The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week that it will reopen an office in Havana, Cuba, after being closed for several years. This is great news for Cubans who have pending immigration cases to the United States.
The office will help process applications for the Cuban Family Reunification Program (CFRP) and Form I-730 for family members of refugees or asylees. It will also provide other limited services such as refugee processing and biometric data collection for visa applications.
All services will require an appointment. USCIS will update its website with more details on available services and how to schedule an appointment in the coming weeks.
Many Cuban families have been separated for years due to delays in processing family reunification applications. The new office will help expedite these cases and also discourage dangerous irregular maritime migration.
Although services are limited initially, the reopening is a positive step toward normalizing U.S.-Cuba relations. Cubans with pending cases now have more hope of resolving their immigration status soon and being reunited with their loved ones.
