The difference between a Cuba visa and Tourist Card

If you are planning a trip to Cuba anytime soon, you may be wondering what you need. A Cuba visa or a Tourist Card? While both of them are obtained for the same purpose, they are not quite the same. In fact, according to Cuba’s visa policy, they are quite different. They apply to different categories of people, for one. Plus, the way of getting them differs a lot. To get the former, you need to visit a Cuban diplomatic mission, while the latter can be obtained with a simple online application form.

The Cuba visa

It seems that 20 nationalities in the world do not have access to a Tourist card, which means that the Cuba visa is their only option to cross the Cuban border. If you want to know whether or not you are in this category, you can use iVisa’s Visa Checker. It will redirect you to the nearest Cuban embassy in your area if you do not qualify for the Tourist Card. As a result, you are going to have to take that trip and apply for your Cuba visa.

The requirements for a Cuba visa are not difficult to achieve. You need a passport that keeps its validity for at least another 6 months from your date of arrival in Cuba. To go to Cuba, you also need travel insurance and a flight itinerary. As for the cost of a Cuba visa, the price is not the same for all embassies. However, the cost ranges from $20 to $75.

The Cuba Tourist Card

It is also known as a pink card for Americans, and a Tarjeta del Turista. You can get it in more than one way. It is available online, you can get it from some airlines like American Airlines and JetBlue, or you can purchase it from a travel agency. The simplest method, however, remains the internet. There are several services that can help you, but iVisa is by far the best one. It has a 9.5 out of 10 stars rating on TrustPilot, and it has thousands of clients all over the world.

The requirements for a Cuba Tourist Card are the same as for a visa. You need a passport and travel insurance. When you get to Cuba, you will also be asked to show a flight itinerary. Keep in mind that minors cannot travel on someone else’s visa. As for the cost, it depends on which processing time you go for. iVisa gives you three choices so that you can choose the one that best suits your needs. They are as follows:

• Standard processing – your application will be processed and your Tourist card delivered in 3 to 5 business days. This option costs $110
• Rush processing – your Tourist card will arrive within 1 to 3 business days, and the fee is $130
• Super Rush processing – you will have your Cuba Tourist card in 1 business day, and you will be charged $150.

As you can notice, there are some significant differences between the Cuba visa and Tourist Card. However, both of them grant you a single entry, and you can spend maximum 30 days in Cuba. That is unless you are a Canadian citizen, which means that you are allowed a 90-days stay. Both documents can be extended once for the same period they were first issued. Even so, getting a Tourist Card seems a lot more convenient than a visa, primarily because you can apply online and avoid all that bureaucratic hassle you go through at a Cuban diplomatic mission.