Travel to Cuba from the US: the OFAC rules and Cuba's entry side

Travel to Cuba from the US: the OFAC rules and Cuba’s entry side

For anyone subject to US jurisdiction, travel to Cuba is allowed only for the 12 categories of activity listed in 31 CFR 515.560(a); tourism is not one of them. Visiting a close relative in Cuba is covered by a general license (31 CFR 515.561), which needs no application to OFAC, but the traveler must keep records for at least 10 years (31 CFR 501.601). These rules are in the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). They were last amended effective September 30, 2026, and the text below was checked on eCFR on October 19, 2026 (title 31 checked October 19, 2026).

Entering Cuba is a separate question, decided by Cuba. The last part of this page covers what the Cuban consular office publishes.

This page explains how the rules work. It does not assess any particular trip.

The 12 categories in 31 CFR 515.560(a)

Travel in these categories may be authorized “either by a general license or on a case-by-case basis by a specific license” (515.560(a)). Under 515.560(b), no specific licenses are issued for travel-related transactions outside these categories. And 515.560(f): “Nothing in this section authorizes transactions in connection with tourist travel to Cuba.”

General license versus specific license. OFAC FAQ 697: “No further permission from OFAC is required to engage in transactions by a person who meets all criteria in a general license.” Travel within the 12 categories that does not meet a general license’s terms needs a specific license, applied for with OFAC.

Family visits: the general license in 31 CFR 515.561

As revised effective September 30, 2026, 31 CFR 515.561(a) authorizes “persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and persons traveling with them who share a common dwelling as a family with them” to engage in travel-related transactions directly incident to:

• visiting a close relative “who is a national of Cuba or a person ordinarily resident in Cuba”; or
• visiting or accompanying a close relative who is in Cuba, or traveling there, under certain other authorizations (official business, journalism, professional research, some educational activities, religious activities, humanitarian projects, or private foundations and institutes).

A close relative (31 CFR 515.339) is anyone “related to that person by blood, marriage, or adoption who is no more than three generations removed from that person or from a common ancestor with that person.”

The license does not cover a direct or indirect financial transaction prohibited by 515.209 (entities on the State Department’s Cuba Restricted List) or lodging at a property on the Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List (515.210). The Cuba Restricted List, as published by the State Department “As of July 14, 2025”, includes hotels by province.

What an authorized traveler may do

31 CFR 515.560(c) authorizes, for licensed travelers:

• Transportation to, from and within Cuba, “including the acquisition of Cuban visas.” OFAC FAQ 712 says a ticket may be bought directly from a US airline by a traveler authorized under a general or specific license.
• Living expenses in Cuba and goods for personal consumption there. OFAC FAQ 717: “There is no specific dollar limit on authorized expenses.”
• Personal-use imports as accompanied baggage, but this “does not apply to the importation into the United States of Cuban-origin alcohol or tobacco products” (515.560(c)(3)).
• Carrying remittances the traveler is authorized to send under 515.570 (515.560(c)(4)). See sending remittances to Cuba.
• Card payments with credit, debit and similar instruments (515.560(c)(5)).

What changed on September 30, 2026

OFAC’s amendment (91 FR 61741, effective September 30, 2026) and its alert of September 29, 2026:

• Professional meetings and conferences. The general license was removed. OFAC FAQ 1275 says travelers who were in Cuba on September 30, 2026 under the former authorization could continue through October 30, 2026, provided they depart by that date.
• Group people-to-people educational travel. Removed. Travel stays authorized for a traveler who completed at least one travel-related transaction, such as buying a flight, before September 30, 2026.
• Educational travel. Must now take place under the auspices of a US-jurisdiction organization, with travelers accompanied by a representative of the sponsor. OFAC says accredited US undergraduate or graduate-degree granting institutions, their students and full-time permanent employees conducting certain educational activities may travel without that accompaniment.
• Cuba Restricted List. Indirect financial transactions with listed entities are now prohibited, in addition to direct ones.

Support for the Cuban people

31 CFR 515.574(a) authorizes travel for activities of recognized human rights organizations, independent pro-democracy organizations, and individuals and NGOs that promote independent activity to strengthen civil society. Each traveler must keep “a full-time schedule of activities” that enhances contact with the Cuban people and results in “meaningful interaction with individuals in Cuba”, without “free time or recreation in excess of that consistent with a full-time schedule.” The regulation’s Note 2 says staying in a casa particular, eating at paladares and shopping at private stores qualify, but are not enough on their own to make a full-time schedule.

Record keeping: 10 years in the regulation

Note 1 to 31 CFR 515.560 and Note 1 to 515.561(a) say each person relying on the general license “must retain specific records related to the authorized travel transactions,” and point to 31 CFR 501.601 and 501.602. 501.601 requires records to be “available for examination for at least 10 years after the date of such transaction.” OFAC FAQ 712, released November 8, 2017 and still published on October 19, 2026, says “at least five years”; the regulation, amended in 2024, says 10.

Cuba’s side: passport and entry

The Cuban consular office in Washington publishes the Cuban entry rules on its MINREX page (misiones.cubaminrex.cu, checked October 19, 2026):

• Cubans who live abroad “para viajar a Cuba requieren hacerlo con su pasaporte en regla” (need a passport in order to travel to Cuba). Renewal from the US: Cuba passport renewal.
• People who emigrated before January 1, 1971 must present their Cuban passport to enter; the HE-11 entry permit on a foreign passport is explained on entering Cuba on a foreign passport (HE-11).
• Passport validity. Since July 1, 2023 the ordinary passport is valid 10 years for holders 16 and older and 5 years for minors, and the requirement to extend (prorrogar) it every two years was eliminated.
• D’Viajeros. The D’Viajeros traveler site is at dviajeros.mitrans.gob.cu; its own description says it ‘facilita y mejora la experiencia de los viajeros en su tránsito por la República de Cuba’. The site is a web application whose form contents could not be captured for this page, so its fields and deadlines are not described here.

Related Cuban procedures: emergency travel document, parental consent for a minor’s passport and travel and returning to live in Cuba.

Coming back to the US depends on the traveler’s US immigration status, which these sanctions rules do not address. For travel documents see Form I-131 and advance parole and parole is not a status.

What the sources do not say

• State Department travel information for Cuba could not be captured for this page (travel.state.gov refused the request on October 19, 2026), so no State Department advisory level or embassy detail is given here.
• No official Cuban customs allowance list was available: the Cuban customs page captured for this research held placeholder text.
• The D’Viajeros form’s contents could not be verified.

Related information

• The Cuban Adjustment Act: how a Green Card under the CAA works
• Sending remittances to Cuba from the US
• The Cuban consular office in Washington, DC
• All Cuba consular procedures
• CBP border crossings
• Immigrants from Cuba in the US: overview

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Last verified: 2026-10-19. This is general information, not legal advice. Consult an attorney for your specific situation. The rules quoted are those in 31 CFR part 515 on eCFR, OFAC’s guidance, and the Cuban consular page on the date shown; all of them change.