If you are traveling to Cuba for one of the following reasons, you
are traveling under a general license that requires no permission. For
others, you will need what is known as a specific license from the
Department of Treasury. (Phone: (202) 622-2480 or fax: (202) 622-1657).
Start calling the Department of Treasury about four weeks after you
applied to see how your application is progressing and if you need to
supply any additional information:
(a) persons traveling to Cuba, and persons traveling with them who
share a common dwelling as a family with them, who are traveling to
visit close relatives in Cuba in circumstances that demonstrate extreme
humanitarian need (such as terminal illness or severe medical
emergency), provided that the authorization may be used only once in any
12 month period (or now, only once every 3 years) cases involving
extreme hardship; (note: the term close relative means spouse, child,
grandchild, parent, grandparent, great grandparent, uncle, aunt,
brother, sister, nephew, niece, first cousin, mother-in-law,
father-in-law, brother-in-law, or spouse, widow, or widower of any of
the foregoing);
(b) persons who are Officials of the United States Government or of
any foreign government, or of any intergovernmental organization of
which the United States is a member, and who are traveling on official
business; or
(c) journalists regularly employed in that capacity by a news
reporting organization .
If you are traveling to Cuba for one of the following reasons, you
need to obtain a specific license (specific licenses are issued on a
case-by-case basis) from the Department of Treasury:
(a) individuals who wish to travel to Cuba to do research for a
free-lance article. The following documentation must be submitted with
the application: a detailed itinerary and a detailed description of the
proposed research and a resume or similar document showing a record of
publications.
(b) individuals who are traveling in connection with professional
research (see sample letter to follow). Persons traveling to Cuba to
engage in professional research must engage in a full work schedule in
Cuba, and there must be substantial likelihood of public dissemination
of the product of their research. No transactions related to tourist or
recreational travel within Cuba are authorized in connection with
professional research, except those that are consistent with a full
schedule of research activities. Persons are considered to be engaging
in professional research if (i) they are full-time professionals who
travel to Cuba to do research in their professional areas and their
research is specifically related to Cuba, or if (ii) they are acting on
behalf of an organization with an established interest in international
relations to collect information related to Cuba.
(c) individuals who are traveling to Cuba for clearly defined
educational activities such as attendance at a meeting or conference
held in Cuba by a person with an established interest in the subject of
the meeting or conference (i) provided that the meeting or conference is
organized by an international institution or association that regularly
sponsors meetings or conferences in other countries; (ii) the purpose of
the meeting is not the promotion of tourism in Cuba or other commercial
activities involving Cuba that are inconsistent with this part; and
(iii) activities are related to study for an undergraduate or graduate
degree sponsored by a college or university located in the United
States.
(d) individuals who, for reasons involving extreme humanitarian need,
seek to travel to visit close relatives in Cuba of such persons more
than once in a calendar year (and only once every 3 years).
(e) individuals who are traveling to Cuba for humanitarian reasons
based on a compelling need to travel, for religious activities, for
activities of recognized human rights organizations investigating human
rights violations, or for purposes related to the exportation,
importation, or transmission of informational materials.
While we encourage the normalization of relations with Cuba, We feel
we are still a long way from normalization and therefore we believe the
only way Americans will ever get their "freedom to travel" back from
Uncle Sam is to take it back. JUST GO! We'll help you just like we have
helped nearly 23,000 others travel to Cuba without problems.
