Lines at tour agencies as Cuba ends exit permit
Source: Agencies |
January 16, 2013, Wednesday
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CUBANS formed long lines outside travel agencies and migration offices in Havana on Monday as a highly anticipated new law took effect ending the island's much-hated exit visa requirement.
The measure means the end of both real and symbolic obstacles to travel by Cubans, though it is not expected to result in a mass exodus. Most Cubans are now eligible to leave with just a current passport and national identity card, just like residents of other countries.
It's a tangible benefit for people like Ester Ricardo, a 68-year-old Havana resident who was granted a US tourist visa but denied an exit permit. She queued up early outside the office of a charter airline eager to book a flight to Miami.
"My niece invited me, so I'm going on a family visit," said Ricardo, who plans to be in Florida for around six months. "I'm not going to stay forever. I have a daughter here."
Control over who can travel now largely shifts to foreign governments which will make their own decisions about granting entry visas. Cubans, like people in most other developing countries, will still find it difficult in many cases to get visas from wealthier nations.
Several European diplomats in Havana said their embassies have received a high volume of calls from would-be travelers unaware that they would still need a visa, despite a campaign in official Cuban media to clarify the new requirements.
"I have my passport, my identity card, everything in order," said Willian Pineira, a 23-year-old who tried to buy a plane ticket on Monday to visit relatives but was turned down because he lacked an entry visa. "I wanted to go to Venezuela. But it turns out you have to have permission from them!"
The new law contains language that lets the government deny travel in cases of "national security," and one key test of the law will be whether authorities allow exits in sensitive cases such as military officers, scientists, and world-class athletes.
Some analysts say the change also puts pressure on the US "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, which lets nearly all Cubans who make it to the United States stay and fast-tracks them for permanent residency, and throws the spotlight on US embargo rules that bar most American travel to Cuba.
The measure means the end of both real and symbolic obstacles to travel by Cubans, though it is not expected to result in a mass exodus. Most Cubans are now eligible to leave with just a current passport and national identity card, just like residents of other countries.
It's a tangible benefit for people like Ester Ricardo, a 68-year-old Havana resident who was granted a US tourist visa but denied an exit permit. She queued up early outside the office of a charter airline eager to book a flight to Miami.
"My niece invited me, so I'm going on a family visit," said Ricardo, who plans to be in Florida for around six months. "I'm not going to stay forever. I have a daughter here."
Control over who can travel now largely shifts to foreign governments which will make their own decisions about granting entry visas. Cubans, like people in most other developing countries, will still find it difficult in many cases to get visas from wealthier nations.
Several European diplomats in Havana said their embassies have received a high volume of calls from would-be travelers unaware that they would still need a visa, despite a campaign in official Cuban media to clarify the new requirements.
"I have my passport, my identity card, everything in order," said Willian Pineira, a 23-year-old who tried to buy a plane ticket on Monday to visit relatives but was turned down because he lacked an entry visa. "I wanted to go to Venezuela. But it turns out you have to have permission from them!"
The new law contains language that lets the government deny travel in cases of "national security," and one key test of the law will be whether authorities allow exits in sensitive cases such as military officers, scientists, and world-class athletes.
Some analysts say the change also puts pressure on the US "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, which lets nearly all Cubans who make it to the United States stay and fast-tracks them for permanent residency, and throws the spotlight on US embargo rules that bar most American travel to Cuba.
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