Cuba studying ways to allow residents to travel abroad

Cuba studying ways to allow residents to travel abroad
By Shasta Darlington, CNN
May 9, 2011 -- Updated 1631 GMT (0031 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The plan is included in 313 guidelines published for the first time Monday
- The guidelines do not include further details about the possible
policy change
- Exit visa requirements prevent Cubans from simply buying plane tickets
and leaving
- The bureaucratic hurdles to traveling abroad are some of the most
criticized in the country

Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- The Cuban government said Monday that it plans to
study ways to allow residents of the island nation to travel abroad as
tourists, suggesting it will ease the bureaucratic hurdles and outright
restrictions that prevent many residents from leaving.

The plan was included in 313 guidelines approved by the 6th Communist
Party Congress last month. The list became public when it was published
for the first time Monday.

The congress agreed to "study a policy that will allow Cubans resident
in the country to travel abroad as tourists," according to the document.

The guidelines do not include further details about the possible policy
change.

Currently, Cubans are not officially prohibited from traveling abroad
for tourism, but a series of requirements prevents them from simply
buying a plane ticket and leaving.

Cubans must obtain an exit visa from the government, known as a "white
letter," which costs $150.

In order to acquire the visa, a resident of the country they want to
visit must write a letter of invitation and register it with the Cuban
Embassy, paying up to $200.

Once the paperwork is in order, the Cuban government still has the right
to deny an exit visa, as it has done with many dissidents. Medical
professionals are only allowed to leave Cuba to work for the government
abroad.

There has been speculation since 2008 that Cuba would eliminate the exit
visa and the letter of invitation as part of President Raul Castro's
pledge to do away with unnecessary restrictions. That year, Castro
lifted prohibitions on Cubans staying in hotels and buying mobile phones.

The bureaucratic hurdles to traveling abroad are some of the most
criticized in the country.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/05/09/cuba.travel/