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The Consulate General of Spain in Havana announced this Wednesday through its social media a measure that will benefit those processing marriage registrations: the appointment scheduling for initial visits has been extended to eight weeks, compared to the previous timeframe.
The announcement was made with the following text: "Starting this week, the schedule for first appointment slots for marriage registrations has been extended to 8 weeks, allowing interested individuals a greater margin of time to book and attend these appointments."
The marriage transcription at the Spanish Consulate is the process through which a marriage celebrated in Cuba is registered in the Consular Civil Registry of Spain in Havana to gain full validity in Spanish territory.
The process requires a mandatory prior appointment and the physical presence of both spouses, who must provide complete documentation that includes birth certificates, the marriage certificate issued by the Cuban Civil Registry, and identification documents, among other requirements.
Once the documentation is submitted, the resolution of the procedure may take approximately 179 days, that is, about six months.
The measure comes in a context of historically high demand that has, for years, overwhelmed the Consulate's appointment system and led to the emergence of an active black market.
In December 2023, appointments for marriage transcription were being resold for up to 250 dollars, in a system that released only 25 slots daily, insufficient to meet the demand and easily monopolized by illegal agents.
By 2025, access credentials for the consular appointment system were reported to be priced between 600 and 800 euros on the black market, according to reports from that year.
The Consulate has taken progressive measures to expand its capacity: in May 2025, it added 336 additional weekly appointments, an increase of 27.2%, although delays and illegal sales persisted.
At the beginning of this month, the consular office also issued an that simulate notifications for consular appointments, warning citizens about these types of scams.
The extension of the schedule to eight weeks aims precisely to give citizens more leeway to organize themselves and access the system legitimately, without the need to resort to intermediaries who have historically profited from the scarcity of appointments.
Appointments for this procedure are managed through the official platform citaconsular.es, administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain, and the system continues to be one of the most in demand by Cubans with family or marital ties to Spanish citizens.
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