Customs in Calais

[Twrharris]

Sorry I’m sure this subject has been discussed many times! My question is for someone that has visited Calais recently and could answer the following questions. Is the PAF office open 24hrs? Is this where you go as I rang but my French is poor and the ladies English wasn’t great but she mentioned having to go to the port of Calais.
Hope someone can help.

 

[Slowboat35]

Internet searches are of little help but the Cruisng Association purports to know, though you'll only get access to their info if you pay their enormous fees. The RYA is predictably useless.
My understanding is that you need to go to the PAF office in the ferry port or maybe the Eurostar terminal with passports, a crew list and ship's papers. That'll involve a very long walk, a bicycle ride or a taxi. Some people have reported that they are happy for skipper alone to go with crew's passports and the PAF have been very helpful, but of course you have to find where they are first. I believe they have also been OK with stamping a short-stayer in and out simultaneously to avoid a second trip prior to going home, but you'll find that out on the day!
My suggestion is to google PAF Calais to get their contact details and phone them to ask where to go and when.
Good luck, and please post your experiences and details upon return.

This old thread may help, especially post #9
Entry to France

 

[Bob the Dog]

There is poster on the outside notice board at Calais Marina telling you exactly and precisely what to do…..its a total ball ache but doable. The staff at Cal Marina are lovely and speak good English so can help. Phone them on +33 3 21 34 55 23.
If on the other hand you decide to go to my home port of Boulogne instead, as its a port of entry (!), this adds to the pain by having to get the train to Calais first before deciding which bureaucratic hoop you want to jump through. There is an excellent patisserie right next to the marina where you can make up food parcels as it will take you a whole day to get your stamp. P.S. only saw two UK boats arrive last year….I wonder why.

 

[Slowboat35]

I am intrigued by a couple of references I've seen to getting passports stamped by "either PAF or Douanes".
Are Customs able to stamp passports? Has anyone tried? Because at Boulogne (far more geographically, leave alone operationally convenient for most than remote lock-bound Calais) there is a Douanes ofice in town a few minutes walk from the marina...(see post #9 linked above)

 

[Plum]

A friend of mine produced this document when she visited Calais last year and got her exit stamp from the PAF and used the free bus service. https://oga.org.uk/_documents/[755327]Getting_your_UK_passport_stamped_in_Calais.pdf

www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[Supine Being]

A friend of mine produced this document when she visited Calais last year and got her exit stamp from the PAF and used the free bus service. https://oga.org.uk/_documents/[755327]Getting_your_UK_passport_stamped_in_Calais.pdf

www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

I didn't know about that bus. I knew there were the little Balad'in buses, but there are also the larger Imagin buses that go to the ferry terminal. All the info here: Imag'in Calais Opale Bus

 

[Twrharris]

Internet searches are of little help but the Cruisng Association purports to know, though you'll only get access to their info if you pay their enormous fees. The RYA is predictably useless.
My understanding is that you need to go to the PAF office in the ferry port or maybe the Eurostar terminal with passports, a crew list and ship's papers. That'll involve a very long walk, a bicycle ride or a taxi. Some people have reported that they are happy for skipper alone to go with crew's passports and the PAF have been very helpful, but of course you have to find where they are first. I believe they have also been OK with stamping a short-stayer in and out simultaneously to avoid a second trip prior to going home, but you'll find that out on the day!
My suggestion is to google PAF Calais to get their contact details and phone them to ask where to go and when.
Good luck, and please post your experiences and details upon return.

This old thread may help, especially post #9
Entry to France

Thanks, we are going this weekend so I will keep the post updated.

 

[oilybilge]

Just to add to this useful store of knowledge …

Yes, jump on the excellent little Navette/Balad’in electric bus and get off at the very last stop, which is on the doorstep of the striking square yellowish ferry ticket building. The PAF is a hundred yards or so down the road. (There are signs to it).

Spend about five minutes prodding various buttons to the left of the door until you find the one that works. (Hint: there are three boxes and the doorbell is cleverly hidden in the top left one.) A startled-looking policewoman opens the door and when you get her to understand what you want , goes off to fetch someone else.

I’m sure most PAF officers are lovely but mine seemed to be on a bit of a power trip, and when I said I’d got in at half past ten the previous evening he demanded to know why I hadn’t come to the PAF office then. Which seems more than a bit unreasonable.

Anyway, he stamped my passport with barely a glance at the ship’s papers and that was that. Then it was back on the Balad’in for a well deserved cafe au lait in the little square near the marina.

By the way, why is everyone so rude about Calais? I think it’s rather lovely, although that might be because I was expecting the French equivalent of Dover.

 

[LiftyK]

I wrote a comprehensive guide to this a year ago. See Arriving 8pm Calais - customs procedure?

 

[oilybilge]

Ah, thanks, Lifty. Yes that pretty much covers it. Wish I’d got your big chief instead of my guy.