USD Payday in Holguín
U.S. companies contract independent Cuban talent. Paying it on time, in dollars, used to be the hard part.
Tim Parsa · Co-Founder & CCO, QvaPay · 23 June 2026 · 3 min read Subscribe
Cuba is full of independent designers, developers, editors, and engineers that U.S. companies want to contract. The work was never the problem. Payday was.
A design agency in Tampa pays four independent illustrators in Holguín, each on her own invoice, on the last Friday of the month. Yudith keeps half in dollars for a laptop, swaps a quarter for pesos, and spends the rest at a private café that takes QvaPay.
Illustrative example; not customers.
We have asked OFAC, in our pending request for guidance, to confirm how the Cuba rules apply to contractors like these.
In 2000 I lived in Mexico City and worked for Ricardo Salinas, building Todito Cash so Mexicans could pay online with pesos. I saw how much talent sits on the wrong side of a payments gap, and how fast it moves when the gap closes. Cuba is the same lesson at full scale.
Every payday that clears in dollars connects Cuban talent to the U.S. economy, under U.S. law.
U.S. companies pay independent Cuban contractors in dollars, each on her own invoice.
| Flow | How we grow it | U.S. tech meets Cuban talent |
|---|---|---|
| Pay independent contractors Permitted for U.S. payers · §515.582, §515.340(b); not employment | Sign U.S. companies that contract independent Cuban developers and studios; one onboarding per client. | U.S. companies contract independent Cuban engineers and designers and pay each invoice in dollars. |
The potential. Remittances into Cuba run an estimated $1.1–2B a year (2024; estimates vary). At the Dominican Republic’s rate per person, Cuba would receive about $9.8B, five to nine times today. That is the market QvaPay is built to serve.
| Market | Cuba today | Cuba at the Dominican Republic’s rate per person |
|---|---|---|
| Remittances received | $1.1–2B 2024 est., estimates vary | $9.8B DR total $11.9B (2025) |
A scenario, not a forecast. The Dominican Republic received $11.9B in remittances in 2025 across 11.4 million people, about $1,040 a person; at that rate Cuba’s 9.43 million people would receive about $9.8B a year, five to nine times today. Method and sources.
The non-state sector now employs just over 1.6 million people, more than Cuba’s state enterprises. On cubanew.com ↗
Sources
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