Brave New World of Cuba Travel Begins Monday

A woman reads a passport application form as she waits in line outside an immigration office in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. A Cuban doctor says the Caribbean nation is eliminating longstanding restrictions on health care professionals' overseas travel as part of a broader migration reform. The doctor says hospital directors met Saturday with Health Minister Roberto Morales and were told of the new policy, effective Monday. For many years Cuban physicians have been limited in their ability to travel or had to undergo cumbersome bureaucratic procedures. But now they are supposed to be treated "like any other citizen" when it comes to traveling abroad. Franklin Reyes / AP

The new policy, which went into effect Monday, eliminates the need for an exit visa and allows many Cubans once barred from returning to the island to visit.

miamiherald.com - by Mimi Whitefield - January 14, 2013

A look into the future: Summer vacations by Cuban families in Miami, Cuban doctors and athletes who left their posts or teams while on official trips abroad returning to Cuba for visits and everyday Cubans permitted to leave the island for up to two years at a time.

They are all possible, starting Monday, when Cuba’s broad new migration and travel policy takes effect.

Cuba, which has long been criticized for keeping families apart and punishing those who try to leave the island illegally, has removed nearly all restrictions on travel by its citizens, a move that could cause ripples well beyond this island of 11 million people.

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