the air-link with Cuba to maintain family connections, while political issues between the two islands, including the vast number of Cubans arriving in Cayman to claim asylum, sometimes makes official travel necessary.
The same is true for Cayman Islands residents who rely on travel to the US for a host of reasons, including for specialist medical treatment.
For more on the visa waiver programme, click here.
The Compass reached out to both Cayman Airways and the Ministry of Home Affairs for comment but had received no response by press time.
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This policy has been in place for some time, and it is unfortunate thar Cayman Airways has been selling tickets to Cuba for locals, without making it clear what the consequences are.