How to move to Spain from Cuba: visas, requirements and step-by-step guide 2026
Table of contents:
If you are Cuban and considering moving to Spain, there are three realities you need to know from minute one. The first: in January 2026, according to INE data, there were between 225,000 and 230,000 people born in Cuba residing in Spain, and in 2025 alone more than 27,000 Cubans registered on the Spanish padrón. The second: as a Cuban citizen, you belong to the group of Ibero-American countries to which Article 22 of the Civil Code grants the reduced period of 2 years of legal residency to access Spanish citizenship, compared to the 10 years of the general regime. The third, and the most important in practical terms: Cuba is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, which makes the legalization of Cuban documents one of the most delicate points of the entire process.
This guide explains all available legal channels to immigrate from Cuba, the actual particularities of the Consulate in Havana, the options for those already in Spain, and the extraordinary regularization approved by the Spanish Government in 2026, without glossing over the actual difficulty of the documentation process or the real timelines involved.
Cubans in Spain in 2026: how many they are and how they arrived
The current snapshot is of a community in full growth. The INE figure confirms that the Cuban population in Spain has skyrocketed in the last four years. In 2025 alone, around 27,000 Cubans registered on the padrón, a figure far above the historical pace of arrivals and a reflection of the migratory exodus Cuba has been experiencing since 2021.
One Cuban particularity compared to other Ibero-American countries: a significant portion does not arrive directly from the island. Many Cubans first transit through third countries (Mexico, Ecuador, Nicaragua) and from there move to Spain, where they apply for international protection or, once that path is exhausted, try to regularize their status through arraigo. This completely changes the documentary flow compared to that of Bolivians, Argentines, or Colombians: the Cuban who arrives in Spain via Mexico usually does so without having properly legalized his documents in Havana, which later complicates all subsequent procedures.
Spain was, in 2025, the fifth country that received the most asylum applications from Cuban citizens: 4,131 admitted for processing, according to official data. The actual approval rate was very different: only 36 Cubans obtained asylum so far in 2025, compared to 152 denied.
What legal options does a Cuban have to reside in Spain?
There is no single path. The strategy depends on your starting situation (in Cuba, in a third country, or already in Spain), on whether you have a job offer, on your family situation, and on whether or not you have exhausted the asylum route. The main options are:
- Work visa as an employee processed from Cuba with a prior job offer from a Spanish employer
- Self-employment work visa for autónomos with a viable business plan
- Student visa for programs longer than 90 days
- Family reunification if you have a spouse, partner, children, or ascendants already legally residing in Spain
- Non-lucrative visa for those who can prove sufficient financial means without working (uncommon in the Cuban profile due to the banking restrictions on the island)
- Digital nomad visa for remote professionals with clients or employers outside of Spain
- Entrepreneur visa for innovative projects with a favorable report from ENISA
- International protection (asylum) for those invoking persecution based on political, racial, religious grounds or membership of a particular group
- Socio-labor arraigo if you are already in Spain with 2 years of stay and an employment contract
- Extraordinary regularization 2026 for those already in Spain before December 31, 2025
For a complete view of the procedures available to each profile, our guide on immigration in Spain offers the map of all authorizations of the system updated to the new Regulation.
International protection for Cubans: asylum and humanitarian reasons
This is the most used channel by Cubans arriving in Spain in recent years, but also one of the most disappointing in terms of outcomes. Official data shows a very unequal scenario: in 2025, Spain did not grant a single residency permit on humanitarian grounds to Cuban citizens, while it granted 56,259 to Venezuelans. That difference has generated constant criticism from organizations such as CEAR (Spanish Commission for Refugees Aid), which for years has been demanding parity between the Cuban and Venezuelan realities.
What the Spanish system does offer is the possibility of submitting the application, obtaining the well-known “red card” (provisional residency and work authorization during processing), and remaining legally in Spain while it is resolved. The guide on the red card asylum in Spain explains in detail how this document works and the rights it grants during the process.
The average resolution time for Cuban asylum applications is between 18 and 36 months, during which the person can live and work legally. If the final resolution is negative, the period of irregularity opens, which can lead to socio-labor arraigo after 2 years. For those invoking humanitarian reasons different from asylum, the guide on residency for humanitarian reasons in Spain contextualizes this less common channel.
Work visa from Cuba: how to get a job offer in Spain
This is the cleanest channel to arrive in Spain with everything in order, but also the most demanding: it requires that a Spanish company hire you before you leave Cuba and that this company is willing to process the initial residency and work authorization before the Immigration Office in Spain.
The process works like this: the Spanish employer submits the application providing the employment contract, justification of its financial solvency, planned Social Security registration, and specific documentation for the position. Once the initial authorization is granted, you must go to the Consulate General of Spain in Havana to apply for the residency and work visa, with prior appointment.
The timeline from the granting of the authorization to the delivery of the visa ranges from 1 to 3 months. Once in Spain, you have one month from entry to apply for the TIE at the National Police Station. To understand the nuances of the file and maximize the chances of approval, our service of work permit as an employee in Spain coordinates both sides of the process.
Socio-labor arraigo for Cubans already in Spain in irregular status
This is the dominant channel for Cubans who arrived in Spain on a tourist visa, via third countries, or after an asylum denial, and who have spent at least 2 years on Spanish territory. It replaces the former social arraigo of RD 557/2011 and, according to article 127.b) of the new Immigration Regulation (RD 1155/2024, in force since May 2025), requires simultaneously meeting the following requirements:
- Continued stay in Spain of at least 2 years, provable through padrón registration, health cards, transfer receipts, private contracts, or any nominative and dated document
- Not having been absent for more than 90 days in total during those 2 years
- No criminal record in Spain, in Cuba, or in any other country where you have resided in the last 5 years
- Having one or more employment contracts that together guarantee the minimum interprofessional wage or that of the applicable collective agreement, with a minimum weekly workday of 20 hours
A high-impact development since April 16, 2026: following the modification of the Regulation by Royal Decree 316/2026, once the application is admitted for processing, the Cuban is provisionally authorized to work as an employee until the file is resolved, without having to wait for the final approval.
For those who do not exactly fit the socio-labor arraigo but have other circumstances (family in Spain, ongoing training, second chance), our guide on the different types of arraigo in Spain covers all the modalities of the new Regulation.
The 2026 extraordinary regularization: what changes for Cubans
In January 2026, the Spanish Government approved the start of processing of a Royal Decree on extraordinary regularization. The measure can benefit nearly half a million people, among them thousands of Cubans, especially those whose asylum was denied or who are awaiting resolution.
The basic requirements are two: being in Spain before December 31, 2025, and proving at least five months of continued stay at the time of application, through nominative and dated documentation (padrón, medical certificate, electricity bill, bank transfers). Beneficiaries obtain a one-year residency and work authorization, with automatic suspension of any return procedure underway.
For the complete details of the procedure, submission channels, and timelines, our guide on the new extraordinary immigration regularization in Spain 2026 offers the updated context.
Do you want a expert consultation? Contact us and we will help you.
Spanish citizenship for Cubans: 2 years through the Ibero-American path
This is probably the best legal news for Cubans. Although Spain and Cuba do not have a specific bilateral Dual Nationality Convention signed (unlike Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, or Colombia), Article 22.1 of the Civil Code recognizes Cuba as an Ibero-American country and establishes the reduced period of 2 years of legal and continued residency to access Spanish citizenship.
The complete requirements to obtain citizenship by residency as a Cuban are:
- Legal and continued residency in Spain for at least 2 years immediately preceding the application
- Good civic conduct (no criminal record in Spain or in Cuba)
- Sufficient degree of integration: passing the CCSE exam (Constitutional and Sociocultural Knowledge) of the Cervantes Institute
- As Spanish speakers, Cubans are exempt from the DELE A2 exam
- Legalized Cuban documentation (literal birth certificate, criminal record certificate) issued by the competent Cuban authorities
Here comes the most relevant nuance: although there is no bilateral Convention, Article 24.1 of the Civil Code allows Cubans who acquire Spanish citizenship to expressly declare the will to retain their nationality of origin when swearing the Spanish one. This produces, in practice, a functional dual nationality effect: the Cuban can keep their Cuban passport without formally renouncing it. To understand this regime well, our guide on Spanish dual nationality explains all the nuances.
The legal resolution period of the citizenship file is one year, although in practice the actual times move between 18 and 36 months due to administrative saturation.
The Cuban documentation problem: legalization (not apostille) and procedures from the island
Here lies the most distinctive point of the Cuban process and the main cause of delays. Cuba is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention. This means that Cuban documents cannot be apostilled: they must go through a process of legalization through diplomatic channels, which is longer and more costly.
The procedure, after the changes of February 2025, is as follows:
- Obtaining the original document at the competent Cuban body (Civil Registry for birth, marriage, or death; Central Registry of Sanctioned Persons of the Ministry of Justice for criminal records)
- Legalization by the Cuban Ministry of Justice (MINJUS), which since February 3, 2025, replaces the MINREX for documents intended for abroad
- Final legalization by the Consulate General of Spain in Havana, an essential step for the document to be valid in Spain
Actual timelines for this complete circuit average between 50 and 70 days for civil and criminal documents, and can extend up to 7 or 8 months for academic documents. Cuban banking restrictions and international shipping problems add additional complications.
A critical detail to avoid rejections: Cuban documents have a limited validity from the date of issuance of the original (not from the legalization). In Spain, Immigration and Civil Registries usually require documentation with a maximum age of 3 to 6 months, depending on the procedure. If your certificate was issued long ago even though the legalization is recent, it can be rejected.
The Spanish Consulate in Havana: where it is, how to request an appointment, and actual timelines
The Consulate General of Spain in Havana has its main headquarters at the Lonja del Comercio (Calle Lamparilla nº 2, Old Havana, ground floor, space C). It also has a secondary office at the Palacio Velasco for the delivery of already issued passports and visas. In 2025, the Spanish Government announced the creation of a new Consulate General in Camagüey to relieve part of the flow, a measure that gives an idea of the actual volume of Cuban procedures.
The operational reality of the consulate is one of the most critical points of the Cuban migratory process:
- Appointments for citizenship by Democratic Memory Law (Grandchildren’s Law) caused a historic collapse in 2024 and 2025, with months-long waits to obtain credentials
- Appointments for work visas, family reunification, and other national visas usually require several weeks or months in advance
- Document legalizations are managed with separate appointments, with their own calendar and also extensive timelines
- The Consulate has a ticker and credential notice system, but availability changes by day
Practical recommendation: request the consular appointment as soon as you have the documentation ready or, if you are still starting the process, work in parallel on the Cuban documentation. Time planning is the only thing that distinguishes a well-managed process from one that drags on year after year.
Do you want a expert consultation? Contact us and we will help you.
Cuban professionals and entrepreneurs in Spain: how to establish themselves legally
The Cuban business profile has very characteristic features. Unlike the Mexican or Argentine, liberal professionals (doctors, engineers, architects, artists, programmers) and individual entrepreneurs predominate. Currency restrictions and the banking situation on the island generate specific difficulties when proving initial capital before the Immigration Office, which forces careful planning of the financial means justification.
Entrepreneur visa for Cubans with an innovative business project
If you have a project with an innovative character (not necessarily technological, also cultural, artistic, or service projects with differential value), the entrepreneur visa is the most direct path. It is regulated by Law 14/2013 and requires a business plan favorably evaluated by ENISA or competent body. The plan must demonstrate real potential for job generation, added value for Spain, or measurable economic impact. For the details, our guide on the entrepreneur visa in Spain is the starting point, and the service of residency for entrepreneurs includes the technical preparation of the plan and its defense.
Digital nomad: Cubans who work remotely and want to live in Spain
This is an option increasingly used by Cuban professionals (programmers, designers, consultants) with clients outside of Spain. It requires proving that the work activity is performed for companies or clients not residing in Spain, sufficient income (200% of the SMI, approximately 2,400 euros monthly in 2026), and accredited training or professional experience. The great advantage is the possibility of opting in to the special tax regime of the Beckham Law, which taxes 24% on the first 600,000 euros. Our service of digital nomad visa coordinates the migratory and tax aspects of the procedure.
Setting up a company in Spain as a Cuban: basic requirements
For Cubans who want to formalize a business in Spain with a certain structure, the usual option is the Limited Liability Company (SL). Following the reform of the Crea y Crece Law, the minimum capital is 1 euro, but the practical requirements are higher: contribution of NIE, bank certificate of capital deposit, public deed before a notary, and subsequent registration in the Commercial Registry. The Cuban particularities (transfer of funds from the island, banking restrictions) make many Cubans choose to set up the company once they are already in Spain with a prior visa or residency.
Can a Cuban company open a subsidiary or branch in Spain?
It is possible, although infrequent due to the restrictions of the Cuban economic system. If a Cuban company from the emerging private sector (cuentapropistas, MIPYMES) wants to establish a presence in Spain, it can do so by opening a subsidiary (commercial company incorporated in Spain) or a branch (which has no legal personality of its own). The operational difficulties are usually in the transfer of capital and in the Cuban corporate documentation, which must also be legalized through consular channels.
What to do upon arriving in Spain: essential first procedures
Once in Spain with the corresponding visa, there is a sequence of urgent steps you must complete in the first weeks to avoid losing regular status:
Padrón registration. This is the first procedure and the basis for everything else. It is done at the Town Hall of the municipality where you live, presenting a rental contract, deed of property, or authorization from the holder. Without padrón registration, you cannot access public health, enroll your children in school, or open a bank account at some banks.
TIE application. Within one month from your entry into Spain, you must request an appointment at the National Police Station to have your fingerprint taken and apply for the Foreigner Identity Card. You will need the EX-17 form, the proof of payment of the fee, the Cuban passport, the visa, and three photographs.
Social Security registration. If your visa is for work as an employee, the registration is processed by the employer in the general regime; if you are self-employed or a digital nomad, you do it yourself in the RETA. Without that registration, you are not covered medically or contributing.
Opening a bank account. Necessary for direct deposit of salary, bills, and, if you will be self-employed or an entrepreneur, to issue invoices. Cubans usually find more ease in digital banks (BBVA, Openbank, ING) than in physical branches for the first accounts.
Immigrating to Spain from Cuba is a technically complex and emotionally demanding process, but with a legal framework that remains one of the most favorable Spain offers to any country in the world. The difference between an orderly process and one full of delays usually lies in how Cuban documentation is managed from the island and in choosing the regularization path appropriate to each person’s actual profile. At ILLAY Legal, we work with Cubans in Spain and from Cuba through 100% online management: we review each file, identify the best strategy, and coordinate with specialized agents in Havana when necessary. Tell us your situation and we’ll tell you exactly what steps to take.
Frequently Asked Questions: Emigrating to Spain from Cuba
Do Cubans need a visa to enter Spain as tourists?
Yes. Cuba is on Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, which obligates Cuban nationals to obtain a short-stay Schengen visa for any trip to Spain, even for tourism. The maximum permitted stay is 90 days within any 180-day period. The application is submitted at the Consulate General of Spain in Havana with prior appointment, which must be requested several weeks or months in advance.
Is there a Dual Nationality Convention between Spain and Cuba?
No. Cuba does not appear among the countries with which Spain has signed a bilateral Dual Nationality Convention (Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Bolivia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Argentina, and Colombia). However, Article 22.1 of the Civil Code recognizes Cuba as an Ibero-American country and allows access to Spanish citizenship with only 2 years of legal residency. Furthermore, Article 24.1 allows Cubans to declare the will to retain Cuban nationality when swearing the Spanish one, which produces a practical dual nationality effect.
How are Cuban documents legalized for Spain if Cuba does not apostille?
Cuba is not a party to the Hague Convention, so Cuban documents are not apostilled but rather legalized through diplomatic channels. Since February 2025, the procedure involves three steps: obtaining the document at the competent Cuban body, legalization by the Ministry of Justice (MINJUS), and final legalization by the Consulate General of Spain in Havana. The complete process usually lasts between 50 and 70 days for civil and criminal documents.
Can I regularize my status in Spain if my asylum was denied?
It depends on the moment of denial and on the time you have spent in Spain. If your denial is final and at least 2 years have passed since your effective entry (with a maximum of 90 days of absence), you can apply for socio-labor arraigo by providing an employment contract of at least 20 weekly hours with SMI. If you entered Spain before December 31, 2025, and you can prove 5 months of continued stay, you can also opt for the Royal Decree on extraordinary regularization approved in 2026.
Why does Spain grant so little asylum to Cubans compared to Venezuelans?
The Spanish Government has held the official position that Cubans emigrate primarily for economic reasons, which automatically excludes the granting of international protection or residency for humanitarian reasons. In 2025, Spain did not grant a single humanitarian residency to Cubans, compared to 56,259 granted to Venezuelans. Organizations such as CEAR have been demanding parity between both migratory realities for years, without the official policy having changed for the time being.
How long does it take to obtain Spanish citizenship as a Cuban?
From the moment the requirement of 2 years of legal residency is met, the file is submitted electronically before the Ministry of Justice. The legal resolution time is one year, but in practice the actual times in 2026 oscillate between 18 and 36 months due to administrative saturation. The subsequent phase (oath, registration in the Civil Registry, and obtaining the DNI) adds between 3 and 9 additional months after the granting.
Do you want a expert consultation? Contact us and we will help you.
Share this article:
We will be with you each step of the way