Will visitors to Cuba be able to obtain an Esta soon?
Q
In November you said anyone who has travelled to Cuba since 2011 does not qualify for an Esta. You mentioned that it was expected to be changed to 2021 soon. Do you have any further information on this?
Sam Wood
A
First the background: Donald Trump’s final act against Cuba as US president took place in January 2021.
The outgoing US leader placed the island on Washington DC’s list of “state sponsors of terrorism” (SST) alongside Iran, North Korea and Syria. His successor, Joe Biden, has left this rather nonsensical designation in place. As a result, the US State Department insists, British visitors to America who have visited Cuba since 1 March 2011 cannot use the swift, cheap and relatively easy Esta system for permission to travel to the US.
Instead, they must spend $160 (£132) on a full visa – and attend an interview at the US Embassy in London or the ConsulateGeneral in Belfast, for which appointments are hard to obtain.
Confusion has reigned, with several leading travel firms insisting the backdated sanctions apply only from the “designation date”, 12 January 2021. Many travellers with evidence of a visit to Cuba in their passport before that date have reported that they have been allowed to enter the US without a problem. Anecdotally, US Customs & Border Protection officers are turning a blind eye on some occasions. But this cannot be relied upon.
The State Department stipulates: “Any visit to an SST on or after 1 March 2011, even if the country was designated yesterday, renders the applicant ineligible for Esta.” You might not even get on the plane with a Cuba stamp on your passport. Some passengers have been turned away from airports because they are regarded by the airlines as inadmissible to the US.
In informal discussions with officials late last year, I was given the strong indication that an imminent adjustment would be made to the policy to make the Esta ban retrospective only as far as 12 January 2021. But it hasn’t happened. Until it does, all I can do is repeat the US State Department’s insistence and note that if there is no evidence in a current passport of a visit to Cuba, it is difficult to see how the Americans would know a traveller had ever been to the island.
Email your question to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder
Want your views to be included in The Independent Daily Edition letters page? Email us by tapping here letters@independent.co.uk.
Please include your address
BACK TO TOP