Sea Devil
Well-known member
I think Cherbourg is special as it is the HQ for all of northern France.
Regulations for visiting France
- Thread starter boatmike
- Start date
yoda
Well-known member
Can you tell me where the Office is in Brest please? Thinking of using Brest to both check in and out of France this summer. Cheers, Yoda
Lightwave395
Well-known member
Hope this helps
The Customs office hours are 8.30am to 12.30pm Monday to Friday.
Customs is a 5 min walk from Chateau Marina.
Customs Address: 14 quai de la douane, Brest
Contact:
Phone: 09 70 27 51 56
Fax: 02 98 44 40 95
E-mail: crd-brest@douane.finances.gouv.fr
You'll need to call ahead and make an appointment
The Customs office hours are 8.30am to 12.30pm Monday to Friday.
Customs is a 5 min walk from Chateau Marina.
Customs Address: 14 quai de la douane, Brest
Contact:
Phone: 09 70 27 51 56
Fax: 02 98 44 40 95
E-mail: crd-brest@douane.finances.gouv.fr
You'll need to call ahead and make an appointment
KeelsonGraham
Well-known member
No need to make an appointment., Just turn up and the very friendly receptionist will call the appropriate people down.
As lightwave says, just a 5 min walk East from Marina du Chateau. But it’s 30 mins from Marina Moulin Blanc.
bluerm166
Well-known member
There are various references in this thread to Customs/Douane offices as providing the necessary stamp in France whereas I understood that it was a Police aux Frontieres matter.
There are more Douanes offices.ls there a more constructive approach away from the Northern ports where the PAF seem to be necessary.And is this because the Northern ports area bears the brunt of the refugee crossing issue.
There are more Douanes offices.ls there a more constructive approach away from the Northern ports where the PAF seem to be necessary.And is this because the Northern ports area bears the brunt of the refugee crossing issue.
yoda
Well-known member
Thank you.
Bathdave
Well-known member
A wide range of secondary ports in Normandy have just now reached a deal with Customs that they can accept entry from outside Schengen, via an emailed PAF
Dielette has issued the following e-mail, which appears to apply to
IN LA MANCHE :
Port Diélette
Port-bail
IN LE CALVADOS :
Deauville-Trouville
Courseulles-sur-Mer
Dives/Mer – Cabourg – Houlgate
Grandcamp-Maisy
Isigny/Mer
Port-en-Bessin
Dear Yachtmen,
We are very pleased to inform you that La Manche and Le Calvados Customs have just decided to make Brexit procedure more flexible for unofficial border crossing points like Port Dielette.
It is, indeed, now possible for pleasure boats coming from a port outside Schengen area to arrive at and leave directly an unofficial border crossing point
For Dielette, just sending the editable form attached (new one) to the Harbour office : portdielette@lecotentin.fr, 24 hrs before arriving and just before departure in case of a less 24 hrs stay (for longer stays, 24hrs minimum). The form will then be transmitted by us to Port Authorities and Customs.
You'll find, attached to this mail, one form called " Dielette" that you can use to come to our marina ; and another one called "others", that you can fill to visit another concerned marina.
Port Diélette
Le Bureau du Port
Dielette has issued the following e-mail, which appears to apply to
IN LA MANCHE :
Port Diélette
Port-bail
IN LE CALVADOS :
Deauville-Trouville
Courseulles-sur-Mer
Dives/Mer – Cabourg – Houlgate
Grandcamp-Maisy
Isigny/Mer
Port-en-Bessin
Dear Yachtmen,
We are very pleased to inform you that La Manche and Le Calvados Customs have just decided to make Brexit procedure more flexible for unofficial border crossing points like Port Dielette.
It is, indeed, now possible for pleasure boats coming from a port outside Schengen area to arrive at and leave directly an unofficial border crossing point
For Dielette, just sending the editable form attached (new one) to the Harbour office : portdielette@lecotentin.fr, 24 hrs before arriving and just before departure in case of a less 24 hrs stay (for longer stays, 24hrs minimum). The form will then be transmitted by us to Port Authorities and Customs.
You'll find, attached to this mail, one form called " Dielette" that you can use to come to our marina ; and another one called "others", that you can fill to visit another concerned marina.
Port Diélette
Le Bureau du Port
Pam W
New member
This is great news and timely for us as we are in Carentan. Not one of the Normandy ports listed but close to Isigny. I wonder whether, if you can email a form, whether it can be emailed from anywhere? I have the form on my phone.
Lightwave395
Well-known member
How does that deal with getting a stamp in the passport ?
Bathdave
Well-known member
You don’t get one
I’ve been to st Malo on a couple of yacht club organised trips, we arranged with local customs that we submitted PAFs and home-scanned copies of passports ..I presume they entered the details on their computer but no stamp in or out in our passports
as I understand it, the computer record is the definitive one, the stamp in the passport a secondary record and evidence for a random inspection
Bathdave
Well-known member
ps I believe that this is not a general entry to Schengen or even France but a specific entry and exit from that secondary port, designed to accommodate short term visitors travelling from and back to U.K.
Pam W
New member
The charming man who runs the port in Carentan assures me that sending the departure/arrival forms by email is entirely acceptable and can be done from anywhere. I shall take his word for it.
eebygum
Active member
Apologies if this has been covered somewhere else which I’ve missed, but my brain has turned to mush trying to keep up to date on this.
If I’m departing Scilly Isles for Brittany/French Atlantic is Brest my best and only option as port of entry to complete paperwork ? …..Could I complete the documentation from L’Abervrac’h ?
I’m less bothered about getting the passport stamped as we are only away a month; more just gettingour entry registered.
I really don’t want to head down to Roscoff unless the winds are pushing us down that way.
Thanks in advance.
ashtead
Well-known member
Anyone else experienced arriving by ferry into st Malo and collecting stamp in and exiting by yacht- seems the local process is rather thrown by not having a return ticket on ferry but curious if others tried this?
Daydream believer
Well-known member
Surely the important thing is to get one's departure stamp so that the 90 days does not go on ticking & cause hassle at a later date
Slowboat35
Well-known member
Emailing the Preavis form.
To whom?
Is it required to address it to the port you are entering, and if so how does one find the email address?
When I visited Calais last month the skipper sent the forms to the Cherbourg address which seems to be the regional HQ (and the only one I've found too) but as neither we nor any of the other 20 odd boats there saw an offcial all weekend it didn't seem too critical.
To whom?
Is it required to address it to the port you are entering, and if so how does one find the email address?
When I visited Calais last month the skipper sent the forms to the Cherbourg address which seems to be the regional HQ (and the only one I've found too) but as neither we nor any of the other 20 odd boats there saw an offcial all weekend it didn't seem too critical.
Birdseye
Well-known member
This thread shows a bureaucratic nightmare and a damn good reason for not going to France.
Are the British regs on return to be taken seriously? I never previously bothered wherever I was coming from
Are the British regs on return to be taken seriously? I never previously bothered wherever I was coming from
ashtead
Well-known member
The important thing might be not to be somewhere that you can get an entry stamp eg cherbourg after 6pm or say st case,st quay etc so you don’t have to track down someone to give you an exit stamp.
Fr J Hackett
Well-known member
This was included in todays news
Post-Brexit travel rules mean British nationals may stay in the Schengen zone for no more than 90 out of any 180-day period. Until a fully automated border system is operational, passport stamps are now required at most entry and exit points, significantly increasing processing times.
The British Foreign Office is advising travellers to mainland Europe to get their passports stamped, noting that if “relevant entry or exit stamps are not in your passport, a border officer may presume you have overstayed your visa-free limit”.
Post-Brexit travel rules mean British nationals may stay in the Schengen zone for no more than 90 out of any 180-day period. Until a fully automated border system is operational, passport stamps are now required at most entry and exit points, significantly increasing processing times.
The British Foreign Office is advising travellers to mainland Europe to get their passports stamped, noting that if “relevant entry or exit stamps are not in your passport, a border officer may presume you have overstayed your visa-free limit”.
ashtead
Well-known member
First find your border officer -certainly few at Dover apparently. To be serious most ports are just not geared up based on recent experience and the tunnel etc isn’t designed for controls etc for travellers I guess.
