The service, which already existed in nearly 60 countries and is now arriving in Cuba, costs 17 euros and removes workload from consular staff
14ymedio, Madrid, September 22, 2026 / The Spanish Consulate General in Havana announced this Monday a change in the handling of visa applications for Cubans. Starting next Monday, October 5, public service will move from the historic consular headquarters to a new Visa Application Center run by an external company. The office is located on Avenida 31 between 18 and 14, in Miramar, in the municipality of Playa.
The measure seeks to speed up the numerous files piling up at the consular headquarters by gradually transferring some of its functions to this system, which was already in place in nearly 60 countries but had not yet reached the island. The measure will nonetheless entail a cost for users, since the company charges 17 euros for processing, on top of the usual consular fees. The information repeatedly clarifies that this will not change the criteria for granting visas, which will remain solely in the consulate’s hands.
Although the company’s name has not been specified, it can be assumed that management falls to BLS International Services Limited, which won a tender from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2016, taking the service away from the previous operator, VFS Global, also an Indian firm. The company recently renewed its contract to raise the fee to the 17 euros it now charges users worldwide. That money goes not only toward renting the offices but also toward processing documentation, collecting biometric data and returning documents once they have been processed.
The rollout will begin on October 5 with the handling of short-stay Schengen visas; it will continue on October 12 with the inclusion of national study or work visas; and it will conclude on October 19, when applications from family members of EU citizens will be added, thereby completing the full transfer of visa services.
The rollout will begin on October 5 with the handling of short-stay Schengen visas
The Consulate has warned that the reorganization will bring the definitive closure of the old booking system through the Bookitit platform and the suspension of receiving credentials by email, a service that ended this past September 18. The authorities add that those who already had a confirmed appointment will keep it on the confirmed date and time, but at the new Miramar address. In addition, those who submitted their application before the September cutoff will receive their appointment assignment directly by email between October and November through the official address info@spainvisa-cuba.com.
Those who did not already have a reserved appointment, however, will be able to start testing the online booking platform on December 1. Until that date, the consulate will only handle extremely urgent cases duly certified electronically. The new center will also offer VIP services, payment for which is voluntary and includes personalized assistance ranging from help filling out forms to taking photographs and photocopies. The Spanish Administration has stressed, in so many words, that paying for these options has no bearing on the final decision on a case nor will it speed up the resolution of the visa.
The Spanish Administration has stressed, in so many words, that paying for these options has no bearing on the final decision on a case nor will it speed up the resolution of the visa
The transfer of the logistics for these procedures in Cuba to an external company right now is no coincidence. The Havana Embassy has been overwhelmed for years, as officials must handle a vast number of files – not only those related to visa applications, but now, very particularly, grants of nationality – so sparing them time on the mere processing of visa documentation was key to letting them focus on other procedures, as well as on the analysis and decision for each case.
The Spanish Administration has emphasized, literally, that choosing these options does not influence the final decision on the application nor will it expedite the visa process.
The Spanish Consulate in Havana has received a flood of applications, second only to those from Argentina, although outsourcing of the visa service has already been running there for years. Sources at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed to 14ymedio late last year that more than 600,000 Cubans have applied for or begun the process to obtain Spanish nationality under the Democratic Memory Law at the Havana Consulate. The figure includes both those who have already formally filed their case and those who requested an appointment before the deadline closed on October 22, 2025.
In that context, it emerged that Palco’s services had been contracted – for more than one million euros – to reinforce office and domestic staff at the consulate itself. The president of the General Council of Spanish Citizenship Abroad, Violeta Alonso, had repeatedly called for consular services to be strengthened for this and other procedures, arguing that, in addition to resolving nationality applications, the demand for other services sought by the new population also had to be addressed.
This latest shift of the visa procedure is one more step toward unclogging the bottleneck that the Spanish diplomatic mission on the island remains.
Translated by GH.
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