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The Official Gazette of Cuba published today the laws on Immigration, Citizenship, and Foreign Affairs approved by the National Assembly in July 2024, along with their regulations. One of the most significant elements of the new legal framework is the legal formalization of the Migration Police as a specialized police force with jurisdiction throughout the national territory.
The three laws—approved on July 19, 2024, but unpublished until today—have been published in the Official Gazette No. 39 along with Decrees 136 and 137 of 2025, which regulate them, and Resolution 24/2025 from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT).
Title XI of Law 171/2024 on Migration explicitly recognizes the Migration Police as a service of the Directorate of Identification, Migration, Foreign Affairs, and Citizenship (DIMEC) of the MININT, with functions that extend far beyond border control.
According to Article 139 of the law, the body has "preventive functions, assistance to migrants, protection of their rights, social discipline, and public order, as well as contributing to ensure the implementation of the resolutions and decisions of the courts of justice and the immigration authorities in relation to foreigners."
The regulations outlined in Decree 136/2025 specify that the Migration Police has national jurisdiction and can operate in hotels, places of employment, rental properties, public events, on public roads, in airports, ports, and highways, not just at borders.
Article 331 of Decree 136/2025 states that the body "may request identification documents from individuals anywhere in the national territory."
One of the most striking aspects is its reach over Cuban citizens. Article 139.4 of the law empowers the Migration Police to "ensure, detain, escort, and take statements from Cuban citizens who participate, together with foreigners, in the commission of the infringing acts" or who may provide testimony.
The regulation also specifies that the body wears its own uniform, carries firearms and handcuffs, and that its vehicles display the DIMEC logo with the designation "Migration Police."
The term "Migration Police" was already present in the draft law approved in July 2024, featuring an article 139 that is nearly identical to the one published today.
What changes is that it has transitioned from being a project to being published as a law in the Official Gazette, along with its regulations, outlining expanded functions that did not exist in the previous regulation.
The legislation being repealed —Law 1312 on Migration from 1976 and its amendments— recognized the Directorate of Identification, Immigration, and Foreigners and "immigration officials," but it did not define a specialized police body by that name nor grant authority over the entire territory.
The new regulatory framework also introduces other significant changes: it eliminates the 24-month limit on staying abroad that automatically classified Cubans as "emigrants," establishes the concept of Effective Migratory Residence, and sets forth effective citizenship, which allows individuals to hold another citizenship without losing their Cuban nationality.
At the same time, the law consolidates a broad system of state control, with multiple reasons for restricting Cubans' ability to leave the country—including the preservation of "qualified labor" and the protection of "official information"—as well as grounds for inadmissibility that include actions against the Cuban political system.
The laws were approved by the Cuban parliament almost two years ago but remained unpublished, leading to unusual situations such as the need to create an urgent decree-law in March 2026 to establish the immigration status for Investors and Businesses for the Cuban diaspora.
The regulations come into effect 180 days after their publication in the Official Gazette, which places the effective date around November 2026. During this period, MININT will need to adjust its systems and structures to comply with the new regulations.
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