Cuba Visa for Indians: Based on First-hand Experience

If you are an Indian passport holder, you already know the pain of procuring a Visa for entering a vast majority of countries on this planet. The pain feels even more real when you see people around you from other nationalities. They can just hop on a plane to land in some faraway land on the other side of the ocean. On a whim! Nope. That is a luxury we, Indians, simply cannot afford. Well, in most cases. So, how difficult is it to score a Cuba Visa for Indians?

Cuba is a country where the entry process is complicated even for the supposedly privileged American passport holders. However, we have good news for you! Instead of going through the ordeal of filling lengthy forms, you just need to get something called “Cuba Tourist Card”. Read on to know the details. We have included all the information about Cuba Visa based on our first-hand experience of traveling to Cuba on Indian passports in 2019.

Note: Many of our readers, friends and fellow travelers shared with us their experiences of procuring Cuba entry stamps on Indian passports. So, to provide an even broader perspective to you, we have updated this post in 2020 incorporating some other experiences of Indian travelers who have already been to Cuba.

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Do Indians need Visa to enter Cuba?

There are two separate types of documents for entering Cuba – Cuba Visa or Cuba Tourist Card, the latter being easier to procure. Arriving tourists of most nationalities need just the Cuba Tourist Card to enter Cuba. But does the Cuban Tourist Card suffice for Indian passport holders too? Or do Indians need to apply for a separate Cuba Visa?

Unfortunately, there is a lot of conflicting information on the internet about whether Indians need a visa to enter Cuba. Stay with us, so that we can clear all those confusions about this.

According to Wikipedia, Indian citizens requires Visa for entering Cuba. However, the “Cuba Tourist Card” should suffice if the Indian citizen holds a valid visa or a residence permit issued by Canada, the United States or an EU member state. (This is NOT 100% accurate though, more details to follow.)

There is very little information available online about the details. So, when we planned our Cuba trip, we scoured the internet for first-hand experiences of Indians who have traveled to Cuba. The result was more confusion!

In many travel forums and sites, people (Indian passport holders) had actually stated that only the Cuba Tourist Card should suffice for entering Cuba. But two facts about those statements raised some skepticism for us. First, all such statements that we read, were made by Indians living in USA or Canada. Second, there were lot of ‘replies’ and ‘comments’ to those statements citing counter examples.

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To plan your Cuba travel, read our article on Cuba 10-day itinerary or check out these readymade Cuba tour options.

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Cuba Tourist Card for Indian passport holder

We decided not to get bewildered by all that we read on the internet about Cuba visa for Indians. Instead, we planned our Cuba itinerary, booked our flights and reserved all accommodation. And we believed that just the Cuba Tourist Card would suffice. We left it for the D-Day for that belief to get validated, based on our first-hand experience. [That is, if we were going to be allowed to enter the country!  ] What? We never said we are wise!

Turns out, Indian citizens CAN travel to Cuba using the Cuba Tourist Card, irrespective of their residence status or other visa holding.

What is Cuba Tourist Card (Tarjeta del Turista)?

Cuba Tourist Card is a mandatory entry card required for traveling to Cuba. It is a piece of paper that looks like a bank checkbook slip. You will need to fill in some details like name, Passport number etc. with a pen, before you land in Cuba. At Havana airport, the immigration official will tear off one half of the paper document. You have to retain the other half carefully as you need to return this part before you exit Cuba.

Where can you buy Cuba Tourist Card?

You have three different options for places where you can buy your Cuba Tourist Card.

• At the airport before the last leg of your international flight travel to Havana, Cuba
• Through a local travel agency that handles Cuba travel
• At Havana airport, after arriving

We recommend the first option, as it is the most convenient one. Keep cash (USD) ready for purchasing the Tourist Card at the airport.

Note: We have had some readers tell us that some Mexican airlines do not sell Cuba Tourist Card to Indians at the airports in Mexico. In fact, according to the Aeromexico website, they sell Cuba Tourist Cards at Cancun and Mexico City airports to everyone except people of certain nationalities that include India. However, we have known some exceptions to this as well.

Our recommendation: If possible, do not plan your Cuba travel via Mexico. Look for connecting flights from Miami (USA) or Panama City (Panama). But in case you have to book your Havana bound flight from Mexico, we suggest you to purchase your Cuba Tourist Card in advance through a local travel agency.

How much does Cuba Tourist Card cost?

• Pink Tourist Card: If departing from US, Cuba Tourist Card costs up to $99.
• Green Tourist Card: At airports of other countries, Cuba Tourist Card costs $20-$30.

Cuba Visa for Indians: Step by step process

For easy reference, here is a graphical representation of the steps you need to follow for traveling to Cuba on Indian passport.

Our first-hand experience of traveling to Cuba on Indian passports: With details of our experience at each airport

We currently live in Costa Rica. But Costa Rica does not have direct flight connections with many nearby countries, including Cuba. So, our flight itinerary included a layover at Panama City. We flew with Copa Airlines. This is how our flight itinerary looked like:

San Jose (Costa Rica) > Panama City (Panama) > Havana (Cuba)

You must have realized by now, that we had dared to leave a lot to chances about Cuba entry requirements for Indians. Needless to say, there were a lot of related apprehensions as well. At each of the three airports, various questions clouded our minds. We were constantly speculating different imaginary scenarios. We even went to the extent of deciding that if at any stage of the travel, entering Cuba starts to become unfeasible, we would just buy tickets to another destination. But we would not let go of this anniversary celebration!

However, turned out the apprehensions were not necessary. In the next sections, we explain what happened at each of the three airports. What were our apprehensions vs. what we actually experienced.

Flying to Havana (Cuba): Flying out from San Jose (Costa Rica)

Our apprehensions:

Will we be allowed to board the plane? What if the airline is not aware of Cuba Visa requirements for Indians residing in Costa Rica? What if the entry requirements have changed?

Our experience:

Everything went smoothly at San Jose airport. While we waited at the check-in counter, the airline officials probably spent some time reading the guidelines on travel requirements for Indian citizens. [We have come across this in Costa Rica on multiple occasions!] They informed us that we would need to buy the Cuba Tourist Card at Panama City airport. They told us the cost could be $20 or $30, but it had to be paid in cash, and in (US) dollars only.

The officials did check our US B1/B2 visas as well, because we had our return ticket to Costa Rica. We told them that we are residents here and showed our Costa Rica Residence Cards. There were no follow up questions.

Flying to Havana (Cuba): Transferring at Panama City (Panama)

Our apprehensions:

What if we are denied the Tourist Card? (This was unlikely as it is sold to anyone). What if there is a long queue for buying the Tourist Card? What if the layover time is not sufficient for buying the Tourist Card?

Our experience:

Buying the Cuba Tourist Card was the easiest thing about the whole process!

There was a kiosk next to the boarding gate. We had to show our Passports and Boarding Cards and pay US$20 per person in cash to buy 2 Tourist Cards for the two of us. The whole transaction took less than 20 seconds. No, there was no queue.

[Behind the scenes: We did almost miss our flight though. But that is another story! The only thing that I can tell you now is that 1-hour time zone differences are worse and more confusing than say 8-hour time zone difference.]

Flying to Havana (Cuba): Arriving at Havana (Cuba)

Our apprehensions:

We were allowed to board the plane from San Jose. We were sold the Tourist Cards at Panama City airport without any questions asked. Will Havana airport allow us entry to Cuba? Is the Tourist Card good enough for Indians to enter Cuba? Do we need to buy additional insurance? What if we are sent for further official processing before authorizing entry?

Our experience:

The immigration queue at Havana airport required the husband and me to appear at the immigration counters, one by one – not together as family. Unlike in Costa Rica.

I appeared before the immigration officer at the immigration counter. She took my photo, saw my (Indian) passport and immediately asked me to step aside. She gave my passport to another official (a woman who was not in uniform). Indranil proceeded to the immigration counter and the same process was followed with him as well.

While we waited, the woman with our passports handed over our passports to another man (another official who was not in uniform). The man was talking to another woman – another tourist. We noticed that there were quite a few people who had been asked to step aside and their passports had been given to this officer. We were trying to assess the country from their passport cover pages to determine the algorithm behind the practice of asking some people (not all) to step aside at the immigration counter. Before we reached a conclusion, it was our turn. The official, with our passports in his hands, came to us with a series of questions.

The conversation

The officer asked us several questions. To start with, he asked us about the language that we could speak.

Officer: English or Spanish?
Us: Spanish – a little. English – yes.

The conversation that followed was partly in Spanish and partly in English. Here is how it went:

Officer: Where do you live?
Us: Costa Rica.
Officer: What is the purpose of your visit?
Us: Holiday. Tourism.
Officer: Do you know everyone in Cuba speaks Spanish? So you will need to speak Spanish. Do you understand?
Us: Yes.
Officer: When are you going back?
Us: In 10 days.
Officer: Which is your way back? Havana > Panama > Costa Rica?
Us: Yes.
Officer: How long have you been living in Costa Rica?
Us: 8 months.
Officer: What is your profession?
Us: Data analysis.
Officer: Which company do you work for?
Us: **Company name**
Officer: Do you have proof of residence in Costa Rica?
Us: Yes. We showed our residence cards to the officer.

He checked our passports thoroughly – all the pages – the visas, the entry and the exit stamps, and the blank pages as well! Then he took us back to the immigration counter. Indranil and I were standing in parallel at two adjacent immigration counters. Our photos were taken, and then the much-coveted “entrada” was stamped on our respective passports!

I know that the questions were probably a little too many. But it was a very friendly discussion. At no point did we feel threatened or overwhelmed. The officer was wearing a smile on his face throughout our conversation.

We were not asked for our US B1/B2 visas at the Havana airport.

Read this article on 20+ things to do in Havana, Cuba.

Steps to follow at Havana airport

• Immigration check
• Security check
• You will be asked the following: [The following steps may vary if the answer to any of these two is USA]
  • Your nationality
  • Country of originating flight
• Baggage claim
• Customs
• Currency exchange (just outside the airport arrival gate)

To Summarize

• Tourist Card is mandatory. [Remember to keep this safe as you need to return this before departing Cuba.]
• You can buy Tourist Card through travel agencies or directly at the airport from your final boarding point.
• Cost of card: $20 at the airport (non-US). To be paid in US dollar, cash only. Agents could be more expensive.
• Nobody asked to check our US visas at Panama City airport or Havana airport. However, we were asked for it at check-in counter in San Jose airport.
• You can still be pulled aside for some additional Q&A at Havana airport. Be confident and answer all questions honestly to the best of your knowledge.
• Have any backup documents ready for review (if applicable). [Example, in our case, it was Costa Rica residence cards].
• Nobody asked us about insurance.
• Specific ‘category of travel’ is not required, unlike for US citizens. Just ‘holiday’ or ‘tourism’ is good enough.

Hope this helps you set expectations right about entry requirements for traveling to Cuba as an Indian citizen. Have you traveled to Cuba as an Indian citizen? Do you have a new perspective to share about your Cuba Visa experience? In that case, please write to us so that we can include your story too in this post.

Once you enter Cuba, you will realize it is a completely different world.

Read our article for all the details and travel tips on what to expect from your first trip to Cuba.

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