Visiting France - an update

[doug748]

So, going back to basics, if I email the forms to Cherbourg marina, do I still have to get passports stamped? If so whats the point of the new forms process?

So people can go conveniently to and from other places.
Places that have no formal customs facilities .

The info is out there if you can ignore the cartloads of red herring.

.

 

[wonkywinch]

If you are eligible to use the email system, you do not need your passport(s) stamped. As you suggest, that is the whole point of having it.
BUT you can only leave via another port operating the ‘local’ system. Therefore worth checking, with your list of likely departure ports, that they do. (More reliable than a published list, in a moving situation, I’ve found).

I entered via Treguier (email) and exited via St Malo (they stamped me in and out) so I have a Treguier in stamped paper then a stamp in at St Malo (a week later) then a stamp out next day. My time in Schengen therefore longer than my passport stamps indicate.

I heard the email forms get entered on the Schengen system so your 90 day clock (if applicable) starts ticking.

 

[John_Silver]

Wonder how joined up that e mail system really is, across the Departements and different Douanes / PAF juristrictions?

 

[lustyd]

So, going back to basics, if I email the forms to Cherbourg marina, do I still have to get passports stamped? If so whats the point of the new forms process?

Yes to email and yes to passports (in your case, as it's not a pleasure vessel). They will guide you through the process, it helps to have a French speaker if possible otherwise take a phone with translation app.
The point of the new process is to get the details to them ahead of time, and to allow easy transit of pleasure vessels (private trips with nobody getting paid) for short trips to smaller ports. It really is a great process and a good step forwards.

Regardless, the officers are all extremely helpful and will ensure you get it done so don't be afraid. Make sure all young people have passports and parental consent letters and you'll be OK.

 

[st599]

I heard the email forms get entered on the Schengen system so your 90 day clock (if applicable) starts ticking.

It hasn't started operating yet.

 

[lustyd]

It hasn't started operating yet.

It has, just not the electronic version the public interacts with. The database has been there and running for a while and collecting data in one form or another

 

[Oyster 49]

So, we will send the correct form before leaving Portsmouth, enter Cherbourg and hopefully get stamped at the marina at 1030 prompt and then leave for Ouistreham or Honfleur. Then over to Dieppe where we will stamp out at the Ferry office. Simple!

 

[John_Silver]

So, we will send the correct form before leaving Portsmouth, enter Cherbourg and hopefully get stamped at the marina at 1030 prompt and then leave for Ouistreham or Honfleur. Then over to Dieppe where we will stamp out at the Ferry office. Simple!

Enjoy your trip. All these post-B ‘formalities’ seem far less daunting in real life, dealing with pragmatic welcoming people, than they sound written down!

 

[st599]

So, we will send the correct form before leaving Portsmouth, enter Cherbourg and hopefully get stamped at the marina at 1030 prompt and then leave for Ouistreham or Honfleur. Then over to Dieppe where we will stamp out at the Ferry office. Simple!

Plus the other raft of forms for leaving and entering the UK. The reentry one is particularly fun as it can ask the skipper to check the validity of passports (with a 149 page guide) or tell you not to bring your crew in to the UK.

 

[lustyd]

Plus the other raft of forms for leaving and entering the UK. The reentry one is particularly fun as it can ask the skipper to check the validity of passports (with a 149 page guide) or tell you not to bring your crew in to the UK.

It’s one form on a web page. It’ll be tedious adding so many passport details but aside from that not too taxing. Skipper was always responsible for who they bring in, this is better as they check the passport details for you before you bring people in.

 

[Boathook]

Plus the other raft of forms for leaving and entering the UK. The reentry one is particularly fun as it can ask the skipper to check the validity of passports (with a 149 page guide) or tell you not to bring your crew in to the UK.

For my return trip I created a draft and it checked those I had put on the form. The final click of the button would submit the form as a live passage plan. Another option is to submit the form early with a suitable date and then cancel it.

Their passports looked ok to me, but if professionals at airports, etc struggle with passports how do they expect mere mortals to tell when they only see a passport a couple of times a year.

 

[lustyd]

Their passports looked ok to me, but if professionals at airports, etc struggle with passports how do they expect mere mortals to tell when they only see a passport a couple of times a year.

It doesn't really matter. Your job is to submit their details and passport number, and to be confident the person you have on your boat is the person in the picture. Their job is to check the details and passport are valid and the person is granted entry.
If you don't feel comfortable that the stranger in front of you is the one in the picture, don't take a stranger on your boat. For most of us it's a non issue as we know who our crew are.

 

[st599]

It doesn't really matter. Your job is to submit their details and passport number, and to be confident the person you have on your boat is the person in the picture. Their job is to check the details and passport are valid and the person is granted entry.
If you don't feel comfortable that the stranger in front of you is the one in the picture, don't take a stranger on your boat. For most of us it's a non issue as we know who our crew are.

They've added a separate stage where the skipper can be told to check the passport validity.

 

[lustyd]

They've added a separate stage where the skipper can be told to check the passport validity.

The skipper cannot check passport validity other than expiry, they just enter details (which will obviously include checking dates). If the dates are wrong then border force will flag that it's expired anyway when they do their checks. Nobody has suggested otherwise, don't overthink the system.

 

[st599]

The skipper cannot check passport validity other than expiry, they just enter details (which will obviously include checking dates). If the dates are wrong then border force will flag that it's expired anyway when they do their checks. Nobody has suggested otherwise, don't overthink the system.

I've been on a club boat this year where the automatic check (that started in April) replied asking the skipper to check the validity of a passport and visa, including a PDF of how to do it.

 

[lustyd]

I'd be curious to see that pdf. Unless it's asking to check dates I can't imagine what the skipper would even be checking against

 

[st599]

I'd be curious to see that pdf. Unless it's asking to check dates I can't imagine what the skipper would even be checking against

Guidance on examining identity documents (accessible)

The big problem is that this change was disseminated via a single zoom call to which only RYA affiliates were invited - and then the invite arrived 5 days before and was held during office hours

 

[lustyd]

That might be useful with someone you don’t trust, but I can’t imagine many of us would have people aboard on a passage if we felt the need to look for random security fibres in the passport. I might use that as a way to build trust if I had unknown crew so a useful resource.

 

[st599]

That might be useful with someone you don’t trust, but I can’t imagine many of us would have people aboard on a passage if we felt the need to look for random security fibres in the passport. I might use that as a way to build trust if I had unknown crew so a useful resource.

Not sure it's up to you to trust them or not. The new system does a check against Home Office databases and replies for each person on board that they're free to enter the UK, must have their paperwork checked against the document linked or be off-loaded.

(Remember "Pleasure craft" legally include boats owned by clubs or employers for use by member/employees - so in some circumstances, people you've never met)

 

[guernseyman]

I thought for a moment that autocorrect had done something odd with Gravelines…


I assume that with the new system if one enters France and then sails up the coast to Belgium or Holland then it’s essential to check out of France and check in via whatever method is appropriate in those countries.

The scheme is based not in France but in the Schengen area, so you do not need to check out of France.

By the way, in my wanderings in the Bay of St Malo I have never had my passport stamped, and never had any document back. Although the authorities somewhere phoned my most recent exit port 3 times to complain about my data, and then phoned a fourth time to say they had confused my boat with another.