No Fast Exit for Educated Cubans

Although the Cuban authorities have eased travel restrictions by dropping the requirement to apply for an exit permit, there is a catch. To prevent an exodus of qualified professionals, anyone with a university degree will have to wait five years before they can emigrate. 

Migration Law 1312, announced on October 16 and effective from January 14, 2013, allows Cuban nationals to travel abroad freely as long as they have obtained the latest version of the passport. They no longer need to go through the onerous process of applying for permission to travel, or to produce a letter of invitation from someone living in their chosen destination. In addition, the authorities have also abolished a law that stripped permanent emigrants of their rights and assets.

However, graduates will be barred from immediate travel, in order to “maintain a qualified workforce for the country’s economic, social, scientific and technological development”, the law says, noting that the waiting period reflects the time needed to “train a substitute”.

An editorial in the official Communist Party newspaper Granma said the measure was imposed in response to United States policies which encouraged a brain drain in Cuba, specifically under the Cuban Adjustment Act and the Health Professionals Visa Programme.

Cuba’s office for migration has issued a note making it clear that the rule will apply even if individuals resign from their jobs.

Benigno Guerra, 58, has a degree in biology and has been teaching for 38 years.

“After so many years working in education on a measly salary, I’m planning to move to Germany with most of my family. But I’m going to have to be patient and wait for five years to see whether they give me approval to leave,” he said.

Guerra describes the waiting period as “more than a precautionary measure”.

“It’s a step based on fear, to protect against the brain drain,” he said. “They know that when [the borders] are opened up, most qualified personnel will leave in search of job markets with fairer wages.”

José Fornaris, an independent journalist and head of the Association for Freedom of the Press, says the change to the travel rules is not a true reform, just the grudging restitution of one of the many rights Cubans have been deprived of.

“Free entry to and exit from a country is a right recognised by the United Nations’ International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the Cuban government signed on February 28, 2008 but still hasn’t ratified,” Fornaris said. “They accuse North America of politicising the situation… but this change has come about because of pressures inside and outside the island.”

Many Cubans leave the country illegally, sailing home-made boats and rafts to the United States and Central America.

“It isn’t known – and they’ll never say – how many people have lost their lives crossing the Florida Straits, because there are no normal options for emigrating,” Fornaris said.

This story was first published on IWPR’s website.