Cuba endemics from 18/02/24 to 01/03/24 (1 Viewer)

[cdor]

Hi,

Anyone interested in a bird trip in Cuba, focused on the endemics, with a local tour operator from 18/02/24 to 01/03/24?

All other birds are also welcome.

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

Possibly; pm me with details.

 

[Arbu]

I hope you realise that visiting Cuba now means (for British people at least) that you can't get an ESTA for the USA, so if you subsequently want to go there, or even transit through, you will have to go for an interview and get a visa.

 

[Jose Ramon]

Yes, I could be interested in a tour to Cuba and Puerto Rico to search for endemic families and species.

No direct flights between both countries but possible through a third country.

Orestes Martínez (Chino de zapata) could be a good option for Cuba.

Guides also availables in Puerto Rico.

 

[Jose Ramon]

I hope you realise that visiting Cuba now means (for British people at least) that you can't get an ESTA for the USA, so if you subsequently want to go there, or even transit through, you will have to go for an interview and get a visa.

Better take a flight from Madrid to Havana or Santiago from Madrid. Iberia, Cubana de aviación and maybe other low cost companies may fly there or to Varadero.

But I need to check if I may have any problem visiting Cuba first and then Puerto Rico as it is a USA associated free state.

 

[Arbu]

Better take a flight from Madrid to Havana or Santiago from Madrid. Iberia, Cubana de aviación and maybe other low cost companies may fly there or to Varadero.

But I need to check if I may have any problem visiting Cuba first and then Puerto Rico as it is a USA associated free state.

I don't know how it works in Spain, but when I applied for an ESTA recently they asked for details of my social media accounts. I wouldn't be surprised if they did some automated search to check whether I had ever been to Iran or Syria, or recently to Cuba. I expect Puerto Rico is the same as the rest of the US.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Yes, I could be interested in a tour to Cuba and Puerto Rico to search for endemic families and species.

No direct flights between both countries but possible through a third country.

Orestes Martínez (Chino de zapata) could be a good option for Cuba.

Guides also availables in Puerto Rico.

That wasn't mentioned in the OP?

 

[fbeeldens]

Hi,

Anyone interested in a bird trip in Cuba, focused on the endemics, with a local tour operator from 18/02/24 to 01/03/24?

All other birds are also welcome.

Possibly. Could you provide me with the details?

 

[Jos Stratford]

Better take a flight from Madrid to Havana or Santiago from Madrid. Iberia, Cubana de aviación and maybe other low cost companies may fly there or to Varadero.

But I need to check if I may have any problem visiting Cuba first and then Puerto Rico as it is a USA associated free state.

Puerto Rico is an ESTA locality.

If you have been to any of the countries that thereafter prevent you from obtaining ESTA, it is irrelevant on the route you take.

The ESTA application specifically asks you if you have been to these countries and answering no would be a direct lie. If caught lying on an official immigration related document, I would guess the minimum would be a permanent ban on future entry to the US.

As for how the US would know you have visited, they have access to European flight data records. Whether they routinely screen this in processing ESTA I have no idea, but would you want to risk it?

Visiting these countries does not ban you from entering the US, only from getting ESTA. A visa is easy to obtain (and is valid for ten years, not the two years of ESTA). I would recommend simply getting a visa, rather than hoping they don't find out. I have been to Iran, my visa interview lasted little more than a few minutes and they were not concerned at all that I had visited one of the countries on the ESTA ban list.

 

[temmie]

They will know the moment you arrive in Puerto Rico as your passport has a Cuba stamp, that’s what I would assume. You can get lucky with automated passport machines instead of a person checking every passport page, but I wouldn’t gamble on it.

 

[Arbu]

They will know the moment you arrive in Puerto Rico as your passport has a Cuba stamp, that’s what I would assume. You can get lucky with automated passport machines instead of a person checking every passport page, but I wouldn’t gamble on it.

They don't stamp passports - just give you a card to hold onto.

 

[Jos Stratford]

They don't stamp passports - just give you a card to hold onto.

Still will have flight data if flew from within the EU to Cuba

 

[vergan]

Still will have flight data if flew from within the EU to Cuba

kind of remain of what happen if leaving Egyp via Taba and entering jordan via Aqaba. Syrians won't need to see if there is an israeli stamp on your passport (you may choose not to have it) to know you have been there on your middle east trip.

 

[MiddleRiver]

As a US citizen contemplating trip, the whole thing sucks. I'm used to fairly independent travel and would like to go mostly where I please. US restrictions put a lid on that... Recent political developments don't suggest it'll get much better any time soon.

 

[Mysticete]

As a US citizen contemplating trip, the whole thing sucks. I'm used to fairly independent travel and would like to go mostly where I please. US restrictions put a lid on that... Recent political developments don't suggest it'll get much better any time soon.

Yeah...sort of makes me concerned about how accessible China and related places might be in the future. Suppose I might need to consider prioritizing a trip to Sichuan sooner than later.

 

[lgonz1008]

Yeah...sort of makes me concerned about how accessible China and related places might be in the future. Suppose I might need to consider prioritizing a trip to Sichuan sooner than later.

I'm guessing one of the main targets is for the Pinktail? Let me know when you plan to do it, I'm really interested in the region and with the same worry as you.

 

[denisparkes]

Hi,

Anyone interested in a bird trip in Cuba, focused on the endemics, with a local tour operator from 18/02/24 to 01/03/24?

All other birds are also welcome.

Possibly interested. Would like some more details please

 

[temmie]

They don't stamp passports - just give you a card to hold onto.

not anymore? I have a December 2018 Cuba entry stamp in my passport.

My passport is valid until July 2025, and I plan to visit the USA in July 2024. I wonder what to do best, and am contemplating 'losing' my passport and getting a new one early 2024 so I can apply for ESTA with my new passport, but I wonder if that will solve anything if they can screen flight data from years back?

 

[DMW]

not anymore? I have a December 2018 Cuba entry stamp in my passport.

My passport is valid until July 2025, and I plan to visit the USA in July 2024. I wonder what to do best, and am contemplating 'losing' my passport and getting a new one early 2024 so I can apply for ESTA with my new passport, but I wonder if that will solve anything if they can screen flight data from years back?

If you visited Cuba before 2021, you can still apply for an ESTA.

 

[temmie]

If you visited Cuba before 2021, you can still apply for an ESTA.

I've read conflicting reports about this, e.g. that any travel to Cuba between 2011-2021 is enough to refuse ESTA (so it is a retroactive measure, and 12th of January 2021 is not cut-off date.

I've also read that the question re travel history in the eligibility section of the ESTA application has been updated to:

“Travel history of specific country Have you traveled to or stayed in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, or North Korea since March 1, 2011? Also, have you traveled to or stayed in Cuba since January 12, 2021?”

In that case (and I am willing to believe that's how it is), I would happily apply for ESTA (as I haven't been in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen nor North Korea in the last decade, and my Cuban travels were in 2018-2019).