Moving to Cuba

Cuba controls immigration tightly through DIIE under MININT: most foreigners enter on a Tarjeta de Turista (sold by airlines/consulates for USD 25-100, 30 days extendable to 60), while long-stay routes go through Residencia Temporal tied to work, study, ZEDM investment, MIPYME partnership, or family. US citizens cannot travel as tourists — OFAC requires fitting one of 12 general license categories (Support for the Cuban People is most common) with five-year record-keeping. Daily life plays out against rolling apagones, MLC-dollar store rationing, the 2021 Ordenamiento currency chaos, and the 2022-2024 exodus.

Cuba's formal labor market is state-dominated across health, education, government, and state enterprises. Foreign-invested joint ventures in tourism, biotech, and the Zona Especial de Desarrollo Mariel hire a small number of foreigners through Cuban labor agencies (ACOREC and similar) that act as legal employer. Since 2021 reforms expanded the private sector (cuentapropistas and MIPYMES — small and medium private enterprises), more foreigners work informally with these businesses, though formal employment remains tightly controlled.

Cuba's healthcare system, administered by the Ministerio de Salud Pública (MINSAP), is universal and free at the point of use for residents, with roughly 8.4 doctors per 1,000 people — one of the world's highest ratios. Family doctors (médicos de familia) and polyclinics (policlínicos) cover primary care in every neighborhood, and the country is internationally recognised for cardiology, ophthalmology, oncology, and vaccine development (the domestically produced COVID-19 vaccines Abdala and Soberana). However, the post-2020 crisis has produced sustained shortages of medicines, reagents, and equipment; patients are frequently asked to bring their own supplies. Foreigners and most expatriates use the parallel medical-tourism system: Hospital Internacional Cira García in Havana's Miramar, the Clínica Central Cira García, and Servimed facilities in Varadero and Santiago serve foreigners at USD rates and accept international insurance (except US-issued policies, blocked by the embargo). Mandatory travel medical insurance is required at entry for most nationalities. Pharmacies (farmacias) are widespread but frequently out of stock; bringing personal supplies of prescription drugs, contraceptives, and OTC essentials from abroad is standard practice.

ETECSA is the sole telecommunications provider, controlling mobile, fixed-line, and internet services nationally. Mobile data reached most of the country by the early 2020s, but speeds are slow, prices are high relative to wages, and service is prone to throttling and outages during politically sensitive moments. Cash remains dominant in daily commerce, though Transfermóvil and EnZona are the domestic mobile payment apps used for utilities, taxes, and peer-to-peer transfers in CUP.

Cuban culture is extraordinarily dense for a country of its size: son cubano, rumba, danzón, bolero, and the evolution into salsa and timba all originated here, and music is a constant presence in streets, buses, and homes. Literature runs from José Martí's independence-era essays through Alejo Carpentier's lo real maravilloso, José Lezama Lima's baroque prose, and Leonardo Padura's contemporary noir. Religion blends Roman Catholicism with Santería and other Afro-Cuban traditions; orishas like Yemayá and Changó are part of everyday vocabulary. Cigars (Cohiba, Montecristo, Partagás) and rum (Havana Club, Santiago) are industries and cultural identities at once. Baseball — pelota — is the national obsession, with Industriales of Havana and Santiago de Cuba at the centre of fierce rivalries. The social fabric is shaped by resolver (improvising a way through any obstacle) and invento (ingenuity born of scarcity); these are genuine survival strategies, not jokes. Family is the primary social unit, hospitality is immediate and intense, and strangers are folded into conversations with surprising speed.

• •Music is the ambient layer of daily life. Live son and timba play in casas de la música, paladares, and street corners; a baseline familiarity with Cuban musical history opens doors everywhere.
• •Resolver is the operating philosophy. The ability to improvise solutions — from finding scarce ingredients to arranging transport during blackouts — is admired and expected. Rigidity is a cultural misfit.
• •Greetings are physical and warm. Men shake hands; women exchange a single cheek kiss with men and women alike. Treating Cuban greetings with North-European reserve is read as coldness.
• •Baseball conversations are cultural currency. Knowing the Industriales-Santiago rivalry, or mentioning Cuban legends in MLB, earns instant goodwill with most Cuban men.
• •Jineterismo — tourist-directed hustling in Havana's centro and Varadero — is a real and sometimes uncomfortable dynamic. Read it for what it is (a product of economic scarcity), stay polite, and rely on trusted referrals for long-term relationships.