A note from the British publication The Independent reports the possibility that the United States Customs and Border Protection Office will soon announce the relaxation of the ESTA scheme for visitors to Cuba.
In 1982 Cuba was designated a State Sponsor of Terrorism by the Reagan administration, a category abolished in 2015 by Obama’s. In 2019, the State Department certified Cuba as a country that was “not fully cooperating” with US counterterrorism efforts. Finally, in January 2021 the Department itself considered Cuba, once again, a state sponsor of terrorism. For this reason, if a person has traveled to Cuba in a certain period of time or wants to travel from the island to the United States, they are not allowed to enter the territory of the Union with the ESTA visa modality.
The ESTA is an authorization that allows you to travel to the United States without a visa. It is used to determine the suitability of visitors to travel or not to the nation, and is applied to avoid unwanted travelers.
According to the cited source, the United States plans to ease these sanctions retroactively, that is, to compensate those who have been denied an ESTA visa to enter the United States for having traveled to Cuba before. The British media assures that the news could be officially announced this month. If implemented, the measure would mean that visits in the decade before 2021 will no longer disqualify travelers from using the ESTA scheme.
Petro to Blinken: Cuba on the list of sponsors of terrorism is an injustice that must be corrected
The ESTA is an authorization that allows you to travel to the United States without a visa. It is used to determine the suitability of visitors to travel or not to the nation, and is applied to avoid unwanted travelers.
In accordance with The IndependentUnited States government sources said that talks on this issue are at an advanced stage in Washington, and that the Customs and Border Protection Office is pressing for the date on which this flexibility will come into effect on January 12, 2021. , when the inclusion of Cuba in that neg list became effective
The Independent cites sources from the State Department, the administrative entity that determined that British visitors who traveled to Cuba from the 1st. March 2011, they cannot use the ESTA system.
Until today Europeans have to pay the amount of a full visa and schedule an appointment at the US Consulate in their respective countries.
The ESTA refusal also covers Cubans who travel to Europe and who then intend to emigrate to the United States. Or to Cubans with Spanish citizenship and a passport who want to use it to travel directly from Cuba to the United States.
The ESTA visa-related measure could last only two years or be extended indefinitely, says The Independent. He also claims that President Biden can remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. This would benefit thousands of people who want to visit Cuba, and also others who want to use ESTA to visit the United States.
