Travelers planning an upcoming trip to Cuba should be aware of a temporary interruption to the country’s electronic tourist visa service.
The Cuban Consulate in Belgium and Luxembourg says the official eVisaCuba platform will be unavailable from August 20 through August 24, 2026, due to technical maintenance. According to the consulate, no tourist visas will be issued through the system during that period.
For European, British, Australian, Japanese and other travelers who still need to obtain a Cuban tourist eVisa and are due to travel soon, the outage may make it advisable to complete the application before the maintenance begins.
U.S. travelers are subject to separate rules. A Cuban visa does not, by itself, authorize travel from the United States for tourism purposes. U.S. law generally prohibits tourist travel to Cuba, and people subject to U.S. jurisdiction must travel under an authorized category or applicable license.
eVisaCuba shutdown announced for August 20–24, 2026
According to the Cuban Consulate in Belgium and Luxembourg, maintenance is scheduled to begin on Thursday, August 20, and continue through Monday, August 24, 2026.
The consulate says the evisacuba.cu platform will be unavailable during that period and that no tourist visas will be issued.
So far, Cuban authorities have not announced any changes to tourist visa requirements or any new features connected with the maintenance.
The disruption will therefore primarily affect travelers who have not yet obtained their eVisa and whose departure for Cuba is approaching.
Since January 1, 2026, the former “Tarjeta del Turista” tourist cards can no longer be used to enter Cuba. For travelers who require a tourist visa, the document must now be obtained electronically through eVisaCuba.
Cuba’s official eVisa portal currently describes the electronic tourist visa as the online document used for tourist entry and allows applications to be filed directly through the platform.
The portal is still online on August 19
The timeline, however, is not quite as straightforward as it appears.
A notice published by the Cuban Embassy in Morocco states that, starting at 12:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, “the issuance of digital tourist visas through the EVISACUBA online system will be temporarily suspended.” The embassy adds that the resumption of the service will be announced at a later date.
Yet on the morning of Wednesday, August 19, the eVisaCuba website remains online and travelers can still access the electronic visa service.
The fact that the website is accessible does not necessarily confirm that new applications are still being processed and visas issued on August 19. That point could become clearer if applications submitted today result in newly issued eVisas.
A similar maintenance shutdown took place in July
This is not the first recent interruption of the eVisaCuba system.
A similar shutdown was announced from July 16 through July 20, 2026. At the time, the Cuban Consulate in Belgium and Luxembourg officially notified travelers that tourist visa issuance would be temporarily suspended because of maintenance work on the eVisaCuba website. The consulate’s July notice remains available on its official X account.
The new August shutdown therefore comes roughly one month after that previous technical intervention.
At this stage, nothing in the official notices regarding the August maintenance indicates that it will introduce changes to the way the electronic visa works or to the requirements for obtaining one.
The D’VIAJEROS portal remains fully operational
The announced maintenance applies specifically to eVisaCuba and should not be confused with a broader shutdown of Cuba’s digital entry formalities.
The official D’VIAJEROS portal remains operational on August 19. Travelers use the platform to provide the information required before entering Cuba and generate the corresponding travel document. The official D’VIAJEROS website remains online.
Cuban authorities require travelers to complete D’VIAJEROS within the 72 hours before their flight.
Travelers who have already received their electronic visa and only need to complete their D’VIAJEROS form are therefore not directly affected by the announced eVisaCuba maintenance.
Should travelers apply for their eVisa before August 20?
For European, British, Australian, Japanese and other travelers who still need a Cuban electronic tourist visa and are departing soon, applying before the announced shutdown could prevent them from having to wait until the platform comes back online.
The same advice may apply to Canadian travelers who need to obtain their own eVisa, particularly when traveling to Cuba through a third country rather than as part of arrangements where the necessary Cuban travel documentation is handled through a Canadian carrier or tour operator.
For U.S. travelers, the visa issue should be considered separately from U.S. authorization to travel. U.S. citizens and other people subject to U.S. jurisdiction must still comply with U.S. restrictions on Cuba travel, which generally prohibit trips undertaken solely for tourism.
Travelers who have already received their Cuban visa are not affected by the temporary halt in visa issuance and can continue to complete their D’VIAJEROS declaration once they enter the required pre-departure window.
VisasNews Take
Just hours before the announced maintenance is due to begin, eVisaCuba remains accessible. The timeline published by Cuban diplomatic missions is not entirely consistent: the Cuban Embassy in Morocco said visa issuance would be suspended starting August 19, while the Cuban Consulate in Belgium and Luxembourg says the platform will be unavailable from August 20 through August 24. Travelers who still need an eVisa and are departing soon may therefore want to apply before the shutdown begins. D’VIAJEROS remains operational and is not affected by the eVisaCuba maintenance.
