MIAMI, United States. — The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented a bill that could eliminate the transit visa requirement for Cuban travelers.
The initiative seeks to strengthen diplomatic and “friendship” ties with Cuba and with 40 other countries from which the South American nation requires a visa to make airport transit in its territory.
“The national government considers it convenient to exempt nationals of the States or territories listed in article 8 of Resolution 5488 of July 22, 2022 from the ‘type V’ visa requirement for airport transit, in order to strengthen the ties of friendship”, indicates a draft of the bill to which they had access Press media inside and outside Colombia.
If the measure is approved, Cubans could transit through any airport transit zone in Colombia for a maximum of up to 24 hours.
The elimination of the transit visa will also benefit travelers from Afghanistan, Angola, Algeria, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, India, Iraq, Central African Republic Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Syria, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
In recent years, the transit visa for Cubans has been extended in several Latin American countries due to the high number of travelers from the island who were not admitted to the destination countries.
On February 22, the Jamaican authorities reported on the imposition of the transit visa for Cuban citizens, a measure that will enter into force on March 13.
Through a public notice, the Ministry of National Security of that country announced that as of the indicated date, the current agreement between the two countries, which allowed Cubans free transit for a period of up to three days, would be null and void.
The Jamaican Ministry of National Security specified in the communication that the other visa requirements for Cuban nationals entering Jamaica would remain the same.
A transit visa is a type of visa that allows travelers to pass through a country on their way to their final destination. The requirements and conditions for obtaining a transit visa vary depending on the country being visited and the nationality of the traveler.
