Travel requirements to the USA when having visited Cuba
Due to restrictions imposed by authorities of the USA, there are new travel document requirements for those customers who have visited Cuba on or after 12 January 2021. These customers are not allowed to enter USA with an ESTA authorization, and they must apply for a U.S. visa.
The restrictions came into force on July 6, 2023, and will remain in force until further notice.
If an ESTA has already been approved and it is later determined that the traveler has been present in Cuba or holds dual nationality with both a Visa Waiver Program country and Cuba, the ESTA will be cancelled.
Travelers whose ESTA has been cancelled will receive a notification indicating that their ESTA status has changed and may review their updated status on the ESTA Mobile App or on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s ESTA website.
Customers who have their flight in the next 7 days and have received a notification indicating a denied/cancelled ESTA application, due to having visited Cuba, need to be directed to apply for a nonimmigrant visa at any U.S. embassy or consulate. Please advise customers to apply for an expedited visa appointment (faster process). Otherwise, the B-2 visa for temporary tourist travel in the United States can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to process. Processing times vary from country to country. Like other visas, it depends largely on the workload of the U.S. embassy.
| Event | Travel to the USA not possible with ESTA for customers who have been in Cuba, hence these customers need to apply for a visa. |
| Route/market/destination/airports impacted | All routes to the USA |
| Travel dates impacted | 13JUL23 - Until furhter notice |
| Applies to tickets issued by | 13JUL23 |
| New travel dates | -14/+30 days from original travel date |
| Changes to origin/destination/stopover | Not allowed |
| Airlines allowed | Finnair (AY) operated and marketed only, rerouting to other airlines not allowed |
| Booking class to be used | Same or lowest available booking class within same cabin (Upgrades to higher cabin not allowed) |
| Changes | Postponing the flight is option number 1 to offer to the customer if ticket rules allow it.
If ticket rules do not allow changes and customer has need to change dep date for later date provided customer has proof that ESTA is declined and visa cannot be obtained in time for original dep date, then 1 change is OK free of charge. |
| Mandatory waiver text in OSI element | OS AY CHANGE DUE TO CHANGED TRAVEL DOC REQUIREMENTS OS AY REFUND DUE TO CHANGED TRAVEL DOC REQUIREMENTS |
| Mandatory indicator in front of fare calculation on the reissued ticket | ‘I’-indicator |
| Mandatory text in the endorsement | INVOL REROUTE to be used when involuntary reissue is due to unexpected reason 7 days or less before departure (together with ‘I’-indicator in the fare calculation) |
| Refunds |
Refunds are according to ticket rules or via travel insurance company.
Refund is also exceptionally allowed if the passenger has proof of both 1) declined/cancelled ESTA and 2) declined expedited appointment to get a visa before their flight. In any other situation postponing the flight and refund application for travel insurance company are the only possible solutions. In full refund allowed cases; cancel the booking/remaining segments and refund the ticket directly in your own GDS (if that is not possible, process refund via BSP/ARC) |
| Ancillaries | The above-mentioned change policy applies also to ancillaries, for the one free change follow the ancillary instructions on Easy Refund allowed only in case a similar ancillary service is not available on the new flight. Process EMD refunds via BSPlink refund application (ARC users: apply for refund via Refund Web-form and mention “ARC Agent” in the additional information box) |
| Groups |
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| Important information |
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