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The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has eliminated “visa-free entry” for Cuban citizens, which it had established in 2021 as a “humanitarian measure” and which enabled a wave of Cuban migration that used Nicaraguan territory as a springboard toward the United States.
The elimination of visa-free entry was ordered on February 8, 2026, by the director general of Immigration, Juan Emilio Rivas, and leaked to the local press and confirmed hours later by the Interior Ministry.
Rivas’s text emphasizes that “as of this date all citizens and nationals of the Republic of Cuba holding ordinary passports changed their migratory category from A, visa-exempt, to category C, consultative visa without cost.”
It also orders that this provision be communicated to the Foreign Ministry “so that, the consular representation of Cuba in Nicaragua” and all Nicaraguan consulates abroad may be notified.
The measure was also notified to the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics for its disclosure and “immediate application” among Nicaraguan airlines, land and maritime transportation lines.
Visa applications will be handled by the Ministry of the Interior through the following e-mail address [email protected] and are free of charge.
“Once the consulted visa is approved, the interested party will be notified so that he/she may go to the nearest Nicaraguan consular office abroad, where he/she will receive the approved visa”, informed the Ministry of the Interior.
Escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Cuba
The “elimination of visa-free travel” for Cuban citizens comes at a time when the U.S. government has the Cuban regime on the ropes and a month after the capture of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, Ortega and Murillo’s main allies in the Americas.
Escalating tensions between Cuba and the U.S. and Washington’s oil siege on the island, which is in its worst crisis in decades, are gradually paralyzing life in Cuba: from public transportation to hospitals, from gas stations to factories and universities.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel stated on Thursday, February 5, 2026 in an unusual television appearance that since December 2025 the country had not been receiving fuel from abroad due to pressure from the United States and confirmed that energy production with diesel and fuel oil engines was paralyzed.
He also advanced the implementation of an emergency plan to try to subsist without oil from abroad, although he indicated that the details of this program would be made known in the following days.
Faced with the escalation of the conflict between the U.S. and Cuba, American and European governments have issued warnings to potential travelers, threatening a key sector for the island’s economy.
In recent weeks, countries that are among the island’s main tourist destinations, such as Canada, the United States and Spain, have drawn attention to the critical situation the country is going through.
Nicaragua a stepping stone for Cuban migrants
The Nicaraguan regime established the “free visa” for Cuban citizens in November 2021, arguing a “humanitarian” situation after the covid-19 pandemic. The following month the country registered the arrival of 6178 Cubans, according to data from Migration and Aliens.
During the time the measure was in force, thousands of Antilleans used Nicaragua as a “trampoline” to emigrate to the United States. This situation led the United States to impose a series of sanctions against officials and entities linked to the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo for facilitating irregular migration.
In February 2024, the United States expanded its visa restriction policy for air, land and maritime transport operators that facilitate migrant flights to Nicaragua, with the aim of curbing irregular migration to the U.S. In February 2024, the United States expanded its visa restriction policy for air, land and maritime transport operators that facilitate migrant flights to Nicaragua, with the aim of curbing irregular migration to the country.
A month later, in March 2024, it adopted new measures to “impose visa restrictions on executives of charter airlines” that facilitate irregular migration to the United States with flights to Nicaragua.
In November 2025, the U.S . State Department announced the revocation of visas and the imposition of immigration restrictions against Nicaraguan businessmen accused of facilitating irregular immigration into U.S. territory.
