09/09/2024
The new Cuban electronic “eVisa” system, which will replace the paper Cuban tourist card / visa, has gone fully live this week for all countries with direct flights to Cuba and is available for use at http://eVisaCuba.cu.
Like the paper visa / tourist card, the eVisa is valid for a single entry to Cuba, for a stay of 90 days, extendable for 90 days while in Cuba at a local Cuban immigration office.
The eVisa is *not* issued instantaneously — after the online application is completed and payment is received, it will be processed by a Cuban consulate and you will receive the confirmed eVisa by email within the following 72 working hours. It is therefore important that you do not wait until the last minute to apply for your Cuban eVisa.
The current system of paper Cuban visas / tourist cards will continue to be accepted until the end of 2024 (and discontinued at the beginning of 2025), so the eVisa system is currently optional, but is fully functional at this time. It will be a mandatory requirement to use the eVisa system as of January 1st 2025 in order to enter Cuba.
You will require your passport number and an email address in order to apply for your eVisa, as the electronic visa will be linked to your valid passport.
Each passenger (including children) must have a separate eVisa, however the form allows you to add additional passengers — which they refer to as “procedures” — up to a total of ten passengers through one single application, allowing you to not have to repeat the process if you require extra visas for friends or relatives who are traveling with you.
Upon entering the online eVisaCuba.cu application form, you will be asked to specify the country from which you will be flying to Cuba, and the closest Cuban consulte within that country, and the application will show the cost of the eVisa for that country as well as the contact information for the Cuban consulate in that country (which will receive your payment).
For folks traveling from the USA to Cuba, the eVisa will replace the current “pink” Cuban tourist card / visa, and the price for the eVisa for travel to Cuba from the USA is set at $50 US dollars (generally lower, and as much as half the price, of what airlines are currently charging for the paper “pink” Cuban visas / tourist cards at U.S. airports). Note, however, that people traveling through the USA to Cuba are required to *mail* a check or money order for the $50 USD fee to the Cuban embassy in Washington, as conditions of the U.S. economic sanctions and embargo of Cuba do not permit it to accept credit card payment. This will add to the lead time required to obtain a Cuban electronic visa for travelers from the USA.
For other countries, costs vary, but electronic payment can be made to the local Cuban consulate through the eVisa portal. For all countries other than the USA, the new Cuban eVisa will replace the “green” Cuban visas / tourist cards that have been in use for decades.
Canadians will pay $24 Canadian dollars, folks from Spain, France and other European countries will pay 22 Euro (as will those who will fly through Türkiye to Cuba), those flying from Mexico will pay 575 MXN (Mexican pesos), folks flying from Panama will pay 25.00 PAB, those traveling from Brasil will pay 90 BRL, those flying from the Russian Federation will pay 3,000 RUB, and folks traveling from China will pay 123 CNY.
The Cuban eVisa system was originally announced on May 2nd of this year, and has undergone development and testing since that time, with “pilot projects” being enabled with a small number of specific countries until all countries with direct flights to Cuba were added to the system and activated this week.