As of this Tuesday, Cuba will grant the tourist card for a validity of 90 days, instead of the 30 days it had before. The announcement was made this Sunday through Twitter by the Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos Garcia Grandebut it is already collected on official pages.
In his tweet, García Granda also explained that the visa will be “extendable only once for the same period,” that is, tourists will be able to stay in Cuba for a total of 180 days.
Until now, the tourist visa, which is mandatory, had a maximum duration of 30 days, which could be extended for one more month, provided that the change was managed one week before the expiration of the card before the Immigration and Aliens Office. closest, including the postponement of the return flight and the payment of accommodation.
The new measure is made public just over a week after the closure of the Medical Tourism and Well-being Fair in Havana, one of whose main claims was the relaunch of the Island as a health destination. That travelers can stay in the country for up to six months would favor this objective.
Just a few days ago, the Cuban government recognized that it will be impossible to meet the tourism goal it had planned. Faced with the two and a half million travelers who had insisted that the Island would receive during this 2022, the year will close with 1,710,000 travelersaccording to the Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil Fernández.
Soberón, who held a meeting with Cubans residing in Uruguay, acknowledged that “the current migratory flow has demographic impacts on a nation with low birth rates.”
It was an announced chronicle, since the tourism data emerged of the first nine months of the year. If until September 1,074,814 international travelers arrived on the Island, between October and December the remaining 1.4 million had to arrive to reach the forecast and not even taking into account that the high season begins in November did they give the accounts. It would have been necessary to triple each of the three months the best data of the year, the 152,480 travelers in July.
On the other hand, the director of Consular Affairs and Attention to Cubans Resident Abroad of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Ernesto Soberón, announced this Sunday that the Government is preparing a “citizenship law” and that it “works to promote relations with emigrants”
The official recalled, according to official media, that the 2019 Constitution allows more nationalities apart from Cuba, but said that this “requires legislation.”
Soberón, who held a meeting with Cubans residing in Uruguay, acknowledged that “the current migratory flow has demographic impacts on a nation with low birth rates.”
In addition, he announced that “for the next legislature of Parliament, bills on passport and immigration laws must also be approved.” The official assures that other measures are “under study” “on issues that interest emigration, including streamlining procedures and their participation in socioeconomic development, since the number of Cubans residing abroad interested in investing in their country is growing. “.
The minister did not provide any data to confirm this supposed desire in the current circumstances of deep crisis and in the absence of solid legal guarantees in favor of private investment.
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