Cuba
Profiled in Havana · the Caribbean
Crumbling colonial grandeur, 1950s cars and live son drifting out of doorways, set against chronic shortages and a dual-track economy that shapes daily life.
Cost of living
What a month costs
Officially cheap, practically not. Foreign residents live in the hard-currency economy, where imported goods, fuel and reliable power cost far more than the peso figures suggest.
The scores
How it rates for a moving family
See and do
Top 10 in Havana
- Old HavanaUNESCO-listed colonial core of plazas, arcades and peeling facades.
- MalecónEight-kilometre seawall promenade that doubles as the city's living room.
- El CapitolioDomed former congress building, restored and dominating Centro Habana.
- Plaza de la RevoluciónVast civic square framed by the José Martí memorial.
- Museo de la RevoluciónThe former presidential palace, now the official narrative in museum form.
- Callejón de HamelAlley of Afro-Cuban murals and Sunday rumba.
- FusterlandiaMosaic-covered neighbourhood project in Jaimanitas.
- Castillo del MorroHarbour-mouth fortress with the nightly cannon ceremony.
Where to go
Weekend escapes
- ViñalesLimestone mogotes and tobacco country three hours west of the capital.
- TrinidadCobbled UNESCO town frozen in the sugar-boom nineteenth century.
- VaraderoTwenty kilometres of white sand on the Hicacos peninsula.
- CienfuegosFrench-influenced bayside city with a neoclassical centre.
- Santa ClaraChe Guevara mausoleum and the derailed armoured train.
Residency
There is no investor residence route. Foreigners live under temporary permits tied to work, study, family or the separate 1995 and 2014 foreign investment laws. Property ownership by non-residents is tightly restricted.
Tax
Progressive personal rates reach 50% for private-sector and self-employed workers, and the corporate rate is 35%. Foreign investment enterprises under Law 118 access a reduced 15% profits tax with an initial exemption. There is no wealth or inheritance tax.
Curious what you would actually pay? See the Cuba tax profile: income, corporate, VAT and exit rules →
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