Buying a boat in Norway... Looking for a surveyor -

westernman said:
No idea.

Don' t try something like that in France though. They have "semaphore" stations around the coast and they keep track of who comes and goes. Including small pleasure boats.

In France and Spain from time to time you see douanes walking the docks. In Spain, I was asked for my passport (only interested in the passport of El Capitano) and boat registration. I did not have the registration as that was in the marina office and told them so. No idea if they did check up on it or not.
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Semaphore stations? for gods sake, you still reading Hornblower?
 
Tranona said:
Don't think you are reading and more importantly understanding the advice you are given your question has been answered many times in different forms

You need to get your head around 2 basic concepts. You personal "freedom" is governed by Schengen rules since we left the EU. This change applies to all third country citizens - ie the rest of the world outside the EU.

Your boat's freedom is governed by the rules of 2 different customs areas. So if you buy a boat in the EU it has total freedom of movement within the EU, irrespective of who owns it or where it is registered. You can register it in the UK as you seem to be eligible - registration is in effect a "passport" for your boat showing it is British, but has nothing to do with customs rules. However, you as a UK resident cannot bring it into the UK without meeting the tax and certification consequences. Plenty of UK residents own boats in the EU in this way
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There is also the Free Travel Zone between Ireland and the UK. It entitles citizens of both countries free movement in both jurisdictions and has existed since Irish independence in 1922. It's also the reason why Ireland and the UK did not join Schengen.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
According to the rules, if you have enough investments to be able to get a French tourist visa, you can get two and a half years in EU/ France before having to leave. The standard Schengen visa is 90 days out of 180 in any Schengen country, and a French 6 month tourist visa is in addition to Schengen, and you are allowed one per calendar year. You must not spend more than 6 months in France in any one calendar year to avoid being resident as then you cannot use the Temporary Admission scheme and your boat would be liable to VAT and certification. This is how you could do two and a half years in the Med...

Year 1
April to June: 90 days Schengen visa, not in France
July to December: 6 month French tourist visa in France

Year 2
Jan to March: 90 days Schengen visa, not in France
April to Sep: 6 month French tourist visa in France
Oct to Dec: 90 days Schengen visa, not in France

Year 3
Jan to June: 6 month French tourist visa in France
July to Sep: 90 days Schengen visa, not in France

On that schedule you don't break the Schengen 90/180 rule, or more than 6 months per year in France as a tourist. The boat would have to leave in the middle to avoid breaking the 18 month rule for the boat. This is all theoretical from my understanding of the rules. I don't know if it's possible in reality.
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Unfortunately there must be 6 months between the French Tourist visas so that doesn't work.
 
RupertW said:
Mine took about 6 weeks from finding the paperwork to receiving the passport but I seem to remember that because my mother was born in Ireland I didn’t have to use the Foreign Births process. Poland is much much harder and expensive my wife is 3 years into the process and hopefully just a couple of months from getting her passport, then with our EU VAT paid boat it’s happy days.
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Surely Your wife already has most of the advantages as a spouse of an EU citizen..!
 
Tranona said:
... if you partly comply by paying VAT you will be asked for certification...
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Is that true ? Who in HMRC will ask for, or know anything about RCD certification ?

The question has been raised before, and the law is "enforced" by trading standards who have 1 year to take action after importation and who will, basically, not give a monkeys' about a private import of a boat to the UK, even in the extraordinarily unlikely event they ever got to hear of it.

Boo2
 
Boo2 said:
Is that true ? Who in HMRC will ask for, or know anything about RCD certification ?

The question has been raised before, and the law is "enforced" by trading standards who have 1 year to take action after importation and who will, basically, not give a monkeys' about a private import of a boat to the UK, even in the extraordinarily unlikely event they ever got to hear of it.

Boo2
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See post#27. Since Brexit this has become a big issue with the UK setting its own standards (which includes removing the pre 1997 exemption) plus the heightened scrutiny of boats entering UK waters makes the chances of getting "caught" greater. Only time will tell if this becomes a problem, although my guess is that the impracticalities of importing used boats will mean that few will try it - just like the post 1997 changes. Lots of scare stories, but quickly it became obvious that importing from the US (in particular) was no longer viable.

In this particular case - importing a cheap old boat from Scandinavia the price differential has been there for years, but even in free movement times few took advantage of it once they discovered what was really involved in buying and sailing a small 30 or 40 year old boat back to the UK. It worked with big expensive boats in a limited way, like my friend's Windy, but not necessarily for cost saving but because there is a very limited supply of quality Scandinavian boats in the UK.
 
Spirit (of Glenans) said:
There is also the Free Travel Zone between Ireland and the UK. It entitles citizens of both countries free movement in both jurisdictions and has existed since Irish independence in 1922. It's also the reason why Ireland and the UK did not join Schengen.
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That also includes the Channel Islands and the IOM, but these territories generally don't figure in the plans of the "vagabond" lifestyle the OP claims he wants to lead - or is being denied!
 
Tranona said:
That also includes the Channel Islands and the IOM, but these territories generally don't figure in the plans of the "vagabond" lifestyle the OP claims he wants to lead - or is being denied!
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(Sorry about the drift.....)
That's very interesting I had not realized it covered the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.... Good pdf on the scheme.
 

Attachments

I'm curious - the first post says you've found a boat at a good price. Can I ask what the boat is and what the price is!?

Am I being too nosey?

Is this mentioned in the plethora of correspondence on the thread?
 
Looking at boats on Apollo Duck. Most of them look older and more beaten up than ones I am viewing in Scandinavia. Surly they don’t meet RCD or UKCA regs or have had their perfectly good engines ripped out and replaced with brand new more environmentally destructive ‘environmentally friendly’ engines?
 
thvoyager said:
Looking at boats on Apollo Duck. Most of them look older and more beaten up than ones I am viewing in Scandinavia. Surly they don’t meet RCD or UKCA regs or have had their perfectly good engines ripped out and replaced with brand new more environmentally destructive ‘environmentally friendly’ engines?
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They don't have to. It's only at the point they are imported in to the Customs Area or the manufacturer places it on sale that they need to meet the standard. E.g. it's perfectly legal to run an old car, but new ones or imports must meet the current standards.
 
thvoyager said:
Looking at boats on Apollo Duck. Most of them look older and more beaten up than ones I am viewing in Scandinavia. Surly they don’t meet RCD or UKCA regs or have had their perfectly good engines ripped out and replaced with brand new more environmentally destructive ‘environmentally friendly’ engines?
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They don’t, but they aren’t required to by law. They complied with the rules at the time when they were built in, or imported into the UK. Older boats in Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland and Holland tend to be in much better condition than in the UK, Ireland and France. I’m not 100% sure why that is but I have heard it said that owners in those counties have higher disposable incomes. The point from Tranona about the boats spending more time indoors in Scandinavia is also no doubt important.
 
Has anyone actually head of or know of a case of an import that has attracted HMRC or Trading standards RCD grief .
Talking about a guy sailing into a U.K. marina , or muddy creek berth flying a red with a part 3 SR number freshly stuck on the stern .For the sake of argument either U.K. basic 3 P or the seller’s remaining insurance still running .

Sounds a bit like it’s a U.K. only key board warriors issue .Technically correct but no one’s that should be bothered actually is bothered .

Bit like if you are burgled calling for the cops .They can’t be bothered coming out just issue a crime number to loose you on the system .
 
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