Visiting France for the first time.... Documentation

franksingleton said:
From the CA, I understand, you download a form from your destination port. Complete and Email it to them 24+ hours before arrival. They forward it to a port of entry. You get a confirmation in lieu of a stamped passport. You can leave the same way. If there is a crew change, inform Douane St Brieuc. Ports are Saint-Cast,Saint-Quay, Lézardrieux, Tréguier,Trébeurden
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Hi Frank

Thanks, yes I saw that from the CA. It's fine if you are just going into France, or in some cases I believe just certain regions in France, but if you need to enter Schengen then a passport stamp is needed. For example entering France and leaving from Belgium.

Regarding a crew change, if the departing crew have an entry stamp I'I personally would want to make sure they got an exit stamp as well to make sure that there were no issues later

David
 
After a good hour of failed Googling:

Has anyone managed to discover where one might download the préavis form for Dunkirk, or indeed the address to email it to? Alternatively, an editable version of a generic préavis would be a great find, as all links for other ports that I can find seem only to have PDF versions of the form and we don't have a printer aboard.

All Ramsgate - Dunkirk passage planning advice also graciously received.
 
Poecheng said:
Aware of visits to boats in Belgium both today and a couple of weeks ago when Belgian customs (not the passport peeps) wanted the certificate for the boat's radio equipment on board (Ofcom) and not just your personal certificate.
So in Belgium: Ships Radio Licence, Personal Radio Certificate, Yacht Registration and yacht insurance were being sought by customs.
Aware of three visits to boats by Belgian Customs in last few weeks and in each case (one of which I saw them taking diesel testing equipment with them) they did not test for red diesel.
Not intended to put anyone off visiting Belgium - quite the opposite: their officials are very pleasant and helpful overall.
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The Belgians
A nation of bureaucrats .
 
franksingleton said:
From the CA, I understand, you download a form from your destination port. Complete and Email it to them 24+ hours before arrival. They forward it to a port of entry. You get a confirmation in lieu of a stamped passport. You can leave the same way. If there is a crew change, inform Douane St Brieuc. Ports are Saint-Cast,Saint-Quay, Lézardrieux, Tréguier,Trébeurden
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Don't you have to depart from the same one you arrive at if it's not a port of entry, pretty limited.
 
Two Fish - suggest that you search for previous posts on Dunkerque that describe the difficulty of entering Schengen there.
There is a different climate in the constructive North West ports who do not have the contentious immigrant issue that sours our relations with the Northern Ports.I believe that this affects the administration rather than the general population .One can understand this.
There is similar wording in the preavis forms that are produced by specific ports so I have previously carried a completed form with me to Dunkerque - for want of anything better - and struck out the named port so as to be seen making an attempt to comply..
But the killer issue is that the PAF office in Dunkerque is inside the Western ferry port whilst you will enter the Eastern port where the marinas are,about 8 Nm away by boat and longer by land.
It has been suggested that a taxi is taken from the marina to Loon Plage where the office serving the ferry vehicle traffic is situated.
If anybody has done this perhaps they could speak up and describe their experience.
I attempted to use the comprehensive free bus service from the stop just outside the Grand Large marina to get to Loon Plage but it appears that the necessary service has been reduced if not cancelled.One can again understand this.
I might on another occasion ,finding myself in the nearer Gravelines,have a go at taking a taxi from there.
For the time being and in fair weather I will continue to use Nieuwpoort for first entry.
 
bluerm166 said:
But the killer issue is that the PAF office in Dunkerque is inside the Western ferry port whilst you will enter the Eastern port where the marinas are,about 8 Nm away by boat and longer by land.
It has been suggested that a taxi is taken from the marina to Loon Plage where the office serving the ferry vehicle traffic is situated.
If anybody has done this perhaps they could speak up and describe their experience.
I attempted to use the comprehensive free bus service from the stop just outside the Grand Large marina to get to Loon Plage but it appears that the necessary service has been reduced if not cancelled.One can again understand this.
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I didn't do it but one of our loose group did a couple of weeks ago and gave a great report to the rest of our group.

Taxi
The PAF is a €50 taxi ride from the marina du Grand Large and probably €100 return.
They will stamp your passport very quickly so keep the taxi waiting.

Bus/walk
There is a free bus but....don't try to connect to the #17 bus because it is very infrequent and does not always go all the way.
Take the #C4 or #C4a to maison blanche loon plage (45mins) and then walk 36 mins to the PAF (and 36 mins back obvs) to the bus ....

At the PAF: Press doorbell and say what you want to do.
A barred window will open some way off to your right and the officer will stamp your passport. Once you are at the PAF it is very quick (another member said it is 2 mins) , it is the getting there and back.

Dogs: another member who did this with dog said the PAF were not interested in seeing the dog or the Animal Health Certificate.
 
TwoFish : Here is the 'generic/master' form which is found on this site :
Navigation de plaisance hors espace Schengen
Not sure why you cannot print this out ,maybe you are a liveaboard,and it's probably the scanning after completion that would be the difficulty.
If the last minute transmission while you are en route is the problem then why not get it prepared and get someone else to email it to the relevant harbour master for you.
If you PM your address to me I will send you a number of printed copies,or deliver to Ramsgate/Dover being local.
You can actually take a pretty good photo of the completed form with a smart phone or a tablet so as to get a digital copy.
Worth pointing out that the Ramsgate marina wifi is pretty apalling - but phone tethering is possible.

Sorry if I have misunderstood the issue.
 
I'm sure it is if you have the means and you have been able to fill in the form digitally.
Ive just tried Adobe Fill and although it works it would be a challenge on a small screen.

SIGNIFICANT EDIT :
If you go to the site named in post #29 you can also download as they call it the 'modifiable' version of the form which gives an .odt file that is directly fillable,savable and mailable.

Contrôle aux frontières : formulaire entrée / sortie - [Modifiable]
 
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The 'master form '- i.e not specific to a western port deals only with Schengen so you don't have to use it for departure to another french port or a another schengen country from which you will eventually leave for the UK.
That's what it says.
Once you are in ,you are in.
 
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bluerm166 said:
The 'master form '- i.e not specific to a western port deals only with Schengen so you don't have to use it for departure to another french port or a another schengen country from which you will eventually leave for the UK.
That's what it says.
Once you are in ,you are in.
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But only if you use a port of entry. The Britanny and Normandy derogation schemes only work for Britanny or Normandy. You can't even sail between the two.
 
st599 said:
No, it specifically says only at a derogation port.
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I stand corrected. At least it is better than last year when we arrived at St Cast but had weather problems. For safety reasons we wanted to leave from Lezardrieux - a narrow weather window. We took a taxi to St Brieuc. After some discussion and maybe in view of our advanced age, they agreed to us leaving from Lezardrieux. They told us to fill in the form as though we were leaving from St Quai.
Although better, the new version still could be restrictive in a way not conducive to good seamanship.
 
The Master Form and guidance to it do not limit the derogation to any particular ports .It would not make sense would it to do so.It seems that the Manche ports are simply more concerned to encourage their non-schengen visitors by promoting the form.
Of course you still need to get the inward stamp which will be available ,if not conveniently, at the Ports of Entry,and the outward stamp if leaving Schengen.
It does say 'exceptionally' so there is a sort of catch 22 involved unless you can foresee your engine failure ? or sails ripping 24 hrs ahead.
Conversely you do not need to use this form if you are arriving at a Port of Entry,because you won't surprise anyone by doing so .
 
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st599 said:
Just checked - the form requires the same form to be used on exit. So you can check in at a port with a time limited derogation in Britanny, sail within Britanny only, then you have to check out at a port with a derogation too.
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You just send the same style Preavis form to the port of departure, obtained from their website not the arrival website. It has space at top to declare if departure or for arrival

Much as if you flew by plane to one airport, but return flight was from a differing one, or returned as so often to a different UK one to your original deparure.

We had no issues getting stamped out of Brest having arrived at Roscoff.
 
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