Leaving and entering schengen countries Passport Question

[Sea Devil]

If it works anything like the Caribbean it will involve having to prove your provenance...

I imagine that if you leave the UK bound for Cherbourg then you will have to inform British border force..

On arrival in Cherbourg your passport will be stamped and the clock will ticking on your 90 days. If you then decide to go to Alderney you will go to French border force and get your clearance papers and be required to leave the harbour within 3 hours?? could be 2. On arrival in Alderney you will have to clear in and show your clearance from Cherbourg to customs - at least and possibly immigration.

You then go back to Cherbourg and clear in and the clock starts ticking - and you day sail round to St Vaast... and just show your entry papers if requested as it is not a port of entry... no problem

BUT if you want to go back direct to the UK you need to clear out to stop the clock ticking and it remains to be seen if you can do that from a secondary port like St Vaast. It may be that you have to go back to Cherbourg or Le Havre or Boulogne in order to clear out and stop the clock ticking.

UK customs and excise/Border force will want eyes on your clearance paper on arrival to prove where you came from... I think!

 

[RupertW]

If it works anything like the Caribbean it will involve having to prove your provenance...

I imagine that if you leave the UK bound for Cherbourg then you will have to inform British border force..

On arrival in Cherbourg your passport will be stamped and the clock will ticking on your 90 days. If you then decide to go to Alderney you will go to French border force and get your clearance papers and be required to leave the harbour within 3 hours?? could be 2. On arrival in Alderney you will have to clear in and show your clearance from Cherbourg to customs - at least and possibly immigration.

You then go back to Cherbourg and clear in and the clock starts ticking - and you day sail round to St Vaast... and just show your entry papers if requested as it is not a port of entry... no problem

BUT if you want to go back direct to the UK you need to clear out to stop the clock ticking and it remains to be seen if you can do that from a secondary port like St Vaast. It may be that you have to go back to Cherbourg or Le Havre or Boulogne in order to clear out and stop the clock ticking.

UK customs and excise/Border force will want eyes on your clearance paper on arrival to prove where you came from... I think!

Isn’t that mixing up boat clearance and passport entry/exit?

 

[Sea Devil]

Isn’t that mixing up boat clearance and passport entry/exit?

Perhaps but assuming the skipper of the boat has a UK passport then it's the same thing... If a crew member has an EU passport then the UK end of the trip is more of an issue.
The boat is allowed 18 months in EU waters then must leave for 24 hours. The UK crew is allowed 90/180

 

[RupertW]

Perhaps but assuming the skipper of the boat has a UK passport then it's the same thing... If a crew member has an EU passport then the UK end of the trip is more of an issue.
The boat is allowed 18 months in EU waters then must leave for 24 hours. The UK crew is allowed 90/180

Agree with all of that, but I don’t think boat clearance at a port will translate to proof about any of the crew, unless France sets up a system to do so.

 

[Sea Devil]

Agree with all of that, but I don’t think boat clearance at a port will translate to proof about any of the crew, unless France sets up a system to do so.

Well in most countries - all counties I have entered or left it was the Crew List on entry and departure which is attached to the boat clearance that was very important. Whey you enter any country in your boat on arrival you are required to fill out a 'crew list' the details of which are backed up by the passports of each crew member...

When you leave you go to the office with the crew list and all the passports....

BUT if one of the crew has decided to stay or to fly out then you must go with them to the office with your crew list and have them taken off the list.. otherwise you will not be able to get clearance. Some/many countries take this very seriously and big problems for the skipper of a boat that illegally lands foreigners.
That's how it works in the world and always has - Being part of the EU makes it easy for people in the EU........

 

[Goldie]

Re: Crew Lists

Is one expected to provide a completed Crew List of one’s own, or complete a Crew List proforma supplied by the office? If the former, is there a generally accepted format? Names and presumably passport numbers; anything else?

 

[sailaboutvic]

Re: Crew Lists

Is one expected to provide a completed Crew List of one’s own, or complete a Crew List proforma supplied by the office? If the former, is there a generally accepted format? Names and presumably passport numbers; anything else?

Even before we left the EU some countries wanted a crew list , I expect now we left more will ask for them when you check in .

 

[Sea Devil]

Re: Crew Lists

Is one expected to provide a completed Crew List of one’s own, or complete a Crew List proforma supplied by the office? If the former, is there a generally accepted format? Names and presumably passport numbers; anything else?

I have found a mixture of both so I used to have my own printed out and filled it out in the boat.
Mine were:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crew List

SY Bambola Quatre -
​

Port of Registry: London Registration no - Part 1 xyz1234

Last Port southampton Date of departure: 1st April 2022 Date arrival Today

CREW
Captain Michael Edwin Briant Sex - M Date of Birth 14/02/1942 Nationality: British Passport Number fr23444tyy Expiry date. 02/35
Crew one Mermaid of repute Sex - F Date of Birth 22/07/62 Nationality French Passport Number fr23444tyy Expiry date. 02/35
Crew two Mermaid of illrepute Sex - F Date of Birth 22/07/72 Nationality French Passport Number fr23444tyy Expiry date. 02/35
Crew three Mermaid of no repute Sex - F Date of Birth 22/07/72 Nationality French Passport Number fr23444tyy Expiry date. 02/35


Signed Captain Date Place

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that was the crew list I used 75% of the time... 2 copies I seem to remember one of which was stamped and returned to me.. All laid out in nice columns and rows but essentially as above.
the authorities would stamp the passports in and out...
The point being for the authorities if you could not hand them the passports as listed on the crew list when you want to leave you were in big trouble. They would not let you depart until the 'missing crew and passport were found and impose a serious fine.
If a crew member wanted to leave or join the crew then you would have to take them to the immigration office and get them officially added or removed from the crew list.
all pretty easy and straightforward and probably worth creating your own forms.

 

[TwoHooter]

The Mermaid of illrepute sounds like fun

 

[Caladh]

The Mermaid of illrepute sounds like fun

....other than her age I suppose !! Having said that ........

 

[Sea Devil]

....other than her age I suppose !! Having said that ........

Nonsense - it was her crewing abilities

 

[st599]

I have found a mixture of both so I used to have my own printed out and filled it out in the boat.
Mine were:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crew List

SY Bambola Quatre -
​

Port of Registry: London Registration no - Part 1 xyz1234

Last Port southampton Date of departure: 1st April 2022 Date arrival Today

CREW
Captain Michael Edwin Briant Sex - M Date of Birth 14/02/1942 Nationality: British Passport Number fr23444tyy Expiry date. 02/35
Crew one Mermaid of repute Sex - F Date of Birth 22/07/62 Nationality French Passport Number fr23444tyy Expiry date. 02/35
Crew two Mermaid of illrepute Sex - F Date of Birth 22/07/72 Nationality French Passport Number fr23444tyy Expiry date. 02/35
Crew three Mermaid of no repute Sex - F Date of Birth 22/07/72 Nationality French Passport Number fr23444tyy Expiry date. 02/35


Signed Captain Date Place

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that was the crew list I used 75% of the time... 2 copies I seem to remember one of which was stamped and returned to me.. All laid out in nice columns and rows but essentially as above.
the authorities would stamp the passports in and out...
The point being for the authorities if you could not hand them the passports as listed on the crew list when you want to leave you were in big trouble. They would not let you depart until the 'missing crew and passport were found and impose a serious fine.
If a crew member wanted to leave or join the crew then you would have to take them to the immigration office and get them officially added or removed from the crew list.
all pretty easy and straightforward and probably worth creating your own forms.

So what happens to those of us who change the entire crew? Some of the boats I skipper on for charities will have a new crew and skipper leaving compared to those listed who arrived.

 

[Sea Devil]

No problem - you just go to the immigration department in that country with all the passports. For the departing crew they need an valid air ticket out and with that they are removed from the crew list. Their physical presence is probably required as it is for those joining the crew they simply need the entry stamp they will have in their foreign passport and will be written onto the crew list.. simple

On the day the boat sails the skipper goes with the adjusted crew list with all the new passports and will get clearance. The crew that arrived with the boat will already have had their names deleted from the crew list. The Skipper is just a crew title like any other. You could mark someone engineer or cook or.. but it's necessary the person in charge signs and takes responsibility for the 'ships crew' but there is no reason if both are present at the office with passports for this to be exchanged

The new and old skipper would need to overlap departure dates so they can both be present at the immigration office at the same time

 

[Goldie]

Thanks all, and especially Sea Devil. I’ll make something up similar to that suggested.

 

[Ric]

I have just made the pleasant and ironical discovery that my NZ passport now grants me far more travel rights in Schengen area than my UK passport. Prior to Schengen, NZ negotiated bilateral 90 day visa free travel for just about every European country. When Schengen came along, most of these countries fortuitously forgot about these arrangements and did not close the loophole. So with an NZ passport I can stay in any Schengen or European country for 90 days, then just move to another, indefinitely, as long as I do not exceed 90/180 days in any single country. The only country which closed this loophole is Portugal. So with a bit of planning, I can spend most of the year in my house in France, three months or so sailing around Western Med, and three months in winter at my skiing abode Germany, all on my NZ passport. It does mean that I can't be as spontaneous as previously with my UK passport, and I will have to keep a lot of papers (receipts etc) to prove where I have been, but it is manageable and infinitely preferable than having to move back to Little England.

 

[Bilgediver]

So what happens to those of us who change the entire crew? Some of the boats I skipper on for charities will have a new crew and skipper leaving compared to those listed who arrived.

Ships do this all the time.... Soon get used to the red tape.

 

[Sea Devil]

for those of you like me who are French residents (not citizens and only allowed 90/180 in other EU countries) when asked what the situation would be for us when we cross into other EU countries either by road, air or sea the French Gov official said: Your passport will not be stamped in or out but we expect you on your honour to not exceed the days allowed in another EU country.

 

[starfire]

Hypothetical question.

You have both a UK passport & an Irish passport.

Is it possible you could do one 90 trip on the UK one, return & then do another 90 day trip on the Irish one, rinse & repeat ?

 

[Graham376]

for those of you like me who are French residents (not citizens and only allowed 90/180 in other EU countries) when asked what the situation would be for us when we cross into other EU countries either by road, air or sea the French Gov official said: Your passport will not be stamped in or out but we expect you on your honour to not exceed the days allowed in another EU country.

You can of course add "days in transit" to/from your country of residence to the 90 days. Whether it will be possible to spend 90 days sailing away and then 90 "in transit" back is maybe pushing luck a bit too much but technically it appears to be within the rules.

 

[Sea Devil]

You can of course add "days in transit" to/from your country of residence to the 90 days. Whether it will be possible to spend 90 days sailing away and then 90 "in transit" back is maybe pushing luck a bit too much but technically it appears to be within the rules.

The rules on travel days in and out of the EU state that the day of travel is counted as part of the 90 days -