Regulations for traveling to Cuba.

Customs

Find out here what you can and cannot import with you or in the luggage accompanying it when entering and leaving the country.

What CAN you bring into Cuba on a non-commercial basis and what are its limitations?

• Personal effects, for which no customs duties will be paid.
• Food, toiletries, medicines and medical supplies.

All passengers may import:

In addition to their personal effects, for which no customs duties shall be paid, passengers may import as part of their baggage, without commercial character and subject to the payment of the corresponding customs duties, new and used articles up to the limit in authorized value of one thousand (1,000) pesos. The value of the articles arriving in the country as unaccompanied baggage will be part of the maximum value allowed for that passenger. Minors, once they are ten (10) years old, have the right to import articles up to the limit of the established value. For the act of dispatch they must be assisted by an adult representing them. Minors under ten (10) years of age may only bring with them their personal effects, according to their age.

They are exempted from payment of duties:

• Up to 10 kilograms of medicines.
• Elaborated pharmaceutical products; wheelchairs for invalids; scientific, technical, art and literature books; musical scores; records, magnetic tapes, fixed views and cinematographic films for teaching purposes; prostheses, when they replace or substitute an organ or part of it; and equipment, books or materials for the blind;
• Disposable butts for adults;
• used personal objects brought by passengers in general and Cuban crew members of ships and aircraft and workers at sea;
• Household goods and personal effects of persons arriving in Cuba for the purpose of permanent residence, in accordance with the provisions of the legislation in force;
• products for the personal use of foreign scholarship holders residing in Cuba and materials necessary for their studies, as long as they maintain that condition; they may also import one (1) computer with its peripheral elements, only once during the period of their stay in the national territory;
• Medals, decorations and awards granted abroad, and the products that Cuban citizens receive as gifts or awards for their status as scientists, athletes, artists and others, as long as their origin is proven with the corresponding document.
• Products brought as temporary imports by foreigners as artists, athletes, specialists, scientists, journalists and filmmakers, passengers in transit and those persons arriving in the country under special circumstances.

The relaxations in the non-commercial importation of food, toiletries, medicines and medical supplies by natural persons applicable to unaccompanied baggage and air, sea and postal shipments are extended until January 31, 2025. During this period, there is no weight limit for these items, as long as they are separate from the rest of the baggage and are not mixed with other items that are part of the baggage.

What you can NOT bring to Cuba?

• Psychotropic or hallucinogenic substances.
• Precursor substances.
• Explosives.
• Hemoderivatives.
• Drugs and narcotics.
• Obscene or pornographic literature, articles and objects or that attempt against the general interests of the nation.
• Air conditioners with a capacity greater than 1 ton or 12,000 BTU;
• Electric stoves and ranges, except those called induction glass-ceramic cookers, of any model and that their electrical consumption does not exceed 1500 Watt, per focus;
• Electric ovens, except those known as microwave ovens, and that their electrical consumption does not exceed 2000 Watt.
• Electrical resistors of any type.
• Light motor vehicles (cars, motorcycles and bicycles with combustion engines).
• Engines and bodywork of cars and motorcycles (frames).
• Animal products (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and all species of ungulates) susceptible to be carriers of diseases.

What can you take from Cuba and what are its limitations?

• Tobacco and alcoholic beverages
• Likewise, in the case of tobacco and alcoholic beverages, the following quantities must be declared and the corresponding taxes must be paid: 200 cigarettes, 100 cigars, 50 cigars, 250 grams of tobacco, 1 liter of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content over 22%, 2 liters of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content under 22%, 4 liters of wine and 16 liters of beer.

What NOT to take with you from Cuba?

• Drugs and narcotics. Psychotropic or hallucinogenic substances.
• Precursor substances
• Explosives
• Hemoderivatives
• Obscene or pornographic literature, articles and objects or those that threaten the general interests of the nation.
• Cultural property declared part of the Nation's Cultural Heritage
• Handwritten books, incunabula (published between 1440 and 1500).
• Books and pamphlets with library stamps of the National System of Public Libraries and Cuban Organizations and Institutions, as well as Cuban Books of “R” editions.
• Foreign books, pamphlets and serial publications printed in the 16th to 18th centuries and Cuban books published in the 18th century.
• Lobster, in any quantity and form of presentation.

Medical Insurance

Since May 1, 2010, it is mandatory to have medical insurance to enter Cuba, since the policy must be presented at customs to enter the country.

There are many companies that offer these services at very affordable prices.

If you arrive without medical insurance you will be obliged to contract a policy with the state insurance company Asistur.

Sanitary Regulations

Since March 1, 2016, the Cuban Ministry of Public Health establishes that it must:

Strengthen international sanitary control measures and epidemiological surveillance.

Make health declarations at entry points for people coming from countries reporting Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya and yellow fever.

Other Procedures and Regulations for Traveling to Cuba:

• Notary Services
• Extension of stay
• Visa and Tourist Card Procedures
• Entry and exit stamps
• Foreign Investment in Cuba

Preservation of the Historic Memory

The Law-Decreet No. 265/2009 of the National Archive System of the Republic of Cuba regulates and rohibits the extraction of documents from the National territory. Documents that take part or may take part of the State Fund of Archives. Documents placed in files or in other places for their official conservation or under surveillance of a functionary. Documents with historic and patrimonial characteristics and institutional documents. The National Record of Cultural Property of the Culture Ministry is the entitled organism to authorize the temporary or definitive exportation of patrimonial assets at border.