Italy (and Schengen) to Croatia

[Metabarca]

Take note: until now, no-one in Italy has bothered informing the authorities when leaving by boat for Croatia, and the authorities have never done anything about it. But now, as part of new anti-terrorism measures, they're going to start clamping down. When you enter Croatia, the police scan your passport and the data go to Interpol, SIS and the passport holder's country (to check for stolen or lost passports). For Italians, that means that when they get back home they can expect a hefty fine if they haven't checked out of Italy. Clearly, for non-Italian passport holders, things are not so clear-cut but you have been warned! When checking out of Italy, you need to go to the Polmar, NOT the capitaneria di porto.
Presumably these same measures apply from Greece and Slovenia.

 

[RichardS]

Also see http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...ust-check-in-and-out-of-Italy&highlight=Italy

Richard

 

[tonybell]

we are in Trani on the way to Vieste then over to Lastivo.
Getting no sense from anyone here about this new requirement,
Has anyone entered Croatia since 1 june and had problems.
The PP , Carabinieri and Yacht service company here don't want to know and say it's no legal but it's my money when I get stopped in Croatia.

 

[Metabarca]

Oops, sorry, didn't see t'other thread.
I picked up the information from the local newspaper in Trieste; haven't been down to my club for a bit, so I don't know about the actual situation.

 

[tonybell]

Sorry to be a bit thick but what is the POLMAR

 

[AndrewB]

Yes, be warned. It may not just be Croatia, the Italian authorities also seem to be concerned about non-Schengen movements.

I've never seen hide nor hair of Italian officialdom before, but three days ago the Guardia Fiscal paid us a "routine visit" in Pescara where they went through our paperwork with a fine tooth-comb, taking photos of everything, and cross-examining my account of our movements. I gathered marina offices have been instructed to report arrivals of non-Schengen nationals.

It was just as well I had insisted on getting customs documentation from the maritime police in Trieste (San Rocco) when entering from Croatia last year: it took me half a day to ferret them out and then they had seemed to regard it as a boring superfluity.

 

[RichardS]

Sorry to be a bit thick but what is the POLMAR

I assume Policia Maritime, or similar.

Richard

 

[Seven Spades]

Who is doing the fining the Italians or the Croatians or both.

 

[sailaboutvic]

It be very interesting to see how this pans out .

 

[BrianH]

Sorry to be a bit thick but what is the POLMAR

I assume Policia Maritime, or similar.

Richard

The two Italian entities involved are the Carabinieri and the Polizia di Frontera, they share the same headquarters in my area when I visited. Presumably the latter have the ultimate responsibility for border control but it seems the Carabinieri do the administration in this.

Who is doing the fining the Italians or the Croatians or both.

The Croatians on any boat clearing-in at a port of entry that departed Italy without a verified crew-list.

The Italians are merely complying with a request from the Croatians made at the G7 conference in Taormina in Sicily, May 26/27, 2017, by checking crew lists of vessels departing Italy bound for Croatia as that country is not a Schengen member.

 

[AndrewB]

I've just received a copy of a letter from Italian frontier police which advises the process can be managed by email, providing a document which can be completed with crew list etc and sent to them. A copy of this, together with a read receipt, is sufficient to prove border control.

 

[tonybell]

Hi Andrew, any chance of getting a copy of the documentation and letter from frontier police.
Tony bell
China Blue
Trani

 

[Metabarca]

OK, I've seen an official document from the authorities in my yacht club. It concerns all EU nationals (the document specifically mentions 'guests of other nationalities travelling aboard your yacht' and the authorities dealing with the checking in and out are the Polizia di Frontiera Marittima (POLMAR). In Trieste at least, their office is open something like 8.30-12.30, 14.30-18.30 Mon to Sat, and Sun 8.30-12.30. If the office is closed when you clock back into Italy, it's ok to go next morning. Failure to check out/in will result in fines from Italian authorities, I know that much.
I can't find anything about doing the procedure by email but the document I saw was from the Trieste offices; it was not a circular sent out by a central office.

 

[BrianH]

OK, I've seen an official document from the authorities in my yacht club. It concerns all EU nationals (the document specifically mentions 'guests of other nationalities travelling aboard your yacht' and the authorities dealing with the checking in and out are the Polizia di Frontiera Marittima (POLMAR). In Trieste at least, their office is open something like 8.30-12.30, 14.30-18.30 Mon to Sat, and Sun 8.30-12.30. If the office is closed when you clock back into Italy, it's ok to go next morning. Failure to check out/in will result in fines from Italian authorities, I know that much.
I can't find anything about doing the procedure by email but the document I saw was from the Trieste offices; it was not a circular sent out by a central office.

There seems to be regional variations. Just across the Gulf of Trieste from you the statement from the local Carabinieri in Lignano delivered to all boats in our marina mentions only clearing out, where the skipper and crew have to report to their offices to check the passports of each with the crew-list. To comply with that I drove a German friend to the Carabinieri headquarters in the centre of Lignano Sabbiadoro on his departure and he was told there was no need to clear back in on return.

The same regulations pertained to Slovenia until the end of May when presumably they became within the Schegen group. I sailed for Piran shortly afterwards so there was no need to comply.

I have a copy of the editable PDF file that has been distributed to some and can be sent to the local Carabinieri office by email; it is very specific in its header about where it is valid, it specifies "Lignano Sabbiadoro (UD)" The email that distributed it specified printing an exact copy to that sent to the Carabinieri office.

The whole procedure seems not to have settled down yet and it isn't going to get better as the holiday period starts and many Italians make the crossing. Could be a nice little earner for the Croatian coffers.

 

[RichardS]

We don't have a Croatian Port of Entry near us ..... although I reckon that the sound of the Italian motor-boaters and the Croatia PP screaming at each other will carry for many miles. :ambivalence:

Richard