MIAMI, United States.- The United States Embassy in Havana announced this Wednesday that it will resume all immigrant visa services in Cuba and will accelerate the processing of Cuban family reunification in 2023, according to a statement published on its website. .
“As part of the expansion of regular pathways, beginning in early 2023, the United States Embassy in Havana will resume full processing of immigrant visas for the first time since 2017.”
The document further explained that this change will also eliminate the need for Cubans applying for immigrant visas in family preference categories to travel outside of Cuba to Georgetown, Guyana, for their interviews.
“In accordance with our commitments under the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection to facilitate safe, orderly, humane, and regular migration, the United States today announces an expansion of the regular pathways available to Cubans who wish to come to the United States and a increase in personnel of the Embassy of the United States in Havana”, reads the text.
The measure was announced shortly after the figures of the Cuban exodus were known during the last 11 months, in which almost 200,000 people from the island have entered the United States through the border, according to data from the Customs Office and US Border Protection (CBP).
From October 1, 2021 until last August, exactly 197,870 Cubans have arrived in the United States.
The US Embassy in Havana will continue to provide essential services for US citizens, immigrant visa services for those applying in the immediate relative categories, and limited emergency nonimmigrant visa processing.
For its part, the Georgetown Embassy in Guyana will continue to process Cuban immigrant visa applications in the family preference categories until processing resumes in Havana in early 2023.
Likewise, the document adds, the National Visa Center (NVC) will continue to schedule appointments for family preference visa applicants at the United States Embassy in Georgetown, Guyana, until processing begins in Havana. Applicants do not need to contact the embassies in Havana or Georgetown or the NVC, they will be notified directly, the statement explains.
Regarding the Cuban Family Reunification Program-Parole (CFRP) resumed in August 2022the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is increasing the number of staff in Cuba to efficiently and effectively process cases and conduct interviews.
“These efforts are a key step in meeting the U.S. commitment under the U.S.-Cuba Migration Agreements to ensure that total legal migration to the United States from Cuba is a minimum of 20,000 Cubans every year. year, not including immediate family members of US citizens. The State Department continues to evaluate further expanding visa services in Havana as conditions allow.”
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