Cuban migrants flock to Guyana as oil boom draws workers

Guyana’s economy grew 43.4% in 2024 as oil production reached 225 million barrels, and the surge has turned Georgetown into a destination for Cubans looking for work, legal status and a way out of crisis. In a country of just 831,087 people, the boom has widened demand for labor in construction, manufacturing and agriculture, while also pushing up pressure on institutions that were built for a much smaller labor market.

The migration path is changing too. The International Organization for Migration says Cuban mobility across Latin America and the Caribbean shifted in 2025 and into early 2026, with more Cubans using regular air routes into South America. Many now enter Brazil through Venezuela or Guyana, where no visa is required for that route, before heading into Brazil’s northern state of Roraima. For some, Guyana is not only a transit point but a stop long enough to search for a job or a place to stay.

Oil has made Guyana especially attractive because the spillover reaches far beyond petroleum. The World Bank says the country’s oil revenues are financing major infrastructure and human capital spending, and that ripple effect is already driving hiring in sectors tied to the construction boom. In Georgetown, Cuban migrants and their advocates say the jobs they hope to find are the ordinary ones that keep a fast-growing economy moving, from building sites to service work and health care.

Guyana has also become a place where Cuban specialists are already embedded in the public sector. A September 2024 report said the Cuban Medical Brigade in Guyana had grown to 240 professionals, including 144 nurses, up from 192 at the end of 2023. That expansion shows how deeply Cuban workers have entered the country’s labor needs, not just as migrants passing through but as staff filling gaps in hospitals and clinics.

At the same time, the legal framework remains narrow. The Guyana Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Cuban holders of diplomatic, official or service passports do not need visas, but ordinary Cuban passport holders are not among the visa-exempt Caribbean nationals. That gap helps explain the tension between opportunity and enforcement. In December 2024, seven Cuban nationals appeared in Georgetown Magistrates’ Court after overstaying in Guyana; Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty ordered five deported and allowed two to leave voluntarily. Community advocates have since pressed for better job opportunities and pathways to citizenship, as Guyana’s boom continues to draw people faster than its institutions can comfortably absorb them.