Procedure to obtain Cuban citizenship

According to the current resolutions issued by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the process to obtain Cuban citizenship is free of charge.

However, legalizations, procedures, and other parallel processes do maintain their established costs. This is the case with legal documents such as birth certificates.

The application and processing can be completed at Cuban consulates in other countries, as well as at the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) Processing Offices in Cuba, depending on the applicant's location, whether they are an adult, the parents of minors, or the representatives of incapacitated persons.

Regarding the timeframe, Decree-Law No. 302, Amending Law No. 1312, the "Migration Law" of September 20, 1976, establishes that Cuban consulates and processing offices have a 20-business-day period to submit files initiated by the head of the Directorate of Identification, Immigration, and Foreigners of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior. This director, for his part, has a period of 30 business days after receipt to issue a resolution granting or rejecting the citizenship application.

The application file for Cuban citizenship may be returned to the interested party.

If the file does not contain the required documents or the documents submitted do not meet the requirements, the Head of the Identification, Immigration, and Foreigners' Office of the Ministry of the Interior may, within seven business days, return it to the applicant with instructions for completing it, through the Consulates or the corresponding MININT Processing Office. In these cases, the previous period is interrupted and begins to run again from the date the file is returned.

Returned files must be completed by the interested parties within a period of less than one calendar year, starting from the date of notification by the Cuban Consulate or the MININT Processing Office, after which the file is archived.

The Identification, Immigration, and Foreign Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, within five business days, forwards the Resolution issued by the Head of this Directorate to the Consulates and the MININT Processing Offices. This decision is notified to the interested party or their legal representative through the Cuban consulate or the MININT Processing Office within ninety business days from the date the application is submitted.

In this regard, it is important to emphasize that any applicant who submits an application for acquisition of Cuban citizenship by birth and fails to appear for notification without providing a reason justifying his or her absence will have his or her file archived after one calendar year.

The fact that the file is archived does not mean that the process cannot be repeated. In fact, if the applicant's interest persists, they can repeat the process.