The Embassy of the United States in Cuba announced this Wednesday that it will resume the processing of immigrant visas next May, beginning to process only the IR-5 category that recognizes parents who are being claimed by US citizens.
The consular headquarters again insisted that it will be a “limited” resumption and, as long as this does not change, the Embassy in Georgetown, Guyana, “will 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 functions of the Embassy to facilitate diplomatic and civil society engagement,” he said, adding that IR-5 applicants were chosen as a way to recognize “the priority of immediate family members” 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 their statement, they also reported that “they do not have an exact date” of when the diplomatic headquarters “will begin to process the full range of visa services for immigrants and non-immigrants”, and recalled that “it will continue to provide essential services to US citizens and limited processing of non-immigrant emergency 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 migration agreements between the United States and Cuba “are maintained,” said the Charge d’Affaires of the United States in Cuba, Timothy Zúñiga-Brown, in an interview published this Tuesday by CubaNet. The diplomat recalled that there is an agreement between the two nations that consists of granting at least 20,000 visas per year.
Given the exodus of Cubans to the United States in recent months, Zúñiga-Brown affirmed that the figures of the nationals who are leaving are well above the 20,000 visas included in the agreement, for which he acknowledged that “it is important that there be a legal, safe and formal way for people to go to the United States.
The US reduced the staff of its embassy in Cuba in 2017, after some thirty of its diplomats suffered mysterious health incidents known as “Havana syndrome” and whose reasons have not yet been clarified.
Sources from the State Department explained to 14ymedio that one of the most sensitive issues for the full reestablishment of services is to find a mechanism to carry out the physical exam – which is required to obtain an immigrant visa – through the Cuban hospital system, but without this being a source of bulky income for the regime.
Prospective migrants over the age of 15 must present a general medical examination consisting of a chest X-ray, a blood test, and a urine test. Before the closure of the consular services in Havana, this check-up was paid to the island’s authorities in freely convertible currency and at a price of more than 400 dollars per person.
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