super tricky situation

[Sabinity 0]

Speaking purely hypothetically here, of course...let's say I met my fiance in Cuba. I have recently returned from a second trip. Does anyone have any brilliant ideas on how to demonstrate meeting without demonstrating a prior OFAC approval for the trip? I read on a Canadian site that if you travel to Cuba as an American, you may do so under a general license, not requiring a letter from OFAC, if it is in the course of your full-time employment. The question is, who will be looking up whether or not I had approval to be in Cuba? Has anyone gone under approval, and if so, what do you have demonstrating that you were there legally?

Thanks so much!

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Speaking purely hypothetically here, of course...let's say I met my fiance in Cuba. I have recently returned from a second trip. Does anyone have any brilliant ideas on how to demonstrate meeting without demonstrating a prior OFAC approval for the trip? I read on a Canadian site that if you travel to Cuba as an American, you may do so under a general license, not requiring a letter from OFAC, if it is in the course of your full-time employment. The question is, who will be looking up whether or not I had approval to be in Cuba? Has anyone gone under approval, and if so, what do you have demonstrating that you were there legally?

Thanks so much!

You can also travel on a general license if you have a close relative (by blood, marriage, or adoption) no more than 3 generations removed living in Cuba. A fiance is not an immediate relative under CACR regulations.

USCIS and CBP have the authority to verify whether you traveled to Cuba, and whether your travel was authorized. If it was not authorized then they can levy fines and/or criminal penalties against anyone subject to US jurisdiction who violated CACR regulations. Misrepresenting yourself to a US immigration officer regarding unauthorized travel to Cuba is a separate chargeable offense.

You're right - you have a tricky situation. Traveling to Cuba without authorization is a violation of US law. You may be able to get around this if you can prove your travel was classified as a journalistic or educational trip, and therefore eligible for a general license. Do not attempt to lie about either of these classifications if they are not true - you will be required to prove that a media outlet or educational institute authorized your trip. Another way is if ALL expenses related to your trip were paid for in a fully-hosted package deal in another country BEFORE going to Cuba. For example, if you bought a travel package entirely paid for in Canada, then no US money would have been directly spent in Cuba. The key is that the travel ban is the result of an embargo, so it's all about whether or not money was spent in Cuba, and not specifically about physically being in the country.

I have no idea whether this could come up when you file the K1 petition, but my guess would be that it definitely could. You're sending the petition to the same agency that has the authority to bring charges against you for the travel violation. Proceed with extreme caution. Hopefully, one of the members with a K1 case in Cuba will come along and offer advise based on personal experience.

[J.Ro 1]

This was a non-issue for me, nor was it a problem for any of the others on this forum who've written about their K-1 experiences with a Cuban fiance. You need to prove that you met in person with your Cuban fiance, and that your relationship is genuine. Regarding the legality of Cuban travel, the USCIS and representatives at the Special Interests Section seem to have a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. They don't seem to concern themselves with enforcing Treasury Dept. regulations. On the other hand, if you have insufficient evidence of meeting, your visa request may be denied. If you search on this website you can probably find some of these discussions, as this question has come up many times before.

Even under the Bush administration, persons traveling to Cuba were never prosecuted in court. Fines were occasionally issued, but the cases were dropped against any persons requesting a court date. Under the Obama administration, there is likely to be even less enforcement of Treasure Dept. travel restrictions.

[Lorenzoid 12]

At worst, you might receive a fine from OFAC. You could consider the cost of the fine as part of the cost of your "visa journey." With all the application fees and other costs that you will end up spending over the course of the next few years getting your fiance over here, a fine from OFAC for an unauthorized visit to Cuba would probably just be the tip of the iceberg. The best advice is probably to be honest and straightforward when asked for information, and be prepared for the consequences.

[Ide & Sam 1]

I haven't heard of anyone getting snagged by OFAC in years nor have I seen anyone on this forum report getting fined either. I'm in the same situation, being in a relationship with someone in Cuba. But, I'm not so concerned with OFAC as with actually proving that I've been there. I always went "illegally" though Mexico and on my last few trips I destroyed all evidence of the trip (plane tickets, itineraries etc..) before my return.

I'm planing on going back at least once before we file the initial packet so I'll be sure the keep and make copies of all my documents (photocopy of the Cuban visa, copies of Casa Particular receipts along with proof of him staying/registering with me in the Casa, plane tickets etc...) I'm also going to try and dig up as much evidence as I can from my previous trips.

If your really concerned you can maybe try and go on one of those official Global Exchange tours to Cuba. They are all legal and you could use that as proof that you've met within the last 2 years. But, I don't think you have anything to worry about in terms of OFAC. But I am personally going to try and include as much info on all of my previous trips as I can resurrect.

[bridget y rodolfo 0]

I responded to you on some other thread, but just to reiterate that it's not really an issue with USCIS how you got to Cuba. I've gone 6 times through the Bahamas (If you need a good Bahamian travel agent's name, PM me) and provided all the proof I could about that, with no questions asked.... or actually, they did ask why I was there, and I said vacation- which is a bit obvious that it's not under OFAC license, and no one cares.

you mentioned something about Canada- just to clarify- don't ever go to Cuba through Canada. Canada hands over those travel records to the US government and people do get issued OFAC fines because of it. (for good info on traveling to cuba and tips on how to avoid problems, check out lonely planet's travel forum on Cuba, and their FAQs.)

I've traveled to Cuba under Bush and Obama, and things are definitely a bit more lax now. In fact, I got 'caught' my last time coming back through customs (forgot to make the 2nd entry stamp more hidden in my passport). What someone said previously here is true, never lie to immigration or customs. But you have the most gracious right to be silent and not incriminate yourself, which is what I did. The Customs agent asked me a few things (me, silent), searched my bag, and told me it's still not legal to travel to Cuba, then let me go. If that's how they're treating it on the front lines, you shouldn't really be worried about paper pushers in USCIS who just want to get through the stack of petitions on their desk so that they can go home at the end of the day.