Americans returing from Cuba
 

I'm curious: Are there any ramifications for American citizens returning from Cuba? What about US green card holders coming back from Cuba?

Neither US Citizens nor LPRs are permitted to travel to Cuba without state department authorization. If such a person went to Cuba via Canada, Mexico or the Bahamas, they can request that Cuban authorities not stamp their passport.

The ramifications would be a fine - and perhaps worse for the LPR.

I went to grad school with a guy who got caught coming back to the US from Cuba via Mexico. CBP fined him, IIRC, $10,000. He got the Cubans to stamp a piece of paper instead of his passport, but the CBP agent was suspicious and looked at his digital camera, where he found pictures of my classmate that were obviously in Cuba.

It's not illegal to go to Cuba, it's just illegal to spend money there. As far as coming back, make sure Cuban Immigration does not stamp your passport coming or going. Easy enough. Use only cash, don't use a credit card, don't try global roaming with a cell phone, just use an unlocked GSM phone and buy a chip and credits while there.

If they can prove that you went to Cuba and spent money there, Treasury is who levies the fine, not CBP, since you're not banned from going there, just spending money.

Cite?

I do not have a cite but the post you are questioning is accurate. The rule is about spending money there, not visiting. And the fine is officially issued by the Treasury. The law has to do with currency control (they don't want US hard currency in Cuba) which is why it is a Treasury thing.

Correct. The US Government does not have right to restrict you from traveling outside the US. I also believe that the Treasury fine is considered a civil penalty, not a fine per se.

All a bunch of legal maneuvering to stop Americans from going to Cuba when they the government has no Constitutional authority to outright prohibit you.

Here is the link to the website. It isn't really about 'hard currency' per se. The restriction comes under the Trading with the Enemy Act.

http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforce...uba/cuba.shtml

Read this very carefully and heed the advice: do not fly from Canada to Cuba.

Our "friends" at DHS require the manifests for flights that cross US airspace, even if the flight doesn't land in the United States. If they see US passports on a YYZ-HAV flight, they can easily forward your information to Treasury which may slap you with a stiff fine.

If you go (and not that I'd know anything about this from personal experience, of course) go from Cancun.

Wouldn't they have to demonstrate that you spent money there as per the posts above?

There is a cash arrival tax that is paid on landing. It would be rather difficult to arrive via air and not spend money there.

Maybe, but it seems to me that the burden of proof is shifting from "innocent until proven guilty" to its opposite.

They could also make the (reasonable) argument that you couldn't stay in Cuba for a week or two and not spend any money. The violation of OFAC would be inescapable.

Interesting. Can a green card holder lose that status for travelling to Cuba?

For the record, I think the whole thing is ridiculous.

All the more reason for this horrible policy to change.

If we lift the embargo on Cuba, then hopefully we will be able to begin importing their produce into the US including sugar.

I'm sure Obama would not want that to happen though since his home state is so dependent on mainland US to purchase their sugar. I've heard (but have no sources) that buying Cuban sugar would kill the Hawaiian sugar industry.

Last time I was in Europe everyone thought it was so interesting that I hadn't been to Cuba since they all wanted to go. I said I can't go to Cuba. It's not worth it to me to go through all the steps to go to Cuba right now so I play by the rules.

The Hawaiian sugar industry is a fraction of what it once was - and it wouldn't be threatened by Cuban sugar. OTOH, the Florida sugar industry could be decimated, which given many of the big players are former Cuban emigrants (The "We Love Destroying the Everglades" Fanjul family is one example), would be quite a payback.

The Cuban emigres are, by and large, strong supporters of right-wing Republican causes - so perhaps Obama wouldn't be too sensitive to their plight.

I wouldn't say lose their green card, although that's always a risk - but when it came time to naturalize, the trip to Cuba might cause a problem with that process.