Cuban passport

Cuban passport Pasaporte cubano
The front cover of a contemporary Cuban passport.
Type	Passport
Issued by	Cuba
First issued	1 January 2011[1] (current version)
Purpose	Identification
Eligibility	Cuban citizenship
Expiration	10 years

A Cuban passport (Spanish: Pasaporte cubano) is an identity document issued to citizens of Cuba to facilitate international travel. They are valid for 10 years from the date of issuance, before they used to be valid for 6 years and had to be validated every 2 years.^[2]

The cost of a Cuban passport is 2500 Cuban pesos, equivalent to approximately USD $20.^[3]

The cost of issue of this passport is about US$200 (CUC 200) and US$200 for every two years for Cubans living in the United States.^[4]

In addition a Cuban national must pay 200 Euros every two years if the person lives outside of Cuba in order to gain permission to enter Cuba. Without this permission and a Cuban passport a Cuban cannot enter the island and will be denied entry.

Until 14 January 2013, the Cuban government required that all Cuban citizens and foreigners such as foreign students that live in Cuba desiring to leave the country would have to obtain an exit permit (Spanish: Permiso de Salida). The abolition of the controversial requirement led to long lines at passport offices filled with citizens desiring to legally travel abroad; however, the lines were partly attributed to the cost of obtaining a passport doubling the next day to the equivalent of US$100 (CUC 100), the equivalent of 5 months of average state salary. Now the passport is the only document required to leave the country, apart from a visa from the destination country. Previously the cost of a passport, exit permit, and associated paperwork added up to around US$300 (CUC 300), the equivalent of 15 months of average state salary.^[5]