US Updates Cuba Policy Allowing More Travel to the Country

The U.S. Department of State has announced new measures regarding travel to Cuba.

“We will make it easier for families to visit their relatives in Cuba and for authorized US travelers to engage with the Cuban people, attend meetings and conduct research,” said a statement from spokesperson Ned Price.

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During his campaign in 2020, Biden pledged he would “try to reverse the failed Trump policies that inflicted harm on Cubans and their families.”

The changes came after a lengthy review of the country’s current Cuba policies but do not fully reinstate allowances that came during the Obama administration.

For travelers, these changes will mean the expansion of the number of commercial and charter flights to Havana and other cities in the country and allow more Americans to interact with the Cuban people through authorized group “people-to-people” visits. Individual people-to-people visits have not been reinstated.

Immigrant visas will continue to be processed at the U.S. embassy in Guyana, and the U.S. is planning to increase staff at its embassy in Havana.

People-to-people trips were popular during the Obama administration, which eased restrictions on travel to Cuba. The Trump administration imposed new restrictions on these types of trips, mostly eliminating them with the exception of the Support for the Cuban People option, which followed strict federal guidelines.

While people-to-people trips were some of the most popular categories, cruises to Cuba also generated huge amounts of interest from U.S. travelers and cruises were one of the easiest ways to visit the country.

The Biden administration’s announcement did not include information on whether or not cruises would once again be allowed to sail to the country.

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