Top things to know
- PICA approved 601 temporary residence permits for Cubans in 2025-26, marking a 60% increase from 374 in 2021-22.
- The surge in movement is driven by Cuba's deteriorating humanitarian situation, including blackouts, inflation, and shortages.
- Extension-of-stay approvals rose from 940 to 1,214, while refugee status applications and deportations remain comparatively low.
Jamaica’s immigration agency reports a 60 per cent jump in Cuban temporary residence permits as the island’s humanitarian crisis deepens. Official figures from the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), obtained via the Access to Information Act, show that temporary residence approvals for Cuban nationals climbed from 374 during the 2021-2022 period to 601 in 2025-2026.
Throughout the five-year span, annual approvals fluctuated yet maintained an upward trend, recording 435 in 2022-2023, dropping to 297 in 2023-2024, rebounding to 421 in 2024-2025, and culminating in the 2025-2026 peak. Parallel data indicate that total extension-of-stay approvals grew from 940 to 1,214. Meanwhile, formal requests for refugee status remain low, with three Cubans applying in 2025 and four since early 2026. Conversely, enforcement actions persist, with PICA recording 12 deportations of Cuban nationals in 2025—11 for illegal entry and one for overstaying—alongside nine additional deportations since the start of 2026.
While PICA is constrained from revealing specific application motives due to privacy provisions under the Access to Information Act, the steady influx aligns with severe humanitarian pressures inside Cuba. Observers point to compounding hardships including crippling power blackouts, profound shortages of essential food and medicine, high inflation, and the compounding impact of tightened trade sanctions enforced by the United States government.