U.S. Government halts more travel to Cuba
The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced new amendments that will end almost all non-family travel to Cuba. According to the release, people-to-people travel, which allowed a range of visitors to experience Cuba for educational and cultural exchanges, will be suspended. In addition, the U.S. will no longer allow visits to Cuba via passenger and recreational vessels, including cruise ships and yachts.

The new ruling does include”A grandfather provision for travelers who have already completed one travel purchase transaction prior to June 5th.” Cruise lines and tour operators are still evaluating how the new rules will impact current and future sailings and tours including those that are not yet full but already have some bookings with money down.

Visa applicants must share social media identifiers for travel to the U.S.
The U.S. State Department is now requiring almost all applicants for U.S. visas to submit their social media usernames along with five years of previous email addresses and phone numbers. Immigrants and nonimmigrants alike, which include about 15 million foreigners who apply for visas for entry into the U.S. will be required to provide the added information.  An applicant can choose to declare that they don’t use social media but authorities say they will check and the applicant may face “serious consequences” for not disclosing the information up front. The new requirement comes after revised visa applications were approved and are part of the president’s push for stricter visa policies.