The United States Consulate in Havana resumed on Tuesday the processing of visas for immigrants, announced in early April, much fuss. The US legation, EFE notes, has not formally announced this restart, which was scheduled for May but without a specific date.
Four people of Cuban nationality, who had an appointment, lined up first thing in the morning at the diplomatic headquarters building for this procedure, the Spanish agency reported.
Since it was suspended in 2017, as a result of the health incidents that occurred to US diplomats known as “Havana syndrome”, this service has only been carried out at the US embassy in Georgetown, Guyana, where hundreds of Cubans have to wait for the resolutions of their procedures, not exempt from irregularities.
Four people of Cuban nationality, who had an appointment, lined up first thing in the morning at the diplomatic headquarters building for this procedure.
Since the first announcement of the resumption of services in Havana, the embassy clarified that it would be “limited” and that, as long as this does not change, the headquarters in Georgetown would continue to be “the main place of processing for the majority of Cuban applicants for immigrant visas.
The restart of consular processes “is part of a general expansion of the embassy’s functions to facilitate diplomatic and civil society engagement,” the legation said, adding that IR-5 applicants were chosen, reunification visas, as a way to recognize “immediate family priority” as well as “the unique age, health and mobility challenges for this category.”
The diplomatic headquarters warned that the applicant who is notified after April 1, 2022 that his case is ready to be processed, will have his interview scheduled in Havana, and those who were informed before that date will have to fly to Georgetown. to process your visa. “Given the limitations of its resources,” the embassy “is not accepting transfer requests from applicants.”
In the last five months, a total of 47,331 Cubans entered the North American country irregularly and in February alone the figure reached 16,557, according to data from the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The Government of Cuba blames Washington for the increase in the irregular migratory flow and has repeatedly accused it of failing to comply with bilateral agreements on the matter.
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