This Wednesday, the United States embassy in Cuba resumed issuing visas for immigrants seeking to settle in their country.
This occurs in the midst of a migration crisis in Havana that prompted the departure of thousands of people to different destinations.
“We went in and everything was very fast. I now have to look for the visa and I can now travel, ”said an 18-year-old girl, who hopes to join her father in the United States.
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The US embassy stressed in a statement on Friday that the “expansion” of its consular services seeks to “guarantee safe, legal and orderly migration.”
Last May, the consulate began issuing family reunification visas, while the complete visa process began in September, except for tourist ones that were left for January 2023.
“We have taken very discreet steps aimed at directing bilateral cooperation for compliance with migration agreements,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said in December.
Departures from Cuba have skyrocketed since November 2021 when Nicaragua eliminated the visa for the islanders.
According to official US figures, between December 2021 and the same month in 2022, border authorities intercepted Cubans who had illegally entered the country by land on 277,594 occasions. Illegal emigration by sea has also skyrocketed in recent months.
The Cuban government acknowledges that Washington delivered last year, for the first time since 2017, more than 20,000 immigrant visas, a figure established in the 1994-95 migration agreements. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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