U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has updated policy guidance relating to adjustment of status under the Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA), enacted in 1966 as a special avenue for Cuban refugees to adjust to lawful permanent resident status in the United States. USCIS accepts certain documents as evidence that an applicant is a Cuban native or U.S. citizen, and has updated its guidance to provide examples of acceptable documents.
The guidance, dated August 13, 2019, states that an expired or unexpired Cuban passport can be evidence of being a Cuban native, and an unexpired Cuban passport can be evidence of Cuban citizenship. USCIS is also clarifying that a Cuban Citizenship Letter (Carta de Ciudadanía) or a Nationality Certificate (Certificado de Nacionalidad) may be evidence of Cuban citizenship. Previously, acceptable evidence of Cuban citizenship generally included “a Cuban Civil Registry document issued in Havana.” However, a birth certificate issued by the Civil Registry or a Cuban consular certificate documenting an individual’s birth outside of Cuba to at least one Cuban parent is not sufficient to establish Cuban citizenship, the guidance states. This remains true even if the birth or consular certificate states the individual to whom the certificate was issued is a Cuban citizen.
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