VAT free in Europe?

chrisrjcox said:
Why wouldn't people just take the options as a fun trip, and dock into a non-EU marina for one night, and go back? Seems so simple, but again it depends on what your a re doing with your life, if you are trying to live in the EU, while pretending you are a EU citizen, then you have to change your mindset and change your nationality.

When I say "you" I don't mean "you" specifically :)
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A lot of us are based in the Western Med.
You say that location doesn't matter too much to you and if you are planning on travelling around, I agree with you.
But quite a lot of us have "set down roots" in our parts of the Med.
So trying to find a non-EU country locally is quite an issue.
The nearest for us would probably be Tunisia - been there - done that - horrible place.
Also think about the economics - a round trip fro my boat to Tunisia (or even Algeria if I could get insurance) and back costs.
Fuel alone would be something in the region of £10 return.
So, I think your requirements are quite different from a lot of us who keep our boats in the SoF, Spain and the Balearics.
Hope that make sense.
 
Hurricane said:
A lot of us are based in the Western Med.
You say that location doesn't matter too much to you and if you are planning on travelling around, I agree with you.
But quite a lot of us have "set down roots" in our parts of the Med.
So trying to find a non-EU country locally is quite an issue.
The nearest for us would probably be Tunisia - been there - done that - horrible place.
Also think about the economics - a round trip fro my boat to Tunisia (or even Algeria if I could get insurance) and back costs.
Fuel alone would be something in the region of £10 return.
So, I think your requirements are quite different from a lot of us who keep our boats in the SoF, Spain and the Balearics.
Hope that make sense.
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thanks Hurricane,

I think one other issue is that I just realised this is a motor boat forum and we will be in a sail boat. but £10 return sounds good? hehe. I think I know what you mean about Tunisia, went there about 20 years ago, probably not changed. I do agree that travelling around the Spainish/islands and SoF is a difficult thing to do under the 90/180 rules, so would look into some form of visa extension for a further period.
 
julians said:
yep , we have just bought a new boat to keep in mallorca - will be paying VAT.
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I'll buy a (second hand) boat with or without VAT which ever meets the requirements :) You must be rich buying a new boat, but of course to buy "new" I would expect you to pay the VAT as the first owner :)
 
James L said:
You probably need professional advice on that one.
You need to be sure the UK counts as your country of residence even if you're not returning there regularly. Plus you will likely be dealing with a lot of different tax systems.
You won't have to worry about the 18 months as you'll have to be out of the EU after 90 days. It might make your Journey problematic if you want to travel the Med and have to leave the EU for 3 months out of every 6.
You might be better off looking for a Visa to an EU country and buy an EU vat paid boat and be free to spend as long as you want in EU waters.
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I think I will need to get a Poseidon Passport.
 
chrisrjcox said:
thanks Hurricane,

I think one other issue is that I just realised this is a motor boat forum and we will be in a sail boat. but £10 return sounds good? hehe. I think I know what you mean about Tunisia, went there about 20 years ago, probably not changed. I do agree that travelling around the Spainish/islands and SoF is a difficult thing to do under the 90/180 rules, so would look into some form of visa extension for a further period.
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Don't worry about this being a motor boat forum.
Quite a few of us on here are converted yachties anyway.
In our home marina we have no distinction - yachties or mobos - we all enjoy a party!!!

Yep 90/180
At the moment, we can't really expect any changes - Covid rules mean we will be lucky to even do one day!!!
But in the long term, I am expecting/hoping some form of visa or a change to the Schengen rules to allow us 180 days.
The spirit of the Brexit agreement was that if we offered something the other side should do something similar.
I believe that we allow EU residents 180 days in the UK so it only seems fair that the deal should be replicated the other way.
That said, I believe that individual EU countries have the power to introduce their own visas as they see fit.
So I am hoping the France and Spain will allow some kind of visa to allow UK residents to spend their money on their villas and boats in those countries.
I guess there are people who will say something like "don't hold your breath" but I am quietly confident that we will get something after all this Covid stuff has passed.
If not, I will work within the 90/180 day rule and Spain won't get as much of my "hard earned" as it has in the past.
 
Hurricane said:
Don't worry about this being a motor boat forum.
Quite a few of us on here are converted yachties anyway.
In our home marina we have no distinction - yachties or mobos - we all enjoy a party!!!

Yep 90/180
At the moment, we can't really expect any changes - Covid rules mean we will be lucky to even do one day!!!
But in the long term, I am expecting/hoping some form of visa or a change to the Schengen rules to allow us 180 days.
The spirit of the Brexit agreement was that if we offered something the other side should do something similar.
I believe that we allow EU residents 180 days in the UK so it only seems fair that the deal should be replicated the other way.
That said, I believe that individual EU countries have the power to introduce their own visas as they see fit.
So I am hoping the France and Spain will allow some kind of visa to allow UK residents to spend their money on their villas and boats in those countries.
I guess there are people who will say something like "don't hold your breath" but I am quietly confident that we will get something after all this Covid stuff has passed.
If not, I will work within the 90/180 day rule and Spain won't get as much of my "hard earned" as it has in the past.
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The EU did offer but the UK rejected the 180 days in the EU for it's subjects.
France allows a 1 year tourist visa but I believe you can apply for it to add to the end of the 90 Schengen stay, hopefully other countries will do the same.

I'm still awaiting my residency in Belgium and cannot return to the UK until I get it, even then the passport control is stamping those that have a "Withdrawal Agreement" residency even though they now resident in Belgium, we are waiting to see how that is going to affect the people moving about the EU after they have been in the EU for 90 days.
The govt. here says that the passport should not be stamped, but they still are being, and they also say that it won't affect the 90 days in the rest of the EU but we will see. :)
 
Hurricane said:
That must have been part of the negotiations.
I don't think 180 days was ever offered on its own.
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Yeah I think there were strings attached, not got any links to it at the moment, just my memory of what was going on at the time as to how it would affect my EU wife and myself.

DavidJ said:
This is the closest I’ve got to a gov response
Petition: Lobby to negotiate equal visa rights for U.K. citizens with property in EU area
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Signed that too
 
Hurricane said:
That must have been part of the negotiations.
I don't think 180 days was ever offered on its own.
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The EU statement on this was that they were able to extend to 180 in 360 for all UK citizens and all trade sectors if the UK reciprocated for all EU citizens and sectors. The current UK 180 in 360 visa-free access is not available to all EU citizens. You can look on the UK Gov website to see which it excludes.
 
chrisrjcox said:
thanks Hurricane,

I think one other issue is that I just realised this is a motor boat forum and we will be in a sail boat. but £10 return sounds good? hehe. I think I know what you mean about Tunisia, went there about 20 years ago, probably not changed. I do agree that travelling around the Spainish/islands and SoF is a difficult thing to do under the 90/180 rules, so would look into some form of visa extension for a further period.
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There are very limited visa extensions to a Schengen Visa or Visa Waiver - Humanitarian, Force Majeure or Death of a Family member. You would need to get a single country tourist visa which a) not all EU states allow and b) normally can only be issued in you home country. As you wouldn't be staying in a hotel, the cash reserves needed would be quite high - 120 Euros per person per day in France.
 
st599 said:
The EU statement on this was that they were able to extend to 180 in 360 for all UK citizens and all trade sectors if the UK reciprocated for all EU citizens and sectors. The current UK 180 in 360 visa-free access is not available to all EU citizens. You can look on the UK Gov website to see which it excludes.
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I think the EU offer included work rights, so you could go to the EU to work for 6 months visa free and vice versa, but the UK rejected this.
 
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