Cuba visa and entry requirements

Read this before you book: it costs you your ESTA

• You cannot use the US visa waiver if you have been in Cuba on or after 12 January 2021. That is when the United States designated Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism.
• It applies to every visa waiver nationality - British, EU, Japanese, Australian, all of them.
• An already-approved ESTA is revoked once the travel is known.
• The alternative is a full US visa: an appointment at an embassy, an interview, a fee and a wait measured in weeks or months.
• This is permanent. There is no expiry on it and no way to undo it. A week in Havana changes how you travel to the United States for the rest of your life.
• If you have any prospect of a US trip, weigh that before booking, not afterwards. It is the single most consequential thing on this page and it is missing from most guides.

The tourist card

• You need a tourist card - also called a tourist visa - before you travel. It is not issued on arrival.
• Get it through the Cuban Embassy, a travel agent, or the eVisa-Cuba platform. Airlines flying to Cuba often sell them too.
• Check which card you need. There is a separate one for travellers arriving from the United States, and being sold the wrong one is a real problem at check-in.

The D'Viajeros form

• File the arrival declaration on the D'Viajeros portal within 72 hours before you enter Cuba. Not earlier, not on arrival.
• A QR code is emailed to you and must be shown at the border.
• Download or print it before you fly. The FCDO says so specifically, because wifi may not be available to retrieve it on arrival in Cuba - and that is not a hypothetical.

The rest

• Your passport must be valid at least 6 months after arrival and 3 months after your planned departure.
• Travel insurance is expected and can be asked for at the border.
• Bring every peso you will spend. See the money section - this is the other thing that has changed and it matters as much as the visa.