With immediate effect, the United States’ embassy in Havana, Cuba, is boosting its visa help, adding more options for people to visit or work in the US temporarily.
This includes:
- H-2A/H-2B/H-3 visas for short-term workers or trainees.
- J visas for visitors from other countries.
- L visas for employees moving from another company.
- O visas for those with special talents or achievements.
- P-1/P-2/P-3 visas for solo or group athletes, artists, and entertainers.
- Q-1 visas for those involved in cultural exchanges from overseas.
- R visas for religious workers of a certain religion.
Only people who qualify for the specific visas listed will get an interview at the embassy. This is for H/L/O/P/Q and R visas, and J visas.
But, these new visa services won’t cover those who just want to visit the US for business (B-1 visa) or tourism (B-2 visa). Cubans will still need to go to another US embassy or consulate to get a B-1/B-2 visa.
The previous position
Before, people from Cuba had to go to other countries to get visas. The Trump team stopped handling visas in Cuba in 2017 because of problems with the Havana Syndrome and because they wanted to keep their staff small.
So, if Cubans wanted to move to the US or just visit, they had to go to a different country to get their visas. But, when Joe Biden’s team started working on visas again in May 2022, they were able to handle all types of visas by the end of last year. However, the embassy hasn’t been giving out visitor visas, except for a few activists and business owners.
The changes
People from Cuba who want to go to the US for school, work, or to study at a US college through an exchange program can now apply for a visa in Havana. The US embassy will also handle visas for athletes, artists, religious group members, people with special talents, and workers moving to new jobs in the US.
However, the US is still not giving out B-1 and B-2 tourist visas in Havana, so Cubans need to go to a third country to apply for one.
Why the changes?
The visa service is being expanded because there are more people working at embassies and there is a push to make it easier for people to study and connect culturally, which is what the Biden team is all about.
The US government was thinking about how to make these exchanges smoother and more doable. This point was made clear by the US official. They pointed out that before, musicians and students, for instance, had to shell out more cash to go to places like Mexico to get a US visa.
The official further explained that all these visa types needed someone from the US to back them up with a petition to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. These are areas where not many people come, but the US embassy team can handle them. It is key to note that all of these need the approval from USCIS or a school before they can happen.
The official also mentioned that the number of embassy workers has doubled in the last couple of years, but there is still not enough staff to bring back all the visa services completely.
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