Entering France Next Year

[Frogmogman]

It will be like the scene in the Holy Grail when King Arthur and his men arrive at the French castle.

 

[[163233]]

It'd be funny if the French started hassling Brit yotties for papers while letting illegal migrants wander about as they please.

 

[ryanroberts]

On the UK side my cynical old technologist instincts suggest that there will be some horrific part working mobile application requirement.

 

[st599]

I used to just pitch up and check in at Cherbourg marina office. I was visited once by a friendly Customs man, docs in order so no issue.
The worst part always was getting back into UK, so much faffing around with waiting onboard for two hours, posting off forms etc.
Next year I will carry on the same, pitch up and check in (they have all my details on record) unless I hear about a different procedure. I'm willing to bet that again, any issues will be at this end.

Presumably that was before the requirement to check in to Schengen and for the check in to be logged in the central database though.

 

[Black Sheep]

A more realistic case might be someone from the United States

That's the model I've had in mind too.
Noonsite has the details of the formalities for non-EU boats: France | Noonsite
Basically, report to Customs at a Port of Entry. Try to get a Zarpe/departure document on departure but that isn't always easy.
Useful to note that Bolougne is not a port of entry!

How it will work in practice is anybody's guess. But I wouldn't put too much store on what used to happen 50 years ago.

 

[Poignard]

I expect things will soon return to normal when our application to rejoin the EU has been lodged.

 

[st599]

On the UK side my cynical old technologist instincts suggest that there will be some horrific part working mobile application requirement.

I think the RYA said it had been delayed to Q3 2021

 

[ryanroberts]

I think the RYA said it had been delayed to Q3 2021

An amazingly accurate mismeasurement there

 

[Sybarite]

When I first sailed back to N.Ireland I had the Q flag up.

The local boatman called me to say that he had been contacted by local customs and who asked me to take down the flag otherwise they would be obliged to come out to check me..

 

[LadyInBed]

Presumably that was before the requirement to check in to Schengen and for the check in to be logged in the central database though.

You obviously didn't read the quote from #6 that I was responding to

 

[greeny]

Your answer is to look at sailing to and from the Channel Islands, which are outside of the EU. There are procedures, but the French don't care and the British are slightly perplexed if you actually try and follow them.

I suspect there will be a little bit of 'doing things correctly', but in no time we'll get back to something very similar to what we have now.

????? So they won't stamp your passport as having entered the Schengen area? How will they know how long you've been in there? Remember we'll only have 90 in 180 allowed.

 

[Ningaloo]

It depends how important a subsequent visit to EU is for you. If you don't check out properly you will still have your 90 day clock running. This might lead to issues if you try to return and they find you didn't exit correctly.
I don't see do much issue getting back into the UK.
As others have pointed out, it is likely to be chaotic next year but 2022 will bring in the EU wide electronic database to track visas across all Schengen countries.

 

[laika]

????? So they won't stamp your passport as having entered the Schengen area? How will they know how long you've been in there? Remember we'll only have 90 in 180 allowed.

We need a forumite from the channel islands to comment on this one but it wouldn't surprise me if no-one bothers stamping visiting yachtspeople in or out in the same way that they don't bother with schengen forms from brits. From the number of french yachts flying union flags as "courtesy flags" in the channel islands I'm guessing a lot of the french are as unaware of the status of the channel islands as some of our own border force. Once free movement ends though they might start paying more attention.

A further disturbing thought alluded to above: presumably we'll need to enter via a port of entry. No quick jaunts to Morlaix or Treguier for folks in the west country. No option of St. Vaast for anyone finding themselves downtide of cherbourg with an east-going tide

 

[st599]

We need a forumite from the channel islands to comment on this one but it wouldn't surprise me if no-one bothers stamping visiting yachtspeople in or out in the same way that they don't bother with schengen forms from brits. From the number of french yachts flying union flags as "courtesy flags" in the channel islands I'm guessing a lot of the french are as unaware of the status of the channel islands as some of our own border force. Once free movement ends though they might start paying more attention.

A further disturbing thought alluded to above: presumably we'll need to enter via a port of entry. No quick jaunts to Morlaix or Treguier for folks in the west country

As I said earlier, how you check in is up to the individual countries, RYA bod said Germany already have the ability to do it at large marinas, France it will be at Ports of Entry.

 

[Ningaloo]

A further disturbing thought alluded to above: presumably we'll need to enter via a port of entry. No quick jaunts to Morlaix or Treguier for folks in the west country

Enter AND exit via port of entry! If you don't checkout correctly you may have problems returning to Schengen, especially if you exceed 90 days. The checkout is now essential to stop the 90 day clock.

I think that weekend trips to France will no longer be feasible.

I can't see the Border Forces delegating this responsibility (checking and stamping passports or updating the electronic system once it is implemented in 2022) to marina staff!

 

[st599]

I skipper for a club which runs summer trips, one other point is that you may not be able to do crew changes or skipper changes whilst in Schengen.

 

[Ningaloo]

it wouldn't surprise me if no-one bothers stamping visiting yachtspeople in or out in the same way that they don't bother with schengen forms from brits.

You seem to forget that at present CI and UK have freedom of movement within Schengen. All that is over in 2021. Do you think that yachts from USA, Australia do not currently go through immigration and customs processes on arrival in Schengen? The processes to handle these arrivals already exist and UK will now be treated in the same way.

 

[Black Sheep]

You seem to forget that at present CI and UK have freedom of movement within Schengen.

The first part of Laika's post suggested that, but he did continue "Once free movement ends though they might start paying more attention.". So he didn't forget!

I agree with your thoughts that the Aus and USA experience is likely more relevant than CI or UK 50 years ago.

The rules are all here: France | Noonsite

How rigorously and consistently they are operated for UK yachtspeople remains to be seen.

 

[Ningaloo]

Sorry if I seem upset about this. I have lived aboard my boat in EU for 5-6 months each summer since 2004. Brexit has resulted in this coming to an abrupt end. At the very least I need to change my cruising area so that I can limit myself to 90 days in Schengen. At worst, my new (larger) boat is capable of crossing oceans (hopefully I am too ) so I'll leave EU (and UK) permanently.

 

[Black Sheep]

I think a lot of people are upset about this