MADRID, Spain.- The United States Embassy in Havana resumed this Thursday the processing of visas for immigrants, suspended since 2017, reported the Spanish news agency EFE. The initial date was scheduled for January 4, 2023.
The advertisement The reestablishment of the granting of visas was made last November by the US State Department after a meeting between Cuban and US officials in Havana.
The resumption of these interviews occurs in the midst of an unprecedented migration crisis. Since October 1, 2022, the beginning of the fiscal year, to date, the crews of the United States Coast Guard have intercepted 3,884 Cubans, which means that in just three months the number of rafters intercepted in the Straits of Florida it amounts to almost 4,000. While in the last fiscal year a total of 224,607 Cubans arrived at the southern border of the United States.
This Wednesday the US Coast Guard repatriated 82 Cuban migrants. While on Tuesday another 143 were returned to the island, in compliance with the immigration agreements between Havana and the US. The Caribbean had been detained days before in various operations near the Florida Keys.
On September 1, the United States Embassy in Cuba began processing the pending applications for the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program (CFRP). This program was initially launched in 2007 under the mandate of former President George W. Bush (2001-2009) and provides a legal path for Americans and legal residents in the US to claim their family member within Cuban territory.
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