Customs / Border Control in Boulogne?

dolabriform

dolabriform

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Hi all

We're contemplating sailing to Boulogne / Calais over the Easter break, but I'm struggling to find out if / where the border control is in Boulogne and was hoping someone here would know the answer and required procedures.

One of the crew is on a USA passport, which I think will also complicate coming back into the UK.
I know that when someone exits via a UK airport the exit is recorded via the airline systems, but obviously that won't be the case when going by sea. I'm also trying to ascertain if she needs her passport stamped when we exit blighty?

Any advice very very welcome.

Thanks

David
 
chrishscorp said:
When you have worked out all of that could you possibly come back and enlighten us as your not the only one who has sailed out of the UK with crew that is not UK nationals, Please.
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I'm not sure if this is a request or a dig?
I know I'm not the only one who has done this, but is the first time I'm doing this and so I'm genuinely asking for any help / advice.

I tried to call UK Border Agency ( now UK Immigration ) to try and work entry / exit requirements for sailing to France. They charge 69 pence / minute and require you to pre authorise a credit card on the phone before they will talk to you.

I called National Yachtline but border force will only talk to you when you are arriving.

I've tried googling it, and Google and the UK gov sites say no exit stamp is needed as it's done electronically when the airline scans the passport at checkin, but what if you're not travelling via commercial carrier.. I can't find any info about that.
I know about notice 8 and form C1331 ( and the spreadsheet version ), and have read through those in detail. The only information I can find about departure is:

Check immigration requirements when you depart from the UK
Click to expand...
You need to notify a Border Force officer only if you are carrying someone who has no right of abode in the UK. In these circumstances you must tell a Border Force officer in advance."
Click to expand...

However, my wife has indefinite leave to remain, or whatever it's called now, so has the right of abode in the UK. Even if I need to contact a border force officer, I have absolutely no idea how one would do that, as the contact number on the gov website says call the ukvi number and pay 69 pence a minute, please pre-authorise your credit card otherwise we won't talk to you.

So yes, I know I'm not the first, and I thought someone might know the answer. The RYA pages don't cover this scenario, and I haven't been able to find any info on the CA website either.
 
My interpretation of Chriscorp's post is that it's a genuine question. (S)He's recognising that your situation is quite common, but because few people have done it since all the rules changed, there's a lack of useful experience on the forums. If you do find a defiitive answer, and especially after you've actually done the trip, you'll be more experienced than most of us, so it would be good if you could share your experience.

As for carrying a US national... I would think that if she has indefinite right to remain, then there should be no need for her to get an exit stamp. You've done due dilligence and been told officially that "You need to notify a Border Force officer only if you are carrying someone who has no right of abode in the UK. ". As she does have right of abode, you don't need to inform them, and she doesn't need to be stamped out. So leaving the UK is OK. I would hope that returning to the UK should be OK as well; though Notice 8 is nicely ambiguous about reporting her presence to yachtline. To cover yourself, I'd print out a copy of Notice 8 and keep the hardcopy on the boat.

Which just leaves the matters of arriving/departing France. I leave that to someone better informed than I
 
Black Sheep said:
My interpretation of Chriscorp's post is that it's a genuine question. (S)He's recognising that your situation is quite common, but because few people have done it since all the rules changed, there's a lack of useful experience on the forums. If you do find a defiitive answer, and especially after you've actually done the trip, you'll be more experienced than most of us, so it would be good if you could share your experience.

As for carrying a US national... I would think that if she has indefinite right to remain, then there should be no need for her to get an exit stamp. You've done due dilligence and been told officially that "You need to notify a Border Force officer only if you are carrying someone who has no right of abode in the UK. ". As she does have right of abode, you don't need to inform them, and she doesn't need to be stamped out. So leaving the UK is OK. I would hope that returning to the UK should be OK as well; though Notice 8 is nicely ambiguous about reporting her presence to yachtline. To cover yourself, I'd print out a copy of Notice 8 and keep the hardcopy on the boat.

Which just leaves the matters of arriving/departing France. I leave that to someone better informed than I
Click to expand...

Thanks for you interpretation, I wasn't trying to be an arse ;)

According to Yachtline, on return I have to inform them of her presence and they will notify Border Force who will then decide what to do. She normally gets her passport stamped on entry but I'm hoping that they won't want to do that.

I will report back here once I know anything concrete !
 
dolabriform said:
I'm not sure if this is a request or a dig?
I know I'm not the only one who has done this, but is the first time I'm doing this and so I'm genuinely asking for any help / advice.

I tried to call UK Border Agency ( now UK Immigration ) to try and work entry / exit requirements for sailing to France. They charge 69 pence / minute and require you to pre authorise a credit card on the phone before they will talk to you.

I called National Yachtline but border force will only talk to you when you are arriving.

I've tried googling it, and Google and the UK gov sites say no exit stamp is needed as it's done electronically when the airline scans the passport at checkin, but what if you're not travelling via commercial carrier.. I can't find any info about that.
I know about notice 8 and form C1331 ( and the spreadsheet version ), and have read through those in detail. The only information I can find about departure is:



However, my wife has indefinite leave to remain, or whatever it's called now, so has the right of abode in the UK. Even if I need to contact a border force officer, I have absolutely no idea how one would do that, as the contact number on the gov website says call the ukvi number and pay 69 pence a minute, please pre-authorise your credit card otherwise we won't talk to you.

So yes, I know I'm not the first, and I thought someone might know the answer. The RYA pages don't cover this scenario, and I haven't been able to find any info on the CA website either.
Click to expand...

No a request for info. The last time we went to France we had on board bruv in law and his partner not sure what passport / nationality she was on i never saw her passport and i didnt check in to Cherbourg they did for me, I was fixing the engine lol. In fact they simply wanted the boat name my name and address and 11 euros so prior to an event we must not mention.....

So any info is useful
 
dolabriform said:
. . . I'm struggling to find out if / where the border control is in Boulogne and was hoping someone here would know the answer and required procedures.
Click to expand...

Some of the French ports now have a downloadable form online to fill in before arrival, but IIRC a recent post on another thread on this forum said they hadn't found one for Boulogne and people weren't sure if it would still be possible to arrive in Boulogne without having first 'entered' Schengen elsewhere.

I can't find anything like that online, either, but the Port de Plaisance at Boulogne still has this notice (below) on their website, though it is dated May 2017. It might be worth giving them a ring or emailing them to see if that is still the process. (Apologies of more recent info has already been posted elsewhere and I've missed it.)

'IMPORTANT:TO THE VISITORS FROM A MARINA OUTSIDE SCHENGEN
Ladies & Gentlemen,
In accordance with the provisions of the 3.2.4 and 3.2.6 articles set out in the Schengen Borders Code, the port authority shall provide a list of all the pleasure crafts passengers coming from a port that’s outside the Schengen agreements to the border guards (border police of Calais). This list has to be given by the pleasure craft captain (who will have to be himself in possession of another copy during his stay in the French territorial waters) to the port authorities on arrival, at the latest. As part of the migratory situation specific to our coastline, and of the security context due to the recent terrorist attacks in the European Union, we will ask you to fill in a form with all the passagers.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation
The Marina team.'

Link - IMPORTANT:TO THE VISITORS FROM A MARINA OUTSIDE SCHENGEN | Port de plaisance de Boulogne-sur-mer
 
A friend of mine contacted the CA only 3-4 weeks ago. From their response it seems that one has to check in & out at Calais. I am not sure that I would like the idea of sailing to Calais. I do not know if it is advisable for a single hander trying to raft up on visitors buoys & then join a rush to the locks.It is not practical to travel by bus, cycle or taxi, as it is about 20+ miles
I did find the Boulogne customs office French customs office
I do not think that they are geared up for normal arrivals/departures. More customs duty etc. Note also the working hours which would be inconvenient.
The CA advise against taking advice from marina staff as this is ( acording to the CA) often wrong & can get one into trouble.
I thought about Dieppe but their office is in Rouen - 50 KM away.
We wanted to know as we want to go during both of the may/june bank holidays as a club cruise. Plus I want to then continue along the coast to the Channel islands. Seems like I will have to go Solent, Cherbourg then C Is
 
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While it's not an immediate problem, I may well sail with a Hong Kong citizen in the future - the daughter of a friend of my late wife has trained as a Merchant Officer, and has just started at the bottom of the pile as a Third Officer! She's interested in seeing how things work on a small boat, and she'd be a very useful crew member for a North Sea crossing. But of course, she's a Hong Kong citizen. I think she has a BN(O) passport, but of course that DOESN'T give any residence rights.

I'm not sure that Permission to Remain is technically full residence; it does come with some restrictions that don't apply to citizens.
 
The situation on leaving and arriving in the UK has always been a bit difficult. I am a non UK/European passport holder who has on a number of occassions sailed to countries outside Europe prior to Brexit and have sailed to European country post Brexit, the Azores 2021.

There used to be a form you could download and fill in and post by snailmail to BF in Dover and then similar on return. And I completed this process when sailing to Brazil and South Africa. Oddly enough I was stopped by a BF boat on my return before I could check in and they said that they had handled my entry requirements on their RIB.

Arriving in the Azores in 2021 was mainly about having proof of a double vaccination, stamp the passport (someone comes down from the ariport) and you are very welcome. arriving back in the UK was simple for me I rang yachtline when I was anchored off Penzance and met their requirements which mainly revolved around Covid testing and complete lack of interest in my residence status. Two of our competitors to the Azores were fined £500 and £1000 at Plymouth for not having had a PCR test before leaving the Azores and refusing to falsify a Passenger Locator Form. In their twelve days single handed return to the UK it was obviously judged it was a 5 times worse super spreader event than a Downing Street Party.

Prior to Brexit I arrived in Boulogne on one occassion and declared my non European status and was told by the Harbour Master that it was too hard and as my boat was British flagged he would treat me as a European citizen.

I find the staff at northern French ports incredibly helpful and their English is far superior to my French so I would ring the Boulogne Harbour Master and ask advice and on my return would ring Yachtline and ask their advice.
 
Black Sheep said:
As for carrying a US national... I would think that if she has indefinite right to remain, then there should be no need for her to get an exit stamp. You've done due dilligence and been told officially that "You need to notify a Border Force officer only if you are carrying someone who has no right of abode in the UK. ". As she does have right of abode, you don't need to inform them, and she doesn't need to be stamped out. So leaving the UK is OK. I would hope that returning to the UK should be OK as well; though Notice 8 is nicely ambiguous about reporting her presence to yachtline. To cover yourself, I'd print out a copy of Notice 8 and keep the hardcopy on the boat.
Click to expand...

NOTICE 8 said:
Anyone on board who is not a British or Irish citizen must obtain a Border Force officer’s permission to enter the UK from a place other than the Isle of Man, or the Channel Islands. The owner or person responsible for the pleasure craft must make sure that anyone requiring immigration clearance (including yourself if appropriate) obtains the necessary permission to enter.
If there is anyone on board requiring immigration clearance, they will need to contact the nearest Border Force office by telephone to arrange clearance.
Click to expand...

Not that ambiguous - not a UK/Irish citizen = ring Border Force (although they don't give out their number)
 
I've had a (commendably swift) reply from the Port de Plaisance at Boulogne:

[Google Translated]
'Thank you for your message. You must have your passport stamped at the border police located in Calais (the nearest).

We invite you to come back to us at the beginning of May to find out if it will be possible to welcome you to our marina. Indeed, we suffered significant damage to our pontoons at the beginning of January and we do not currently know if we will be able to welcome visitors for the summer period.

Best regards,
The marina team'

So, bad news for now. I hope that France gets something more convenient in place for Boulogne before long (and also that the Port de Plaisance manage to get their pontoons fixed).
 
LittleSister said:
I've had a (commendably swift) reply from the Port de Plaisance at Boulogne:

[Google Translated]
'Thank you for your message. You must have your passport stamped at the border police located in Calais (the nearest).

We invite you to come back to us at the beginning of May to find out if it will be possible to welcome you to our marina. Indeed, we suffered significant damage to our pontoons at the beginning of January and we do not currently know if we will be able to welcome visitors for the summer period.

Best regards,
The marina team'

So, bad news for now. I hope that France gets something more convenient in place for Boulogne before long (and also that the Port de Plaisance manage to get their pontoons fixed).
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for taking the time to do that. It's sad but at least we know.
 
My favourite port in that area is Gravelines, but I daresay to enter there you would need your passport stamped at Calais as well, although it might be possible at Dunkerque. I by preference don't go into Calais as I find the lock system difficult to get the timing right unless you are prepared to sit around with your engine going not tied up.

Just thinkint that through though I suppose you could pick up one of the buoys outside the marina, blow up your dinghy go ashore get your passport stamped and reverse the process and leave.
 
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