Time change: Haiti turns its clocks back one hour on Sunday, November 1

Haiti returns to standard time overnight from Saturday, October 31, to Sunday, November 1, 2026. At 2 a.m. it will become 1 a.m.: national time will go back 60 minutes, the General Secretariat of the Presidency said in a press note dated October 26 and signed by Secretary General Marie E. Régine Joseph Haddad. Rezo Nòdwès relayed the announcement.

The note is addressed to civil servants, the private sector and the public at large. It is based on Article 2 of the presidential decree of March 7, 2012, which sets the switch to daylight saving time on the second Sunday of March and the return to standard time on the first Sunday of November.

Phones and computers set to automatic time will adjust on their own. Watches, alarm clocks and other devices have to be changed by hand.

A holiday weekend

The time change falls during a long weekend. In another press note, dated October 27, the General Secretariat of the Presidency said that public administration, commerce, industry and schools will close nationwide on Sunday, November 1, All Saints' Day, and Monday, November 2, the Day of the Dead, under the December 11, 2024 decree on public holidays.

A ritual questioned elsewhere

Haiti is among the countries in the region that still change their clocks, like the United States and Cuba, while Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic keep the same time all year, according to Rezo Nòdwès. In the United States, the Sunshine Protection Act, which would keep daylight saving time all year, remains stalled in the Senate despite pressure from President Donald Trump, the outlet reported. In Quebec, the government has said it intends to legislate to end the time change. A U.S. decision would not apply automatically in Haiti, but could lead Haitian authorities to review their own rules, Rezo Nòdwès noted.