American sailing to cuba on foreign flagged sailing yacht??

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

From the Dept. of State. Lots of useful info here for U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba. And not one mention of it being illegal:

Cuba

i have to disagree. it says its illegal, plainly.

ENTRY / EXIT REQUIREMENTS, TRAVEL TRANSACTION LIMITATIONS: The Cuban Assets Control Regulations are enforced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and affect all U.S. citizens and permanent residents wherever they are located, all people and organizations physically located in the United States, and all branches and subsidiaries of U.S. organizations throughout the world. The regulations require that persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction be licensed in order to engage in any travel-related transactions pursuant to travel to, from, and within Cuba, or that the transactions in question be exempt from licensing requirements. Transactions related to tourist travel are not licensable. This restriction includes tourist travel to Cuba from or through a third country such as Mexico or Canada. U.S. law enforcement authorities enforce these regulations at U.S. airports and pre-clearance facilities in third countries. Travelers who fail to comply with Department of the Treasury regulations could face civil penalties and criminal prosecution upon return to the United States.

i have no idea how the US government can restrict us from visiting someplace. if i had 20 million dollars i would vist and let me prosecute me,
a good lawyer would have the law tossed out.

whats really funny, if i want to sail to Mogadishu that's perfectly fine

[David M]

Here are the provisions that allow US citizens to travel to Cuba, but you must obtain what is called a General License to do this.

1) visiting “close relatives” who are nationals of Cuba or visiting “close relatives” who are
U.S. Government employees assigned to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba (See
Section I below);
2) official business travel by officials of the U.S. Government, foreign governments, or
intergovernmental organizations of which the United States is a member (See Section II
below);
3) journalistic activities by persons regularly employed as journalists by a news reporting
organization or by persons regularly employed as supporting broadcast or technical
personnel (See Section III below);
4) professional research conducted by full-time professionals in their professional areas,
attendance at certain professional meetings or conferences organized by international
professional organizations, or participation in certain telecommunications-related
professional meetings (See Section IV below);
5) educational activities by faculty, staff, and students of accredited U.S. graduate and
undergraduate degree-granting academic institutions (See Section V below);
6) religious activities under the auspices of a religious organization located in the United
States (See Section VI below);
7) the commercial marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing in Cuba
of telecommunications-related items that have been authorized for commercial export or 6 Revised May 10, 2012
re-export by employees of, or an entity duly appointed to represent, a telecommunications
services provider (See Section XII below);
8) the commercial marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing in Cuba
of agricultural commodities, medicine, or medical devices by employees of a producer or
distributor or an entity duly appointed to represent a producer or distributor (See Section
XII below).

Source: http://www.treasury.gov/resource-cen...uba_tr_app.pdf

[Group9]

If you have $20 million dollars, it's okay to do pretty much of anything.

When Jay Z and Beyonce went, it may have looked like a vacation, but it was a State Department approved cultural exchange.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by scoobert

i have to disagree. it says its illegal, plainly.

i have no idea how the US government can restrict us from visiting someplace. if i had 20 million dollars i would vist and let me prosecute me,
a good lawyer would have the law tossed out.

whats really funny, if i want to sail to Mogadishu that's perfectly fine

I have to disagree. Your quoted info says it is illegal to do any travel related transactions. The OP does not do that as he is crew on a yacht. As long as his costs are being covered by his gratious captain, he is okay. I would keep the stamp out of my passport though, unless one likes to attract the attention and then need to prove it all.

I also believe the US has a big embassy in Havanna. They even have their own cosey spot @ Guantanamo Bay.

"If something happens and you need the government to get you out" is a prima example of cold war era phobia ignorance.

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I have to disagree. Your quoted info says it is illegal to do any travel related transactions. The OP does not do that as he is crew on a yacht. As long as his costs are being covered by his gratious captain, he is okay. I would keep the stamp out of my passport though, unless one likes to attract the attention and then need to prove it all.

I also believe the US has a big embassy in Havanna. They even have their own cosey spot @ Guantanamo Bay.

"If something happens and you need the government to get you out" is a prima example of cold war era phobia ignorance.

thats the fun thing about law. two people can read it two different ways.
neither is wrong, or right, until a lawyer takes the case

[Crimea Cruiser]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I have to disagree. Your quoted info says it is illegal to do any travel related transactions. The OP does not do that as he is crew on a yacht. As long as his costs are being covered by his gratious captain, he is okay. I would keep the stamp out of my passport though, unless one likes to attract the attention and then need to prove it all.

I also believe the US has a big embassy in Havanna. They even have their own cosey spot @ Guantanamo Bay.

"If something happens and you need the government to get you out" is a prima example of cold war era phobia ignorance.

Actually the State Department page says tourist related travel is prohibited, even if through a third party country such as Mexico or Canada. This would apply as well to US tourists arriving on vessels regardless of flag.

And they also state they have no consular or embassy presence in Cuba. They do have however a US Interests Section under protection of the Swiss contingency there in Havana, but no consular office or embassy per se, although it is housed in the old US Embassy building.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Crimea Cruiser

Actually the State Department page says tourist related travel is prohibited, even if through a third party country such as Mexico or Canada. This would apply as well to US tourists arriving on vessels regardless of flag.

And they also state they have no consular or embassy presence in Cuba. They do have however a US Interests Section under protection of the Swiss contingency there in Havana, but no consular office or embassy per se, although it is housed in the old US Embassy building.

Choice of words: called interest section because they don't have formal diplomatic relations. However, they function as de facto embassy. Here is their mission statement, which clearly includes Consular Services:

The functions of USINT are similar to those of any U.S. government presence abroad: Consular Services, a Political and Economic Section, a Public Diplomacy Program, and Refugee Processing unique to Cuba.

The objectives of USINT in Cuba is to promote a peaceful transition to a democratic system based on respect for rule of law, individual human rights and open economic and communication systems.

Bilateral relations are based upon the Migration Accords designed to promote safe, legal and orderly migration, the Interests Section Agreement, and efforts to reduce global threats from crime and narcotics[2]

Tourist travel is prohibited because tourists do transactions like for the flight, hotel, restaurants etc. Crew on a Kiwi sailboat is not a tourist as considered by statements you found.

Cuba is pretty nice and a vacation destination for all the world except US. I can't think of one nasty thing happening to a tourist there ever, except regular accidents. The "fear the communists" propoganda is getting old and tired, expecially with all governments flocking to China after the money.

[Crimea Cruiser]

I have no problem with Cuba, just my gov't that does. And lately they have ever so reaching hands, ears and eyes in everything.
So if the OP wants to go, that is on them. But would not be surprised if it does not have implications in future. Certainly I doubt Cuba cares less one way or the other as long as vessel does not depart with one of their citizens on board. But the US has different thoughts on matter. Does not mean they reflect the general voice of reason of it's citizens.

[fstbttms]

Always wanted to visit Cuba? Well now you can — legally.
By Michelle Higgins
Published: June 30, 2011

Thanks to policy changes by President Obama earlier this year designed to encourage more contact between Americans and citizens of the Communist-ruled island, the Treasury Department is once again granting so-called “people-to-people” licenses, which greatly expand travel opportunities for Cuba-bound visitors.

The licenses, created under President Bill Clinton in 1999, stopped being issued in 2003 under travel restrictions imposed by President George W. Bush. Subsequently, the number of travelers from the United States visiting Cuba legally dropped from more than 200,000 in 2003 to less than 50,000 in 2004, according to estimates by Bob Guild, vice president of Marazul Charters in North Bergen, N.J., among the largest United States organizers of trips to Cuba. The new changes, which come on top of loosened restrictions for Cubans and Cuban-Americans visiting relatives in Cuba, are expected to push the number of travelers visiting Cuba this year to 450,000 this year. “We estimate 375,000 to 400,000 Cuban Americans will visit this year and another 50,000 in other categories of legal travel,” said Mr. Guild of Marazul.

To be clear, it is still illegal for ordinary American vacationers to hop on a plane bound for Cuba, which has been under a United States economic embargo for nearly 50 years. True, plenty have dodged the restrictions — and continue to do so — by flying there from another country like Mexico or Canada (for Americans, traveling to Cuba is technically not illegal, but it might as well be since the United States prohibits its citizens from spending money in Cuba, with exceptions for students, journalists, Cuban-Americans and others with legal reasons to travel there). And while Washington has also expanded licensing for educational groups traveling to Cuba by loosening requirements, travelers joining an educational trip must still receive credit toward a degree.

But the new people-to-people measures make it easier for United States citizens who do not have special status as working journalists or scholars to visit Cuba legally, so long as they go with a licensed operator.

“All a U.S. citizen has to do is sign up for an authorized program and they can go to Cuba. It’s as simple as that,” said Tom Popper, director of Insight Cuba, a travel company that took more than 3,000 Americans to Cuba between 1999 and 2003, and was among the tour operators to apply for a license under the new rules earlier this year. It received its license at the end of June, and has planned 135 trips of three, seven or eight nights over the next year.

But other organizations, including Collette Vacations, the National Geographic Society and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, are still waiting to hear from Washington. “They are not issuing them with any kind of speed,” said Janet Moore, owner of Distant Horizons, an authorized travel service provider to Cuba, who has been helping organizations apply for people-to-people licenses. For example, Harvard University, which is offering an alumni trip under the new rules, was among the first to receive the special people-to-people license, Ms. Moore said, while the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, which operated four trips to Cuba between 2001 and 2003, has yet to receive theirs. “The bottom line is yes, they have issued some licenses, but they are doing it at a snail’s pace,” she said.

In all, only eight companies had been issued people-to-people licenses by the end of June, according to the Treasury Department. Thirty-five applications were still pending.

The trips aren’t your typical Caribbean vacation. Rather, the focus is on meeting local citizens and learning about the culture, not beach hopping and mojito-swilling. Days are filled with busy itineraries that may include visiting orphanages or speaking with musicians or community leaders. Guidelines published by the Treasury Department say the tours must “have a full-time schedule of educational exchange activities that will result in meaningful interaction between the travelers and individuals in Cuba.” But besides the mingling, the trips — which can range from $1,800 for a long weekend in Havana to more than $4,000 for a week — usually include opportunities to visit historic sites like Old Havana, or, for longer itineraries, a visit to Cienfuegos, a picturesque city in the South.

In terms of hotels, “service may not be quite as good and the Internet connection is incredibly slow and frustrating,” said Ms. Moore of Distant Horizons. But, she said, “they have all the facilities you’d expect: swimming pools, little gyms. And there are a lot of very good private restaurants.”

Don’t expect to stock up on those coveted Cuban cigars, however. Travelers aren’t allowed to bring cigars or rum back to the States, according to the Treasury Department.

Demand for Cuba is so strong that tour operators say that many of the trips already have long waiting lists. Learning in Retirement, an educational program associated with the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse, which is offering a 10-day people-to-people trip in April, said more than 65 people have already expressed interest for its 35 spots. “That’s just through word of mouth,” said Burt Altman, a retired professor who organized the trip. “We haven’t even put out the itinerary.”

“It’s the forbidden fruit,” said Mr. Popper of Insight Cuba. “It’s 50 years of pent-up demand for a country that 75 percent of Americans really, really want to travel to.”

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/07/10...s-to-cuba.html

[Blue Stocking]

The joke is that some UK sailor friends of mine recently showed me their U S Visas, placed in their passports by the U S Embassy IN HAVANA CUBA, issuing location is so marked.

[David_Old_Jersey]

If female and depending on what US State you are departing from - this time next year a good chance will also need yer husband's permission to leave the country. and in NC probably also the house. It's all part of the War on Women.

[Piglet]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

If female and depending on what US State you are departing from - this time next year a good chance will also need yer husband's permission to leave the country. and in NC probably also the house. It's all part of the War on Women.

LOL !!!!

[Bash]

Originally Posted by scoobert

i have to disagree. it says its illegal, plainly.

No, it says, quite plainly, that a license is required to engage in trade in Cuba. This is a Department of Treasury license that would allow US citizens to spend money in Cuba. If no money is spent, the license is not needed.

Where the skipper of the NZ vessel could have difficulty, possibly, would be entering the USA directly from Cuba, especially if he did not stop in Mexico or the Bahamas first.

As always, Noonsite.com would be the place to check regarding up-to-date regulations and procedures.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I also believe the US has a big embassy in Havanna.

We have a foreign interest desk there. We don't have an embassy or even a consulate, in Cuba, but we do have someone in Cuba (I don't know how much influence they really have). We don't maintain formal diplomatic relations with Cuba.

They even have their own cosey spot @ Guantanamo Bay.

Good luck getting into that without being mistaken for an escaping Cuban and being shot. Gitmo might as well be on a different planet as hard as it is to go from there to the rest of Cuba for a normal person.

I've been to Gitmo numerous times, and my brother has been to Cuba numerous times. It can be a nice place to visit and the people are desperate for foreign money. It's a dictatorship, and as long as you put that in the back of your mind, and don't think or look around too much, you will have a wonderful time.

And, God help you if you do something stupid like try and help a Cuban escape.