Foreign Registration

[TradewindSailor]

I have an American friend who wishes to register his boat outside of the US.

He can't use the SSR ..... and the South African register is no longer available to foreigners. He's very careful with his money too ..... so he's reluctant to fork out $2000 odd to start a corporation in St Vincent for that registration.

Has anyone out there got any recommendations for foreign registers?

What trouble could he get into if he operated his boat in the Caribbean or Pacific without ANY registration?

 

[hylass]

Many French boats are registred in Belgium.. whoud it be a possibility for your friend?

What about the possibility to regiter in Delaware?

 

[TradewindSailor]

I have a feeling that state registration ...... such as Delaware is only good for the USA operation ...... but I may be wrong.

Certainly he seems to have a dislike of USA registration ...

 

[DaveNTL]

tell us why 'your american friend' wants to register outside the USA?

It isn't easy to give specific comments otherwise.

If he has some dodgy reason for it we could give some dodgy solutions and then have great fun and the thread can go for 9 pages with the 'nay-sayers' and 'shocked-in-surreys' coming in aghast at what we can suggest. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[KellysEye]

>What trouble could he get into if he operated his boat in the Caribbean or Pacific without ANY registration?

Registration papers are asked for and copied whenever you clear cutoms, often immigration as well and at marinas. With no registration he can't prove any form of association with the boat and it may well be assumed he has stolen it.

 

[TradewindSailor]

[ QUOTE ]
>What trouble could he get into if he operated his boat in the Caribbean or Pacific without ANY registration?

Registration papers are asked for and copied whenever you clear cutoms, often immigration as well and at marinas. With no registration he can't prove any form of association with the boat and it may well be assumed he has stolen it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I hear what you say .... but is that strictly true? He has a bill of sale ..... that is more a 'proof of ownership' than a SSR registration that is definitely not.

 

[TradewindSailor]

[ QUOTE ]
tell us why 'your american friend' wants to register outside the USA?

It isn't easy to give specific comments otherwise.

If he has some dodgy reason for it we could give some dodgy solutions and then have great fun and the thread can go for 9 pages with the 'nay-sayers' and 'shocked-in-surreys' coming in aghast at what we can suggest. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Fair point ..... but let's not get too imaginative eh?

As far as I know he just doesn't want an American registration ....... just like many other Americans floating around the Med and Caribbean. I've seen many Americans with non-USA registered yachts ...... I assume it may be for tax reasons?

Oh .... by the way .... 'my American friend' is just that. I am quite happy with an SSR .... and I'm qualified to have one too!

 

[KellysEye]

>He has a bill of sale

You might be right that a bill of sale will suffice but I wouldn't go that route. It's only a matter of time before some officious zealot starts causing trouble.

From what you are saying he sounds like the typically paranoid American (of which we meet many) who is scared to sail under his own flag. Out of interest we checked the info on all the Venezuelan yacht boardings/robberies going back many years. Not one single American yacht was boarded. Why? Because the Venezuelans think all American yachts carry firearms. Perhaps he should have a rethink.

 

[TradewindSailor]

Paranoid Americans and arms on boats ...... hopefully they think all cruisers are a little thorny. Yes you're probably correct about his motivations for not flying the Stars and Stripes /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

How is the security down where you are? We're expecting another silly season of armed robberies and dinghy thefts in Trinidad.

 

[macd]

Isle of Man takes bona fide registration applications from pretty well anywhere. Fee for non-residents is around £100, if memory serves. Also has potential advantage that IoM is not part of EEA so no RCD required. It is, however, part of a common VAT area with the UK, although I believe VAT would not be an issue if vessel were simply IoM registered, as opposed to based there.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Not sure about the Isle of Man. I looked into that and was put off as you need to have the boat measured or inspected or something every couple of years.

I looked at various options for registration when moving from Malta registration (expensive) and none were cheap apart from the good old UK.

Like other posters, I don't think he will get away without any kind of registration. BTW many US yachts in the Caribbean have state registration only, Delware being particularly popular as there is no (or minimal) boat tax there.

Bottom line is that countries like Malta, Caymans, BVIs, Bermuda etc. who offer registration services do it to make money, so they won't give it away...

 

[KellysEye]

>How is the security down where you are?

ABC islands have effectively no crime against yachts and not much anyway apart from theft from cars.

Venezuela has been quiet for over eighteen months, just a few small incidents: dinghy theft in Margarita after no theft for ages and people got complacent and stopped hauling up their dinghies. In Puerto La Cruz: one boat was stripped on the hard (inside job); a boat was boarded in the marina at night, it wasn't locked but the two female crew fought off the intruders; some idiots continue to walk through the Bario (slum area) and get mugged.

At present Venezuela seems safer than Trini and the Eastern Caribbean. I think the key reason is people now know the areas to avoid, where the drug running and changes from road to boat happen. The drug running came about when the Americans started to blockade the Columbian coast and the route was switched to Venezuela to Trinidad to Africa. The spate of armed yacht robberies and shootings were little to do with robbery and everything to do with wanting no witnesses for the smuggling activity (i.e. scare everybody off). It worked.

 

[tgpt21]

[ QUOTE ]
I have a feeling that state registration ...... such as Delaware is only good for the USA operation ...... but I may be wrong.

Certainly he seems to have a dislike of USA registration ...

[/ QUOTE ]

A lot of Croatian owners register their boats in Delaware to avoid VAT

 

[Bejasus]

don't think Croatia is an EU member state yet, so not really VAT, but if they were it wouldn't matter where the boat was foreign registered as the 18 month rule would still apply.
What's so special about Delaware as opposed to any other state in the US?
Each state in the US has it's own registration laws.
USCG documentation is different from these.