Living in Spain requires a residence permit or Spanish citizenship. A Cuban passport needs a visa even for a short visit, and almost every residence route starts with a national visa applied for in Havana. Since October 2026 those applications are no longer handed in at the Consulate General but at a visa centre in Miramar. On the other hand, once you live in Spain legally you can apply for citizenship after two years, or after one if you descend from Spaniards by origin.
Entering Spain
Cubans need a short-stay (Schengen) visa to enter Spain, including as tourists. It allows up to 90 days in any 180-day period, does not allow work and cannot be used to settle. The requirements and documents are on the Cuba to Spain page.
If you are only changing planes at a Spanish airport on the way to a country outside the Schengen area, a Cuban passport also needs an airport transit visa. The consulate’s page on that visa lists the exceptions, such as certain family members of EU citizens.
Where visas are applied for in Havana
The Consulate General of Spain in Havana still decides every visa, but applications are now lodged at the Spain Visa Application Centre in Cuba, Avenida 31 between 18 and 14, house 1419 (Miramar, Playa). The centre started with Schengen visas on 5 October 2026, took over national visas on 12 October and, since 19 October, also receives visas for family members of Spanish citizens and of citizens of the EU, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
The centre charges a 17 euro service fee on top of the consular fee for each visa. It also sells optional extras (photos, photocopies, help with the form, a VIP room outside office hours), and the consulate states that paying for them has no bearing on the decision.
For appointments, the previous email and Bookitit system stopped taking new requests on 21 September 2026. The consulate sets out three cases:
- If you already had a Bookitit appointment, you keep it but go to the centre instead of the consulate.
- If you requested credentials before 21 September, your appointment arrives by email from info@spainvisa-cuba.com, in the order the credentials were requested. Check your spam folder too.
- Everyone else can book on the platform on the centre’s website, which opens to the public on 1 December 2026.
Appointments are free. Until December only urgent cases backed by documents are seen, by email to cog.lahabana.vis@maec.es. No reply means the case was not considered urgent.
If you have Spanish family
Children of a Spaniard by origin
If your father or mother was a Spaniard by origin and was born in Spain, you can opt for Spanish citizenship at any age. The declaration is made at the Civil Registry or, from Cuba, at the Consulate General.
If your father or mother was a Spaniard by origin but was born outside Spain, there is a residence permit for children of Spaniards by origin. It is one of the permits for family members of Spanish citizens and allows employment or self-employment.
Spouses, partners, children and parents of Spaniards
The residence permit for family members of Spanish citizens covers people who live with a Spaniard:
- a spouse aged 18 or over;
- a partner registered in a public register of an EU country, the European Economic Area or Switzerland, or a stable partner who can show at least twelve months of living together;
- children under 26, or older if they are dependent;
- parents who are dependent on the Spaniard and have no family support in their own country.
If the Spanish relative lives in Spain, they can apply themselves at the immigration office. If both of you live abroad, you apply from Cuba for the residence visa for family members of Spanish citizens, which now also goes through the visa centre.
If your relative in Spain is not Spanish but holds legal residence, the route is family reunification under the general scheme, which the consulate handles with its own visa.
Grandchildren of Spaniards
The Democratic Memory Law route, which let many children and grandchildren of Spaniards opt for citizenship, is closed: the deadline to request an appointment ended on 22 October 2025. Those who applied in time continue their case with the consulate. On 9 October 2026 the Consulate General announced that people entered in its Civil Registry up to 30 June 2026 who have been notified through DICIREG can now book an appointment for their first Spanish passport.
A grandchild of a Spaniard by origin who missed the deadline can still get citizenship through residence after a single year of legal residence in Spain.
Citizenship through residence
The general rule is ten years of residence, but nationals by origin of Ibero-American countries, Cuba included, need only two. One year is enough if you were born outside Spain to a father, mother, grandfather or grandmother who was originally Spanish, or if you have been married to a Spanish citizen for a year and are not separated. The residence must be legal, continuous and immediately before the application.
You must pass the Instituto Cervantes test of constitutional and sociocultural knowledge of Spain (CCSE). Cubans do not have to take the Spanish language exam (DELE), and Spanish law does not require them to renounce Cuban nationality when they take the oath.
The documents, fee, timelines and oath are in the guide to Spanish citizenship by residence, and the CCSE dates in the citizenship exam guide.
Residence routes applied for from Cuba
The Consulate General of Spain in Havana handles these national visas: non-lucrative residence, employment and self-employment, entrepreneur, highly qualified worker and intra-company transfer, study, researcher, internship, remote work (digital nomad), residence exempt from a work permit, family reunification and family members of Spanish citizens. Four of them require the following:
| Route | What you must show |
|---|---|
| Non-lucrative residence | €2,400 a month (400% of the 2026 IPREM) plus €600 a month for each dependant, for the full year the permit lasts. Health insurance. Does not allow work |
| International remote work | Working remotely for companies outside Spain, with an employment or professional relationship of at least three months and companies with a year of real activity. A university, vocational or recognised business-school qualification, or three years of experience |
| Study | Admission to or enrolment at a school or university in Spain. Allows work of up to 30 hours a week |
| Employment | A job offer from an employer in Spain that meets the regulation’s requirements |
For non-lucrative residence a single person needs €28,800 for the year, and €36,000 with one dependant. The money can come from savings, income or any source you can document.
The remote work permit can also be requested from inside Spain if you are there lawfully. It lasts up to three years and is renewed for two-year periods.
Already in Spain: arraigo
Anyone who has lived in Spain for at least two consecutive years can apply for a residence permit through arraigo (settlement), even without having had papers. There are five kinds:
- socio-labour, with one or more contracts adding up to at least 20 hours a week and paying at least the minimum wage or the sector agreement rate, in proportion to the hours;
- social, if you have close family with residence in Spain and means of at least 100% of the IPREM (€600 a month in 2026) or, if not, an integration report from the regional government;
- socio-educational, for people enrolled in recognised training, which allows employment of up to 30 hours a week;
- second chance, for people who held a residence permit other than one for exceptional circumstances in the previous two years and did not renew it for reasons unrelated to public order;
- family, for parents of a minor or carers of a person with a disability who are citizens of another EU country, the European Economic Area or Switzerland, with no minimum time in Spain.
Arraigo permits last one year, except the family one, which lasts five. You cannot apply for arraigo while an international protection application is pending, and the time that application takes does not count towards the two years. You must have no criminal record in Spain or in the countries where you lived during the five years before arriving.
The 2026 extraordinary regularisation, for people who were in Spain before 1 January 2026, took applications until 30 June 2026 and is now closed.
Cuban documents
Cuba has not signed the Hague Apostille Convention, so its documents (birth certificates, marriage certificates, police records, degrees) cannot be apostilled. To be valid in Spain they are legalised first by Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then by the Consulate General of Spain in Havana.
Legalisation at the consulate needs an appointment. To register in the system, email cog.lahabana.cleg@maec.es with the subject “CITA LEGA” and a clear photo of yourself holding your Cuban identity card. That mailbox only accepts registrations and does not answer questions. The holder of the document, or someone with their written authorisation, must do the procedure, always with originals or authentic copies issued by the same authority: a legalised photocopy does not replace the original. Legalisation does not expire, but if the document has limited validity, such as a police record, the legalisation lasts as long as the document.
Your residence status in Cuba
Cuba’s Law 171 on Migration, published in the Official Gazette on 5 May 2026, has been in force since 1 November 2026 and repealed Decree-Law 302 of 2012, which set 24 months as the maximum time outside the country. A Cuban now keeps the status of resident in Cuba if they have effective residence, meaning they spent most of the previous year in Cuba. The implementing regulation (Decree 136) sets this at 180 days.
With less time, you can ask for effective residence to be recognised if you spent more than 120 days in Cuba that year and have other ties to the country, such as being married to someone with effective residence or having parents or children who have it, a job, a home, bank accounts used regularly or an investment. People who spend most of their time in another country move to the status of resident abroad. The law gives them the same rights, duties and guarantees as residents in Cuba, and the use and free disposal of their property in accordance with the law.
Frequently asked questions
Can I book a Spanish visa appointment in Cuba now? If you had no appointment or credentials under the old system, the visa centre’s platform opens to the public on 1 December 2026. Before then only urgent cases backed by documents are seen, by email to cog.lahabana.vis@maec.es.
How much does it cost to lodge a visa at the centre? A 17 euro service fee, plus the consular fee for the visa you apply for.
Can I enter as a tourist and apply for residence from inside Spain? It depends on the route. Non-lucrative residence and employment are applied for with a visa in Havana. Remote work can be requested from inside Spain if you are there lawfully, and so can the family-of-a-Spaniard permit when both of you are in Spain. Arraigo requires two years in the country.
Do I need the DELE for citizenship? No. Cubans are exempt from the language exam but must pass the CCSE.
Can I still apply for citizenship under the Democratic Memory Law? No. The deadline to request an appointment ended on 22 October 2025. Those who applied in time continue their case with the consulate.
Do I lose my residence in Cuba if I move to Spain? Since 1 November 2026 there is no fixed 24-month limit. You keep it if you spend at least 180 days a year in Cuba, or more than 120 with other ties that justify it. Otherwise you become a resident abroad.
Guide checked on 5 November 2026. Sources: Consulate General of Spain in Havana (exteriores.gob.es): “Lugar de presentación de solicitudes de visado”, national visa catalogue, “Visados de tránsito aeroportuario”, “Legalización y apostilla de La Haya”, news items “Inicio de operaciones del Centro de Solicitud de Visados para España en Cuba” (21/09/2026), “Reasignación de citas en el Centro de Solicitud de Visados para España en Cuba” (29/10/2026) and “Solicitudes de primer pasaporte” (09/10/2026), and the centre’s FAQ document; Royal Decree 1155/2024, Regulation of Organic Law 4/2000 on the rights and freedoms of foreigners in Spain (BOE, consolidated text including Royal Decree 316/2026; articles 57, 61 to 63, 94, 95, 97 and 125 to 127 and twenty-first additional provision); Law 14/2013 on support for entrepreneurs, articles 74 bis to 74 quinquies; Civil Code, articles 20, 22, 23 and 24; Royal Decree 1004/2015, Regulation on the procedure for citizenship through residence, article 6; SEPE, 2026 IPREM and minimum wage figures; Ministry of Foreign Affairs, notice of the end of the period under the eighth additional provision of Law 20/2022 on Democratic Memory (27/10/2025); Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba no. 39 Ordinaria of 2026 (05/05/2026): Law 171 on Migration, articles 22, 26 to 31 and final provisions, and Decree 136, Regulation of the Migration Law, articles 45 and 46; Hague Conference on Private International Law, status table of the Apostille Convention. Amounts and requirements can change: confirm yours with the consulate or the immigration office before paying.