As of this February 3, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex) De Cuba will no longer carry out the legalization of documents to supply effects abroad and on the national territory. Instead, this function will be assumed by the Ministry of Justice (Minjus).
As established by an agreement of the Council of Ministers, published Monday at the Extraordinary Official Gazette No. 3with this change, the sixth section of an agreement established in 2014 is modified, which regulated the process of certification and legalization of teaching documents.
Now, the official gazette indicates, authorized legal services entities must submit their requests directly to the Minjus. The objective of the measure is to “integrate” and “optimize” all the phases of the process, from the registration entities to the legal firm and consulting, guaranteeing “greater efficiency” and “quality” in the service.
During the official transfer ceremony, the Minister of Justice, Oscar Manuel Silveira Martínez, and the First Deputy Minister of the Minrex, Gerardo Peñalver Portal, assured that the process will be carried out “without interruptions” and with “attachment” to the established deadlines.
| Publishes the @gaceta_de Extraordinary 3 of 3.2.25, Agreement 10035/24 of the Council of Ministers, which crosses the functions of legalization of teaching documents to the @Minjus_cuba pic.twitter.com/tolqs6u6cb
– Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Cuba (@minjus_cuba) February 3, 2025
The process of legalization of documents has been a reason for numerous complaints and questions by Cubans.
In May 2024, the Minrex said that these procedures had expedited and reduced the waiting time to 10 days thanks to the measures taken since 2023 to reverse existing delays.
The minister said there were no accumulated or backward documents, but acknowledged that the procedures “could face objective situations in some entities that participate in the process, due to the difficult current situation.”
In tune with these statements, A state television report He detailed the measures taken by the Minrex to reduce the times of the process despite the high demand, while admitting that “there are other dynamics that delay the legalization procedures.”
These “dynamics”, were abounded, are related to “the processes within the firm or consultancies – where people hire services for the legalization of their documents – and the delays in several agencies in issuing documents, above all, teachers” .
In mid -2024, the migratory scenario and the procedures of many Cubans related to the Democratic Memory Law of Spain, were part of the main causes of the “sustained increase” of requests.
Despite the improvements and the declared decrease in the times in the Foreign Ministry, the procedures for the legalization of documents in Cuba also depended on other entities. Those “dynamics” are, according to the television report, those responsible for the persist. And do not short.
International law firms and consultancies commented on television that once these entities assume the efforts, they must carry out procedures prior to legalization by the Minrex in institutions and agencies of other ministries such as Justice, Higher Education and Health Public
These are procedures for recognition of the documents that must be legalized and whose processing depends on the structures and possibilities of these institutions and organizations.
