Countries › Cuba
Using a U.S. document in Cuba
Step by step
- Get a certified copy of the document from the issuing office (privately signed documents must first be notarized). For state-issued documents, complete the state-level certification the U.S. Department of State requires (notary, clerk of court and/or Secretary of State, depending on the document); federal documents (e.g., FBI background check) go directly to the next step.
- Get an authentication certificate (not an apostille) from the U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications.
- Contact the Consulate of Cuba in the U.S. (Embassy of Cuba in Washington) to confirm its legalization requirements before sending the document; for birth and death records, Cuba's Foreign Ministry says the legalized certificate is submitted to a Cuban consulate for transcription.
Translation
No official Cuban page consulted states the translation requirement for U.S. documents. Cuba's Foreign Ministry FAQ links to ESTI (Cuba's official translation and interpretation service), but its rules were not verified.
Common uses
- Register in Cuba a birth that occurred abroad (transcription at a Cuban consulate)
- Register in Cuba a death that occurred abroad (transcription at a Cuban consulate)
Important
Cuba is not listed as a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille is not the right certificate; U.S. documents need a U.S. Department of State authentication certificate followed by Cuban consular steps. Cuba's Foreign Ministry FAQ says birth and death certificates 'must be legalized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country where it occurred' and then presented at a Cuban consulate for transcription; for deaths in the U.S., it says to contact the agencies that have contracts with the consulate. The U.S. Department of State's Office of Authentications charges USD 20 per document request (mail-in only, about four weeks).
Which state issued your document?
Legalization starts with a certification from the issuing state.
Sources
See the official sources (5)
- https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/?cid=41
- https://cubaminrex.cu/es/preguntas-frecuentes
- https://misiones.cubaminrex.cu/es/eeuu/consulado-de-cuba-en-eeuu
- https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/records-and-authentications/authenticate-your-document/office-of-authentications.html
- https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal-considerations/judicial/authentication-of-documents/authentication-certificate-requirements.html
Editor's note
HCCH status table: Cuba does not appear as a Contracting Party (confirmed 2026-11-02). The Cuban Embassy/Consulate in the U.S. pages on misiones.cubaminrex.cu could not be read (blocked to automated access and TLS errors); the consulate URL is an official MINREX address found via search indexing, but its legalization requirements, current fees (tarifas) and processing times were NOT verified, so no Cuban legalization fee is given. That the Cuban consulate legalizes the State Department-authenticated document is the standard legalization chain but was not confirmed verbatim on an official Cuban page; the MINREX FAQ confirms only legalization by the Foreign Ministry of the country of origin followed by presentation at a Cuban consulate. The Office of Authentications fee is USD 20 on its current 'About' page; an older State Department page still shows USD 8 (outdated). The State Department page on state-document requirements lists notarization, clerk of court and Secretary of State certification. Translation rules not verified.