Support for the Cuban People Itinerary Builder

How to Build Your Support for the Cuban People Schedule

Give every day at least one support activity: working with a Cuban entrepreneur or private business, volunteering with a recognized non-governmental organization, or meeting an independent civil-society organization. Casa stays, paladar meals and private-store shopping count under Note 2 to §515.574(a), but they cannot fill the schedule alone. You can build the schedule in five steps using the planner above:

1. Enter the "Trip start date" and the "Number of days". "Traveller name (optional)" prints on the record. The tool supports trips from 1 to 21 days and defaults to 4 days.
2. Fill each day's blocks. Every day contains three blocks: Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. Pick an activity from each block's dropdown, then enter the contact or location in the "Who / where" box.
3. Review the status badge on each day card. Update any day marked with an action prompt until every planned day shows "Qualifying day" or "Travel day".
4. Check your counterparties against sanctions lists. Screen every lodging against the 431 properties on the CPAL checker and every organization or business against the 247 entities on the CRL checker.
5. Export and retain the file. Use the "Print / save as PDF", "Download CSV", or "Copy as text" buttons to save your completed schedule. Keep that record for at least 10 years.

The tool operates locally in your browser. The planner saves your schedule in this browser only and has no server-side storage of it. You can click "Clear all" to reset the form, or "Load OFAC example" to reload the 4-day sample based on OFAC's Example 1 to §515.574.

What Counts as Support for the Cuban People

The general license for this travel sits at 31 CFR §515.574. To travel under this authorization without applying for a specific license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, your trip must satisfy three core conditions set out in 31 CFR §515.574(a):

• The activities must fall under recognized human rights organizations, independent organizations designed to promote a rapid, peaceful transition to democracy, or individuals and non-governmental organizations that promote independent activity intended to strengthen civil society in Cuba under 31 CFR §515.574(a)(1).
• Each traveler must maintain a full-time schedule of activities that enhance contact with the Cuban people, support civil society in Cuba, or promote the Cuban people's independence from Cuban authorities. Those activities must also result in meaningful interaction with individuals in Cuba under 31 CFR §515.574(a)(2).
• The schedule cannot include free time or recreation in excess of that consistent with a full-time schedule under 31 CFR §515.574(a)(3).

Note 2 to 31 CFR §515.574(a) addresses private lodging, dining, and shopping. Renting a room in a private Cuban residence (casa particular) counts as a qualifying activity. So do dining at privately owned restaurants (paladares) and shopping at stores run by self-employed Cubans (cuentapropistas). Note 2 says a traveler must also engage in additional authorized Support for the Cuban People activities to meet the full-time schedule requirement.

The regulation illustrates these boundaries through three published examples:

• Example 1 describes an individual traveler on a four-day visit. The traveler stays at a casa particular, eats breakfast with the host each morning while learning about Cuban culture, dines at paladares, and shops at cuentapropista stores. The traveler avoids all prohibited accommodations and completes a full-time schedule by working directly with local Cuban entrepreneurs who are launching private businesses. This schedule qualifies under the general license.
• Example 2 features a group of friends who travel to Cuba to volunteer with a recognized non-governmental organization. They spend their days working alongside community members to construct a school for underserved children. During their personal time, they rent bicycles and visit a local art museum. Because their primary schedule consists of full-time NGO community work and avoids prohibited accommodations, their trip qualifies.
• Example 3 features a traveler who rents a bicycle to explore neighborhoods and beaches and has brief exchanges with beach vendors. The traveler stays at a hotel that is on neither the Cuba Restricted List nor the CPA List. This schedule does not qualify under 31 CFR §515.574 because none of the activities promote independent activity intended to strengthen civil society.

Under 31 CFR §515.574(b), group travel is evaluated per person. An entire group does not qualify simply because some members of the group qualify individually. Every individual traveler must maintain their own full-time schedule of qualifying activities.

How the Day Check Works

As you complete each morning, afternoon, and evening block, the tool runs its planning checks on that day. The tool classifies activities into four internal tiers:

• Note 2 activities: "Stay or breakfast with a casa particular host", "Meal at a paladar (privately owned restaurant)", and "Shopping at a privately owned store (cuentapropista)".
• Support activities: "Working with a Cuban entrepreneur or private business", "Volunteering with a recognized NGO or community project", "Meeting with an independent or civil-society organization", and "Other activity with meaningful interaction with Cubans".
• Free time: "Free time / recreation".
• Travel: "Travel / transfer".

Each day displays one of five statuses. A day with every block still empty shows "Not planned yet". The other four are:

• "Qualifying day": The day includes at least one support activity and does not trigger a free-time flag.
• "Add a support activity": The day's only qualifying blocks are Note 2 activities. Under Note 2 to 31 CFR §515.574(a), private lodging and meals alone do not constitute a full-time schedule.
• "Review free time": The number of free-time blocks exceeds the combined total of support activities and Note 2 activities for that day.
• "Travel day": Every planned block on that day is marked as travel or transfer.

The tool also uses two input prompts to prevent blank records:

• "Fill the empty blocks": Displayed when a block remains marked as "Not planned yet".
• "Describe the activity": Displayed when you select "Other activity with meaningful interaction with Cubans" but leave the "Who / where" text field blank.

At the bottom of the planner, the trip summary shows "N of M days have a support activity".

The "Review free time" threshold is a Cuban Insights planning rule of thumb. The text of 31 CFR §515.574(a)(3) bars recreation in excess of a full-time schedule, but the regulation does not establish a specific mathematical formula or hour cap. The check flags a day only when its free-time blocks outnumber its qualifying blocks. Support activities and Note 2 activities both count as qualifying, and a tie is not flagged.

To see how these checks operate in practice, consider the default sample loaded in the planner alongside two contrasting day plans:

• Default sample (4 days): Day 1 schedules "Travel / transfer" in the morning, "Working with a Cuban entrepreneur or private business" in the afternoon, and "Meal at a paladar" in the evening. Days 2 and 3 schedule "Stay or breakfast with a casa particular host" in the morning, "Working with a Cuban entrepreneur or private business" in the afternoon, and "Meal at a paladar" in the evening. Day 4 follows that pattern, ending with "Shopping at a privately owned store" in the evening. The summary reads "4 of 4 days have a support activity", and every date marks a "Qualifying day".
• Contrast A: A traveler schedules breakfast at a casa particular in the morning, lunch at a paladar in the afternoon, and shopping at a privately owned store in the evening. The planner marks this day as "Add a support activity" because private retail transactions and dining satisfy Note 2 but lack a core civil-society or private-enterprise support activity.
• Contrast B: A traveler schedules free time in the morning, free time in the afternoon, and dinner at a paladar in the evening. The planner marks this day as "Review free time" because two recreational blocks outnumber the single qualifying dining block.

When This Check Is Not Enough

This tool is a planning aid. It does not issue legal determinations, verify the credibility of counterparties, or confirm that your completed travel complies with federal law.

Four points sit outside what this check covers:

• Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List (CPAL): 31 CFR §515.574(d) does not authorize lodging, paying for lodging, or reserving lodging for a third party at a CPA List property. That applies to the extent §515.210 prohibits it.
• Cuba Restricted List (CRL): Under 31 CFR §515.574(c), the civil-society authorization in (a)(1)(iii) does not cover direct or indirect financial transactions that §515.209 prohibits. The exception is transactions on behalf of a non-governmental organization.
• Alternate authorized categories: If your planned activities do not fit 31 CFR §515.574, you may qualify under one of the other 11 OFAC travel categories. You can review the remaining categories through the travel category wizard or read the general-license reference on our OFAC general licenses guide.
• Specific licenses: OFAC may issue specific licenses, case by case, for support-for-the-Cuban-people transactions that do not qualify for the general license (31 CFR §515.574(e)).

Records to Keep

Note 1 to 31 CFR §515.574(a) says every traveler relying on the Support for the Cuban People general license must retain specific records related to the authorized travel transactions. 31 CFR §501.601 sets the retention period at no less than 10 years. Under 31 CFR §501.602, OFAC may require those records and reports to be furnished on request.

When you click "Print / save as PDF", the browser prints the schedule record on its own. The printout leaves out the buttons, the day statuses and the planning warnings. It shows the title "Support for the Cuban People: Full-Time Schedule Record", name and dates lines, one line of directions, the day table and a one-line citation of 31 CFR §515.574.