Leaving and entering schengen countries Passport Question

theWAFU

theWAFU

New Member
Joined
14 Dec 2009
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Eynsford , Kent
www.thewafu.com
I intend to fly to Spain then depart for corsica (France ) and sardinia (Italy) then to Corfu (greece) . Do I need to get my passport stamped on arrival in each country . whilst at sea 3 days transiting between Spain and France , Italy and Greece . does that count as part of my 180 days ? Perhaps people may know . PS i am a sailboat 13.5m
 
theWAFU said:
I intend to fly to Spain then depart for corsica (France ) and sardinia (Italy) then to Corfu (greece) . Do I need to get my passport stamped on arrival in each country . whilst at sea 3 days transiting between Spain and France , Italy and Greece . does that count as part of my 180 days ? Perhaps people may know . PS i am a sailboat 13.5m
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Yes, if you wish to avoid having the (whole) days at sea taken into account when calculating the 90/180 Schengen rule. Both the date of departure and date of arrival are automatically part of the calculation. It would only be the whole days in between that could be 'saved' for use later should you need them. The boat is irrelevant - it's your time in the Schengen area that matters, not the boat's.

(Edit: Hi & welcome!)
 
syvictoria said:
Yes, if you wish to avoid having the (whole) days at sea taken into account when calculating the 90/180 Schengen rule. Both the date of departure and date of arrival are automatically part of the calculation. It would only be the whole days in between that could be 'saved' for use later should you need them. The boat is irrelevant - it's your time in the Schengen area that matters, not the boat's.

(Edit: Hi & welcome!)
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Does anchoring in a bay off corsica count without going ashore count too , passage planning now has to account for customs opening hours .
 
My understanding is that passports are stamped as you enter and leave the shenghen area. So if you exit/enter each time correctly then time spent at sea does not count. BUT that would make it too easy for Med cruisers! Maybe ask the RYA or CA : this isn't unusual situation.
 
theWAFU said:
Does anchoring in a bay off corsica count without going ashore count too , passage planning now has to account for customs opening hours .
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In theory such days could be saved too, as anyone inspecting your passport (or electronic records soon) at a later date would only see the stamps/dates when you officially entered and exited the Schengen area. They wouldn't know whether you were anchored or sailing slowly on the days in between.

Whether you can avoid the local border control whilst at anchor would be another matter and possibly down to luck on the day!
 
wallacebob said:
My understanding is that passports are stamped as you enter and leave the shenghen area. So if you exit/enter each time correctly then time spent at sea does not count. BUT that would make it too easy for Med cruisers! Maybe ask the RYA or CA : this isn't unusual situation.
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I think actually finding somewhere to get the required stamp is perhaps going to be the main difficulty.
 
I agree that passport controllers will probably not even be aware , I will let you know how I get on . it will certainly try planning to spend the other 90 days in Albania Montenegro and Croatia in 21 and hope this blows over in 22
 
theWAFU said:
I agree that passport controllers will probably not even be aware , I will let you know how I get on . it will certainly try planning to spend the other 90 days in Albania Montenegro and Croatia in 21 and hope this blows over in 22
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It may be plan 'B', but Albania, Montenegro and Croatia look great! Do definitely let us know how you get on. I hope that you can get away - it's not looking like it's going to be very easy at the mo. My own boat's in NL and we were hoping to cruise on this year. We can but keep our fingers crossed and look at the bigger picture... Good luck!
 
theWAFU said:
I agree that passport controllers will probably not even be aware , I will let you know how I get on . it will certainly try planning to spend the other 90 days in Albania Montenegro and Croatia in 21 and hope this blows over in 22
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Be aware that it looks like Croatia will be joining Schengen sometime soon (but AFAIK no date yet set), so may get more tricky.
 
Formally, are you not supposed to enter and exit through official ports of entry to find the immigration and customs officers to do passport stamping. Fly a Q flag and all that.
I guess if you fly the Q flag in a remote anchorage, nobody is likely to come looking. Going ashore would be frowned on.
 
Do you think as soon as a re ensign is sighted that custom officers are going to be jumping into rib to check you out , some how I don't think so , considering the amount of British boats in the med and some will have crew on boat that have dual nationality or are EU citizen , too much in my eyes is being made of this .
There was worry on the first of Jan custom officers will be visiting boats in marinas to check people have checked in , so far this asnt happen in our marina or in Ragusa and between the two there another 3 world country sailor to keep custom officers going for a month of Sundays .
My take on this is you be very unlucky to anchor in a bay without checking in and being picked on because your flying a red ensign no more some one from NZ , china or the US .
The exception is Croatia and that's not because of the 90/180 day Schengen rules.
There been ways of extending the 90 days and many 3rd world sailor been using for many year , but I can't see many Brits doing so as it mean s bending the rules and we all know how much we Brits like rules :)
 
sailaboutvic said:
Do you think as soon as a re ensign is sighted that custom officers are going to be jumping into rib to check you out , some how I don't think so , considering the amount of British boats in the med and some will have crew on boat that have dual nationality or are EU citizen , too much in my eyes is being made of this .
There was worry on the first of Jan custom officers will be visiting boats in marinas to check people have checked in , so far this asnt happen in our marina or in Ragusa and between the two there another 3 world country sailor to keep custom officers going for a month of Sundays .
My take on this is you be very unlucky to anchor in a bay without checking in and being picked on because your flying a red ensign no more some one from NZ , china or the US .
The exception is Croatia and that's not because of the 90/180 day Schengen rules.
There been ways of extending the 90 days and many 3rd world sailor been using for many year , but I can't see many Brits doing so as it mean s bending the rules and we all know how much we Brits like rules :)
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So long as full lockdown in force - no movements, no checks.

When you enter a marina, they check you in.

If you arrive and just drop anchor, the maritime police, will drop by and note your presence and MAY stop off for a few details - in all probability won’t.

Same procedures for EU and non-EU citizens so post 31/12/20 nothing needs to change.
 
RAI said:
Formally, are you supposed to enter and exit through official ports of entry to find the immigration and customs officers to do passport stamping. Fly a Q flag and all that.
I guess if you fly the Q flag in a remote anchorage, nobody is likely to come looking. Going ashore would be frowned on.
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If you are in a remote anchorage, you may well have to go ashore to login to the country.
 
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nortada said:
So long as full lockdown in force - no movements, no checks.

When you enter a marina, they check you in.

If you arrive and just drop anchor, the maritime police, will drop by and note your presence and MAY stop off for a few details - in all probability won’t.

Same procedures for EU and non-EU citizens so post 31/12/20 nothing needs to change.
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This is our experience and no bull sh@T
Just the last two years we done the same route left Sicily , off shore Italians islands , Sardinia , cross to the west coast of Italy croas to Corsica, South of France then return back Corsica ,Sardinia Malta before ended back in Sicily , only one time did we have anything to do with officials, Oibla Sardinia when they wanted up to pay for two night on the harbour wall , no passaports of boat papers involved , just 15 Euros and we have to go to the coast guard to pay, if we didn't go on the wall we wouldn't had any dealing with officials.
I don't expect that to chance .
The first part of the trip was just before Europe opened up as we was allowed to sail within the Italian region .

I'm in no doubts people who want to use marinas will have a different experience but that's there choice .
Tho who sail to Greece will have a problem because you have to pay the tax and there be a record your in the EU .
Malta not interested , you can stay as long as you like , they will only stamp a crew list , passport are not stamp .
If that chances this year it's any body guess .
Croatia isn't part of the Schengen s o no problem there.
Portugal could be a problem although it's been some time we sailed there and when we did it was only up the river G we had visit by the spainish and Portuguese police in the same boat , Nortada and Graham would be more of a expert on Portugal.

Here the deal which I will stand by , the first time we are approached by the coast guard , or port police I will report here on a new thread .
It will happen at some point it be interesting to see when .
We have quite a large red ensign .
 
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sailaboutvic said:
This is our experience and no bull sh@T
Just the last two years we done the same route left Sicily , off shore Italians islands , Sardinia , cross to the west coast of Italy croas to Corsica, South of France then return back Corsica ,Sardinia Malta before ended back in Sicily , only one time did we have anything to do with officials, Oibla Sardinia when they wanted up to pay for two night on the harbour wall , no passaports of boat papers involved , just 15 Euros and we have to go to the coast guard to pay, if we didn't go on the wall we wouldn't had any dealing with officials.
I don't expect that to chance .
The first part of the trip was just before Europe opened up as we was allowed to sail within the Italian region .

I'm in no doubts people who want to use marinas will have a different experience but that's there choice .
Tho who sail to Greece will have a problem because you have to pay the tax and there be a record your in the EU .
Malta not interested , you can stay as long as you like , they will only stamp a crew list , passport are not stamp .
If that chances this year it's any body guess .
Croatia isn't part of the Schengen s o no problem there.
Portugal could be a problem although it's been some time we sailed there and when we did it was only up the river G we had visit by the spainish and Portuguese police in the same boat , Nortada and Graham would be more of a expert on Portugal.

Here the deal which I will stand by , the first time we are approached by the coast guard , or port police I will report here on a new thread .
It will happen at some point it be interesting to see when .
We have quite a large red ensign .
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Pre-2020 we would often go to marinas whilst transiting countries and after leaving Croatia (with all the exit formalities) we had no border police or any questions or any form filling in mainland Italy, Aeolian Islands, Sicily, Sardinia, Balearics, Mainland Spain or Gibralter. Next place we had any questions was Morocco, and no questions or border police in the Canaries.

Post 2020 let’s see what happens but we won’t really be affected by the Schengen stuff.
 
theWAFU said:
I did write to the croatian embassy and they were very welcoming for all our Euros and Pounds . of course turkey will probably be the same .
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Turkey are welcoming, and ere very nice people in my view much nicer then the Greeks the problem going to be that Brits are now going to head for Tukey to get out of the EU and they know. This .
I can see prices going up , we asked for a winter 6 months contract for next winter and was told it be just under 2K€Euros that as going up a lot ,
we still thinking of heading out of the Med and spend winter in Portugal or the Canaries.
 
RupertW said:
Pre-2020 we would often go to marinas whilst transiting countries and after leaving Croatia (with all the exit formalities) we had no border police or any questions or any form filling in mainland Italy, Aeolian Islands, Sicily, Sardinia, Balearics, Mainland Spain or Gibralter. Next place we had any questions was Morocco, and no questions or border police in the Canaries.

Post 2020 let’s see what happens but we won’t really be affected by the Schengen stuff.
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Brits are expecting thing to chance because we out of the EU , custom will be pounce on us left right and centre.

all other third world sailor experience what I just posted then not been pounced on so why should it all change just because we left the EU .
I don't believe there going to be much different, for sure tho who want to go into marinas and on harbour will have a much higher chance of being approached by the port police but that's always been the same .
 
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