U.S. Embassy in Cuba Resumes Full Immigrant Visa Processing for the First Time Since 2017

The U.S. embassy in Havana resumed full immigrant visa processing and other consular services in early January for the first time since 2017. The hope is that embassy staff can help with the record-breaking influx of migrants from Cuba to the southern border of the United States. The embassy began limited visa processing last year and, in September 2022, announced that it would begin full visa processing in 2023.

The embassy drastically cut its available services in 2017 when several staff members were diagnosed with the largely unexplained “Havana Syndrome,” which included nausea and memory loss. While the embassy offered limited services, the only option was to travel to Guyana for vis processing, a costly trip that was out of reach for most Cubans.

According to prior agreements, the federal government issued 20,000 immigrant visas to Cuba in 2022, including some from Havana, and intends to do the same in 2023. Cuba and the United States have also resumed migration talks to stem ongoing migration concerns.

Over the past year, 250,000 Cubans have left the island for the United States, most traveling via dangerous and irregular routes through Central America or treacherous waters on homemade rafts. In late December 2022, U.S. authorities reported stopping Cubans over 34,000 times along the U.S.-Mexican border in November, an increase of 21% over October 2022. These figures continue to increase each month. As a result, Cubans are now the second-most common nationality appearing at the U.S.-Mexican border, behind Mexicans, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

In response, Cuba blames the U.S. embargo and various U.S. laws for crippling its economy and fueling historically high illegal migration rates. In addition, extreme shortages of food, medicine, fuel, and electricity, only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have contributed to the high migration rates.

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