Sailing to the USA. Do I need a special visa?

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I have been offered the opportunity to join a lovely, privately owned yacht that is sailing from Antigua to Florida. It's a US-flagged sailing boat and I am a UK resident and passport holder. Someone told me I should have a B1/B2 visa to do this, but I won't be able to get one in time. It's not a paid job, so can I enter with an ESTA? I would love to hear what you think, and in particular, if anyone has first-hand experience of arriving by yacht with an ESTA. :-)
 
I had the pleasure of a five hour "voluntary" interview 20 years ago after my skipper hadn't realised I needed a visa to enter Puerto Rico - after which I had to leave pronto anyway. I wouldn't take any risk at all now. Either get the right visa or find something else to do - there is zero wiggle room.
 
Minerva said:
B1/B2 visa
5 years social media history and passwords (this forum will count too)
Your DNA sample
Biometrics

If it were me, you couldn’t pay me to go.
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My wife and I got B1/B2 visas fairly recently and we certainly didn’t have to supply DNA. Biometrics are taken by many countries including some European ones. I don’t think there’s anything sinister in it as far as I’m concerned but I know opinions differ. Depends what you intend to do I guess? The social media background check is being talked about but I don’t believe it’s been instigated yet. Of course I may be wrong and I frequently am. Ask my wife.

For the OP I believe the only other way of sailing into the USA on a private yacht is to call in the British Virgin Islands and get a commercial ferry across to the US Virgin Islands where they will process your ESTA Visa as you’re on an ‘official carrier’. You can then get to the ferryback to the British Virgin Islands and sail into the USA. At least that’s what I’ve been told by others. As mentioned above both my wife and I have B1 B2 visas so entered US Waters using those.

How long is the wait for an interview at the US embassy? When we booked an interviewed we were virtually waved through and our passports with B1/B2 visas arrived a couple of days later. In fact, talk about profiling, we were actually pulled out of the queue and processed quickly.
 
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When you apply for the B1, B2 online there is a tiny check box that you check for the rapid service. You will have to go to London for an interview (I assume you are British). You can get one within a week if ticked and can justify it, I used the fast service for mine.
 
My 1970 passport has a B1&B2 US visa, valid indefinitely, obtained for a business trip. My 1980 passport has a note from the passport office mentioning this, and saying the visa is meant to continue to be valid even though that passport has been cancelled. Nevertheless there is a fresh visa in the subsequent passport, and the "B1" has been crossed out, though I don't know why.

I, together with the rest of the two crew, got a B1/B2 visa valid for ~10 years, to sail a flotilla yacht from BVI to USVI in 2001.
 
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mjcoon said:
My 1970 passport has a B1&B2 US visa, valid indefinitely, obtained for a business trip. My 1980 passport has a note from the passport office mentioning this, and saying the visa is meant to continue to be valid even though that passport has been cancelled. Nevertheless there is a fresh visa in the subsequent passport, and the "B1" has been crossed out, though I don't know why.

I, together with the rest of the two crew, got a B1/B2 visa valid for ~10 years, to sail a flotilla yacht from BVI to USVI in 2001.
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My first B1/B2 visas were 'indefinite', 85 and 95, but I believe they are now for the life of the passport only
 
Friends were able to cruise on an ESTA a couple of years ago but they stressed to me that they later found out that this shouldn't have been possible, and they strongly advised me to not attempt to do the same.

Rules seem to be open to interpretation by individual officers, and some can clearly be quite overzealous (another friend was hauled over the coals in Maine for not possessing a form that he should have filled out five months earlier in Florida. None of the intervening states seemed to care about it).

We had to go down to London for our B1/B2 interviews, which was all very straightforward in the end.

Watching warily about the social media inquisition. I'm sure I've only ever said completely true and honest things about Dear Leader so I should be fine. Shouldn't I??
 
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