| New Regulation Features and Summary for Religious Organizations |
 |
 |
Any religious organization can send its staff and members to Cuba now on a general license. No prior application, no permission, no approval or license from Washington is required. |
|
|
All that is required is a simple letter from the leader of the religious organization. |
|
|
Download a sample letter for a church. Just have the minister replace information in brackets with your specific details. No additional information is required. |
|
|
Download a sample letter for a synagogue. Just have the rabbi replace information in brackets with your specific details. No additional information is required. |
|
|
Download a sample letter for a mosque or masjid. Just have the imam replace information in brackets with your specific details. No additional information is required. |
|
|
The letter from your religious institution is your license to travel to Cuba legally. Nothing else is required. Done. Start packing!
Note 1 The above sample letters can be adapted for other religious and spiritual organizations.
Note 2 As these regulations are recently issued, you should accompany your letter with the actual regulations. This will help US immgration officers not yet familar with the new rules. |
 |
|
|
|
Text of OFAC US Cuba religious travel provisions:
VI. Religious Activities – 31 C.F.R. § 515.566(a)
General license for religious organizations located in the United States – 31 C.F.R. § 515.566(a):
Section 515.566(a) sets forth a general license authorizing religious organizations located in the United States, including members and staff of such organizations, to engage in certain travel-related and additional transactions that are directly incident to religious activities in Cuba under the auspices of the organization. Travel-related transactions pursuant to this general license must be for the purpose of engaging, while in Cuba, in a full-time program of religious activities. Activities that are consistent with U.S. foreign policy include, but are not limited to, attendance at religious services as well as activities that contribute to the development of a Cuban counterpart’s religious or institutional development such as ministerial training, education, or licensing; religious school development; youth outreach; training in or the conducting of marriage seminars; construction of places of worship or other facilities for full-time use by a Cuban counterpart; production and distribution of religious materials; assistance in holding religious services; religious preaching or teaching; and training or assistance in church administration.
Note: It is a requirement of the general license that travelers to Cuba authorized pursuant to this provision carry letters on official letterhead, signed by a representative of the sponsoring U.S. religious organization designated as the official responsible for overseeing the organization’s Cuba travel program. Please refer to section 515.566(a) for more specific information concerning the necessary contents of such letters. U.S. religious organizations and individual travelers must also retain records related to the travel transactions authorized pursuant to this provision. See 31 C.F.R. §§ 501.601 and 501.602.
General licenses constitute blanket authorization for those transactions set forth in the relevant regulation. For persons satisfying all criteria and conditions in a general license, no further permission from OFAC is required to engage in transactions authorized by that general license. Each person engaging in transactions, including travel-related transactions, under a general license must be able to document how he or she qualifies under the general license.
Reference: Comprehensive Guidelines for License Applications to Engage In Travel-Related Transactions Involving Cuba, Office of Foreign Assets Control, U.S. Department of the Treasury, revised April 19, 2011, page 26.
|
|
|
NEW 2011 OFAC regulations can be downloaded here. Click image above for the official PDF (170K, 51 pages). Relevant citations on pages 26. |
|
|
THE WEBSITE of the Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) provides more information on Cuba travel licensing and regulations. |
|
See how Cuba ranks amongst its neighbors on the United Nations Human Development Index. |
|
| Tour leaders can travel for free. |
 |
|
|
|
WE BUILD a free custom website for all religious organizations that go to Cuba with us. |
|
|
|
Cuba Education and Explorer Tours is approved by the Cuban Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR). Check out our other legal affiliations in Cuba and North America. |
|
|
No. Americans can't purchase travel services directly from Cuba. They must do so with a licensed US Travel Service Provider (TSP) or a qualified Canadian religious tour supplier. Americans should use caution before committing travel dollars or signing contracts with any tour operator. You must verify the US or Canadian tour company has a long history of working with Cuban ministries and agencies, has legal standing in Cuba, and a proven track record of successful tours. Start-up and just-for-profit enterprises should be avoided. 
THIS PAGE interprets Obama's relaxed rules for travel to Cuba for groups and individuals under the new General License for Religious Activities in Cuba category.
