If you want to fill in the Cuba tourist card in 2026, you will quickly come across a term that actually comes from the old entry procedure. The former paper tourist card has been replaced by the digital e-visa for Cuba. But the most important rule hasn’t changed: your personal details must match your passport exactly. This is exactly where most avoidable mistakes happen.
That’s why it pays to have your passport, travel dates and the key details of your Cuba trip ready before you apply. Then you don’t have to enter anything from memory while filling in the form and can check each detail straight away.
Tourist card or e-visa: What you actually fill in in 2026
When people still talk about the Cuba tourist card today, they often mean the tourist entry document that used to be issued as an actual paper card. In 2026, tourist entry works via the Cuba e-visa. The Cuban tourism portal explicitly describes the electronic visa as the replacement for the former tourist card.
So you no longer fill in a paper card by hand. The required details are recorded digitally. The official Cuban e-visa system links the electronic visa to your valid passport.
The search term “fill in Cuba tourist card” is still understandable, though. Today it effectively means: how do I enter my details correctly for the Cuba e-visa?
Documents you should have ready before you start
The application is easiest if you lay out everything you are likely to need beforehand:
- your valid passport
- your flight and travel dates
- a working email address
- details of your first accommodation in Cuba
- if several people are travelling, everyone’s passports
If you are travelling with children, every traveller needs their own suitable entry documents. We explain in detail what parents should keep in mind in our post Cuba visa for children and families.
For your overall trip preparation, our complete checklist for entering Cuba in 2026 is also worth a look.
Filling in the Cuba tourist card: Details you should check carefully
The exact order form can change. The official Cuban e-visa portal currently asks for your nationality, passport number, surname, first name, date of birth and email address, among other things.
First name and surname
Have your passport at hand and enter your name exactly as it appears there.
If you use a short form of your name in everyday life, it doesn’t automatically belong in the application. So “Alexander” shouldn’t simply become “Alex” if your passport says Alexander.
If you have several surnames or a compound family name, don’t leave anything out either. Your passport is your template.
Middle names and double-barrelled names
A second or third first name is easily forgotten in everyday life. For travel documents, however, you should go by the full details in your passport.
If, for example, two first names are listed there, include both, as long as the form asks for all first names.
The same applies to double-barrelled names. Don’t change the spelling yourself and don’t shorten names just because you normally use a shorter version.
Umlauts and ß
With German names such as Müller, Schröder or Groß, the spelling can raise questions in international systems.
This is where the machine-readable zone of your passport helps. These are the two long lines of characters at the bottom of the data page. International passports follow standardised rules from the International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO for short. Umlauts and other special characters can be shown there in a machine-readable form. The German ß, for example, is shown as SS. For Ä, Ö and Ü, different standard-compliant versions are possible depending on the passport and transliteration.
So the rule is: if an online form doesn’t accept special characters or you are unsure between several spellings, go by the actual spelling in the machine-readable zone of your passport. Don’t invent your own version.
Passport number and expiry date
With the passport number, it is surprisingly easy to swap digits or confuse similar-looking characters. So copy it directly from your passport and then check it a second time.
Make sure you really enter the passport’s document number and not another number on the data page.
If the application asks for your passport’s expiry date, copy that directly from the document as well. Check the day, month and year again before you submit the application.
Date of birth
A mistake in your date of birth sounds unlikely. Even so, problems can quickly arise from different date formats.
So check whether the form asks for the day, month and year separately or requires a fixed date format. Copy your date of birth exactly from your passport.
Nationality
This means your nationality as shown in the passport you are travelling to Cuba with.
If you hold more than one nationality, the visa application should match the passport you will actually use for your trip to Cuba. The e-visa is linked to the passport you enter.
Travel dates
If travel dates are requested, keep your booking confirmation next to you. That way you avoid accidentally mixing up your departure date with your arrival date in Cuba.
With overnight flights or connecting flights in particular, the two dates can differ.
Accommodation in Cuba
If you are asked about your accommodation, have the details of your first accommodation in Cuba ready. On a round trip, you don’t automatically need to know every single stop by heart.
Which accommodation details are required in the visa application itself and which are only entered later in the D’Viajeros form depends on the current procedure.
The most common mistakes when filling it in
Many mistakes aren’t caused by difficult questions but by typing too fast.
Particularly common are missing middle names, typos in the surname, swapped digits in the passport number and details entered from memory instead of copied directly from the passport.
Mixing up different documents can also cause problems. If, for example, you have received a new passport, make sure you don’t accidentally use the number of your old one.
So before submitting, check your surname, first names, date of birth, nationality and passport number once more directly against your passport.
If a visa application runs into trouble because of incorrect or incomplete details, you will find more advice in our post Cuba visa rejected: what really matters now.
Made a typo: What to do if a detail is wrong?
If you spot the mistake before submitting the application, correct it straight away and then check all the other details again.
If you only notice the mistake after submitting, don’t simply assume that an incorrect detail won’t matter later. Contact cuba-visa.com support as directly as possible and explain which information was entered incorrectly.
Whether a detail that has already been submitted can still be changed or a new application is needed depends on the processing stage and the type of mistake.
With your name and passport number in particular, you shouldn’t ignore a discrepancy.
After the application comes D’Viajeros
The e-visa is not the same step as the Cuban entry form D’Viajeros.
D’Viajeros is a separate digital form for entering the country. It records further travel and entry details. After filling it in, you receive a QR code for your trip.
So there is no need to try to combine the two processes.
We explain step by step how the form works and which details it asks for in our post Cuba entry form D’Viajeros: how to do it right.
Apply for your Cuba e-visa directly online
Once you have your details ready, the most important part is already done. Take a few minutes for the application and copy your details directly from your passport. A second look at your passport number and name takes barely a minute and can save you unnecessary trouble later.
At cuba-visa.com you can apply for your Cuba visa online and receive your e-visa digitally. Keep your passport ready, check your details before submitting and then take care of D’Viajeros separately.
This turns the old question “How do I fill in the tourist card for Cuba?” into a much simpler digital process.
