Arriving from outside the EU

Sandy said:
France is nowhere near Norway or Shetland.

I have no problem checking in anywhere. It keeps people employed and feeding their families.
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It gets to be something of a pain wandering around trying to find the right offices. Particularly if you are Brits on a US flagged yacht between Grenada and St Lucia.
Almost any other land you can see from any place is a different country. Some are quite silly- like Petit St Vincent and Petit Martinique which are just over a 500m dinghy ride apart!
That said, everybody we dealt with- Police/Immigration/ Airport offices was friendly if rather slow to deal with.
 
We clear in and out of Caribbean countries on a regular basis. We clear and they check our passport. We hand over clearance papers from our last country of departure. The passport gets stamped so there is a record of when you arrive and leave a country. I assume trips to France will require a similar system. Unless your passport has been stamped and you are in the country then you wont be legal. Wether anybody cares is another issue
 
When we went to Edinburgh to Sweden I contacted both customs and immigration beforehand. They weren't interested and the system was to self-certify. On return to the UK 2 weeks later, I woke up to see Northumberland in front of us and border control boat behind us. They followed us for an hour or so without making contact and then cleared off.
 
Spirit (of Glenans) said:
I thought it was always called that. There is a Quarantine Island in Baltimore Harbour, where the ships used to anchor while waiting for Customs inspection in the days of sail
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Posts #39 and #40

Many years ago - yes the Yellow flag was used as Cholera quarantine etc. - but that is many many years ago ...

In some instances the L flag is now used ... meaning keep clear of me in single letter meaning - but TBH - I have never come across an instance of that.
What has happened if Port Authorities are not so happy - they require the Q flag to remain hoisted and may post a guard at the gangway preventing access on / off.
 
Remember that in Gib, marina staff pass a copy of documents to customs and then when you go to the shop to order duty free from bond warehouse, they also pass a copy to customs. Stores you order are limited, depending on the number of people on board and if more people are declared at the shop than on the marina paperwork, the cigs and booze are delivered accompanied by a couple of customs officers, who don't believe the other crew are arriving by plane.o_O
They placed the excess in our bond locker and sealed it, not to be opened until in international waters.
 
Graham376 said:
Remember that in Gib, marina staff pass a copy of documents to customs and then when you go to the shop to order duty free from bond warehouse, they also pass a copy to customs. Stores you order are limited, depending on the number of people on board and if more people are declared at the shop than on the marina paperwork, the cigs and booze are delivered accompanied by a couple of customs officers, who don't believe the other crew are arriving by plane.o_O
They placed the excess in our bond locker and sealed it, not to be opened until in international waters.
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A trick we used to do on the Seismic ships in N.Sea ...... load up all the gear we could under bond .... go out to the shoot area ... but before going back - we would sail 'over the' border to break seal - making sure Ships Log registered the position ! (seal was broken on sailing of course ... we did have one Force Majeure incident - but Customs let it go).

Its years since - but I think it was 60N ..... as long as you were outside terri waters ...
 
Blue Sunray said:
As discovered by some gentlemen who had arrived in a certain (friendly) country by parachute courtesy of the RAF. Once the exercise in which they were involved finished most of the group flew home again courtesy of the RAF, however these chaps, being only part-time members of HMF opted to extend their stay. When they did eventually travel home by more conventional means their departure was considerably delayed by the absence of entry stamps in their passports.
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Indeed. Through no fault of her own, my wife encountered somethingsimilar when leaving Germany a few years ago. For some reason she hadn't been checked out properly on a previous trip, and the immigration people thought she'd been in Germany illegally for a year ot two! Fortunately, it was apparent from her air tickets and so on that this wasn't the case, but they certainly DO keep tabs on such things. Obviously airports are a different kettle of fish from small boat arrivals and departures, but they certainly try and keep such things under control.

Forgot to say that at the time my wife was travelling on a non-EU passport (British National (Overseas))
 
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AntarcticPilot said:
Indeed. Through no fault of her own, my wife encountered somethingsimilar when leaving Germany a few years ago. For some reason she hadn't been checked out properly on a previous trip, and the immigration people thought she'd been in Germany illegally for a year ot two! Fortunately, it was apparent from her air tickets and so on that this wasn't the case, but they certainly DO keep tabs on such things. Obviously airports are a different kettle of fish from small boat arrivals and departures, but they certainly try and keep such things under control.

Forgot to say that at the time my wife was travelling on a non-EU passport (British National (Overseas))
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USA .... I have been at the receiving end of their 'Black Book' ........ a 'White slip' was not filed properly on exit one time - I did give to Immigration - and later job in USA ... UGH ! The hassle was unbelievable .... even when I said ... If I am trying to ENTER ... I must have LEFT ...
 
Graham376 said:
Lots of people do it from Smir, either to Gib or LaLinea. Other way is Smir to Ceuta which is Spanish and then back to Gib.
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Went La Linea to Smir. Just left the Marina, checked in at Smir. Left Smir and went back to LL, Went to berth, nobody checked us in, nothing nada!
 
Refueler said:
USA .... I have been at the receiving end of their 'Black Book' ........ a 'White slip' was not filed properly on exit one time - I did give to Immigration - and later job in USA ... UGH ! The hassle was unbelievable .... even when I said ... If I am trying to ENTER ... I must have LEFT ...
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:D
Us Immigration officials are not known for their capacity for rational thought...
 
In the mid 80th I sailed from the channel islands back to the Hamble. In these days they customs clearing was done over the phone. It was 3 in the morning on a Monday morning .The customs officer told me that I had not set the yellow flag ...and that I had to wait till 8 in morning and he would meet me....have not seen any boat...I was not pleased since my work in Newbury started at 9:00
 
Frankklose said:
In the mid 80th I sailed from the channel islands back to the Hamble. In these days they customs clearing was done over the phone. It was 3 in the morning on a Monday morning .The customs officer told me that I had not set the yellow flag ...and that I had to wait till 8 in morning and he would meet me....have not seen any boat...I was not pleased since my work in Newbury started at 9:00
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Are flags flown at 3 in the morning?
 
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