| New Regulation Features and Summary for Colleges and Universities |
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Any accredited degree-granting graduate and undergraduate institution qualifies for Cuba travel now. Colleges and universities require no prior application, no permission nor approval from Washington.
Note Elementary and high student groups require a specific license for Cuba travel. Good news! K-12 teachers, staff and administrators can travel easily now on a no-cost general research license. |
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Full and part-time faculty, staff and students are able to travel for any length of time under the auspices of their school. |
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Cuba study travel for students must be recognized towards credit. |
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Any student enrolled in a degree program at an accredited academic institution may participate in any credit-bearing academic program abroad hosted by any US sponsoring institution. |
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Students of a US accredited institution can enroll in courses at an accredited Cuban educational institution if study is accepted towards credit at home institution. |
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Participants only require a letter on official school stationery to travel legally. |
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Graduate students may travel solo if research in Cuba is accepted toward credit. |
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Faculty and staff can travel individually to investigate a future organized school trip and curriculum. |
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Download a sample letter for faculty/staff travel. Just replace information in brackets with specific details. No additional information is required. |
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Download a sample letter for undergraduate student travel. Just replace information in brackets with specific details. No additional information is required. |
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Download a sample letter for graduate student travel. Just replace information in brackets with specific details. No additional information is required. |
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Download the actual regulations and attach them to the letter from your school. |
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Text of OFAC US Cuba educational activities [travel] provisions:
V. Educational Activities – 31 C.F.R. § 515.565(a)
General license for certain educational activities of accredited U.S. graduate or undergraduate academic institutions – 31 C.F.R. § 515.565(a):
Section 515.565(a) sets forth a general license authorizing accredited U.S. graduate and undergraduate degree-granting academic institutions, including faculty, staff, and students of such institutions, to engage in travel-related transactions and such additional transactions that are directly incident to:
(a)(1) Participation in a structured educational program in Cuba as part of a course offered for credit by the sponsoring U.S. academic institution;
(a)(2) Noncommercial academic research in Cuba specifically related to Cuba and for the purpose of obtaining a graduate degree;
(a)(3) Participation in a formal course of study at a Cuban academic institution, provided the formal course of study in Cuba will be accepted for credit toward the student’s graduate or undergraduate degree;
(a)(4) Teaching at a Cuban academic institution by an individual regularly employed in a teaching capacity at the sponsoring U.S. academic institution, provided the teaching activities are related to an academic program at the Cuban institution and provided the duration of the teaching will be no shorter than 10 weeks;
(a)(5) Sponsorship, including the payment of a stipend or salary, of a Cuban scholar to teach or engage in other scholarly activity at the sponsoring U.S. academic institution; or
(a)(6) The organization of, and preparation for, activities described in (a)(1)-(5) above by members of the faculty and staff of the sponsoring U.S. academic institution. 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.
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 designated representative of the sponsoring academic institution (defined as a person designated by the relevant dean or the academic vicepresident, provost, or president of the institution as the official responsible for overseeing the institution’s Cuba travel program). Please refer to the relevant subsection within section 515.565(a) for more specific information concerning the necessary contents of such letters. In addition, U.S. academic institutions and individual travelers must retain records related to the transactions authorized pursuant to this provision. See 31 C.F.R. §§ 501.601 and 501.602.
The general license authorizes all members of the faculty and staff (including but not limited to adjunct faculty and part-time staff) of the sponsoring U.S. academic institution to participate in the activities Revised 21 April 19, 2011 set forth in the general license. A student currently enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate degree program at any accredited U.S. academic institution is authorized pursuant to the general license to participate in the academic activities in Cuba set forth in the general license through any sponsoring U.S. academic institution, not only through the institution at which the student is pursuing a degree.
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NEW 2011 OFAC regulations can be downloaded here. Click image above for the official PDF (170K, 51 pages). Relevant citations on pages 20-21. |
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THE WEBSITE of the Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) provides more information on Cuba travel licensing and regulations. |
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Click logo for more info. |
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See how Cuba ranks amongst its neighbors on the United Nations Human Development Index. |
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Click logo for more info. |
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| Teacher tour leaders can travel for free. |
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WE BUILD a free custom website for all schools that go to Cuba with us. |
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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 academic tour supplier. Americans should use caution before committing travel dollars or signing contracts with any tour operator. Schools 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 academic Cuba itineraries. Start-up and just-for-profit enterprises should be avoided. 
THIS PAGE interprets Obama's relaxed rules for Cuba education tours for colleges and universities under the new General License for Educational Activities category.
