From my reading I get the impression that communicating with the embassy almost requires visiting it in person. I had an online chat with a passport/visa broker service that "claims" to provide services for Cuba on their web site but after being "on hold" for a long time was told that I'd have to visit the embassy in person.

I have found it easiest to simply enter Cuba with the common tourist visa then visit Cuban immigration to exchange my tourist visa for a family visit visa so I can live with my girlfriend / wife (Cuban government considers us married)

Are you sure you need a business visa? I read in your earlier post that you are collaborating with a University in Santa Clara. Can they help? Probably not as the Cuban visa question is incredibly contradictory.

Just know the Cuban visa situation will never make any sense. Assume it is better to ask forgiveness if someone questions you as there is no logical way to determine what is correct.

Seems like a lot of trouble for what is probably not required anyway.

Sounds pretty similar to dealing with the Oz Cuban Consulate.

The university where I will leading workshops all week seems to believe that I need a business visa. I have been in contact with them and they're working on an invitation letter.

While I appreciated the advice given in this forum, "it's probably not required" isn't very helpful in this case. If I follow the pat answer of "just get a tourist card from the charter company" (I'm not using a charter company) I could get a tourist visa at the last airport I'll be going through that will allow me to enter the country but if I can't enter the university where the purpose of my trip is taking place I might as well never get on the plane. I was invited to this workshop mostly due to my professional reputation as an expert in subject this workshop will be addressing and it'll definitely be worth the trouble to maintain that reputation. I started this new thread to address the specific issue of dealing with the Cuban Embassy both for my own benefit and for those that may be traveling to Cuba under similar circumstances.

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Whilst it was only the Cuban interests section, it was infamous for being almost impossible to get hold of.

I don't know if this applies in your case, but the last I heard, a year or two ago, the process for business visas for those from Europe had to be started by the sponsoring organisation in Cuba. (Not just an invitation letter - they had to begin the process with Minrex or whoever.) Make sure that they know how the process is at present - not just how it was last time they did it.

Also bob's answer at 3 could be useful. It used to be possible to do similar - enter on a tourist visa and convert that to a business visa in Cuba.

If the University won't allow me to enter the campus where the workshop is taking place with just a tourist card then it doesn't really matter what others have been able to do unless they were working with the same university.

The suggestion to enter the country with a tourist card sounds reasonable but as I'll be arriving in Havana on a Saturday evening, traveling to Santa Clara the following day, and the workshop starts early in the day on Monday morning I don't see how I would have time to do it once I arrive in Cuba.

It sounds like from my brief discussions with people at the university that it may be the case that they have to initiate the visa process. If I could only get a response from the Cuban embassy I could find out if that was the case.

John #5: The word "probably" is key because the concept of clearly defined rules and regulations that are consistently applied does not exist in Cuba. There are a number of conflicting rules and regulations, all of which are applied on a judgmental basis. One of the challenges of doing anything other than straight tourism in Cuba is serving so many masters, each making up their own rules then changing them.

Possibly BeardoUK will chime in here as he probably has the most experience of anyone here in dealing with Cuban bureaucracy.

While inconsistency rules across the board, specific to visas I have a struggle that has existed for over a year. I have been told that I require 1) a family visit visa, 2) a journalist visa, 3) a cultural visa, and 4) a work permit. All of those conflicting directives have come from authoritative sources and I can only have one visa. As recent as 31 December, a national holiday, I was summoned to report to immigration where the director reported to the office so he could read me the riot act one more time over having the wrong visa.

To top everything off, for many visits over many years, there were never any questions about what visa I required.

BTW, all of the above is dealing with authorities in Cuba. I am quite certain that any advice I was given by the Cuban embassy in WDC would be meaningless.

Has the University told you that they won't let you in without the "right" visa ?

Will you have any spare time once it starts ? If so, will the University let you in on a promise to go to the immigration office when you have time ?

Also ask the University which immigration office - I would expect the one in Santa Clara, but you never know.