General Documents for Entry at Foreign Ports

[Alan N Crichton]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

It sounds a bit high, but in reality you can purchase it on island (St. Helena) for about US$1/person/day. The insurance covers both St. Helena and Ascension and they even suspended the insurance (so we didn't have to pay the premium) while we were on the 4-day passage between the two. All in, for two people, I think our total cost was less than US$30 (November 2018).

You were fortunate - in July 2017 we were forced to purchase evacuation insurance ( $350 for a year nothing less) before getting approval to visit Ascension. We had ordinary medical insurance and being UK citizens St Helena did not ask for anything. so $30 sounds a bargain. Were heading back to St Helena but will avoid Ascension this time around.

[Bill_Giles]

You would be unwise to go foriegn without checking the local, national, requirements. that said I have been crossing between England and France for years and never been asked for any documents (other than seeing the colour of my money!)

[nofacey]

Depends where you’re headed - Generally passports, Federal ship documentation, and Crew list was enough.
- needed proof of health insurance for French Polynesia and Ecuador (Dan Boaters satisfied them), and as previously mentioned stupid high health/evacuation insurance for St Helena (which we also accessed the inexpensive local coverage for $30/head sounds right)
- never had to produce our radio station license, but was asked for call sign & MMSI numbers multiple locations, New Zealand, Australia included.

Documentation requirements AND more importantly, the need for Advance Notification (with significant financial penalties for being ignored) vary not only by country, but in some areas annually - the rules change.
Found Noonsite (https://www.noonsite.com) the best source for up to date requirements.

[RobPatterson]

Since my boat is owned by a corporation, Mexican officials wanted a notarized letter from the corporation saying I had authorization to operate the boat (even though I am the president of the corporation). Most marinas want to see proof of insurance. I never have had a need for a state registration but the coast guard documentation certificate was needed at every entry. Passports and crew list were the only other requirements in the americas.

[JDGreenlee]

Originally Posted by RobPatterson

Since my boat is owned by a corporation, Mexican officials wanted a notarized letter from the corporation saying I had authorization to operate the boat (even though I am the president of the corporation). Most marinas want to see proof of insurance. I never have had a need for a state registration but the coast guard documentation certificate was needed at every entry. Passports and crew list were the only other requirements in the americas.

As well me. I showed the insurance policy coverage page that listed both my LLC and me as insured with the same mailing address. Whew! The articles of inc or op agreement would suffice, too, but a notarized letter is best.

[TedElixirNZ]

I have sailed extensively on my 45ft Sloop from Ireland then through the Med before backtracking to Gibraltar then to the Caribbean, Panama and on to New Zealand. I have found that the main thing that you will need in approaching any Port Authorities, Customs and Immigration (everywhere) is a comprehensive crew list with ships details. See attached PDF which I had as a excel file to make for easy editing as crew come and go. You would be best to take at least 4 x copies of the crew list with you to each authority to get fast clearance without the delay in getting all the data. You will also of course need all your ships documentation and the passports of all on board, Insurance detail, last Port exit document. Have these documents ready in the event you get stopped by say the Navy or Coastguard who will require to see them. I hope you find this useful and that you just get out there. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MlM...ew?usp=sharing

[boatpoker]

We had been out cruising when our Transport Canada Registry renewed. TC were kind enough to email a copy of our new registration to us.

CBP at Lake Worth Demanded an original even tho' we showed him the email from TC. It took two weeks and a significant divot in our cruising budget to satisfy this gun toting, semi-literate thug.

These people with a gun and unrestricted power can make life difficult !


Hint - do NOT show them a copy of their own law showing they are wrong

[thataway41]

One unusual one; we ere asked for certification of our life raft in Portugal. We were asked for skipper's competence certification at several European countries. I was Commodore of a YC, and still had some of the stationary left. I wrote an "official" looking certificate, put a gold seal on it and signed it as "Staff Commodore"; that was accepted.

Remember that many of the countries have a certification or competence program for their citizens--and may expect others to have similar certifications.

In some places we have been asked for serial number of engines, electronics, and other valuable items aboard. We had a list, so it was easy to copy off what was needed.

[svjobeth]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Better over prepared than under, but Ive never been asked for POI, not even in marinas, or radio liscenses in the W Carib.

Ive got them, just not been asked.

Dont ever recall being asked in E Carib either, but Ive not hit all the islands there (a pretty good sample though).

Just confirmed we were not asked for either in Bermuda or Azores recently either.

Thanks!

[svjobeth]

Originally Posted by Delezynski

Bill & Lisa,
You might want to take a quick watch of a short (5 Min) video we did a few years back. It talks about how we handle all of the stuff.... https://youtu.be/PB0M0G2Vurc
And for a personal look, when you are in that foreign place....https://youtu.be/Yyz14Ygri4c
Greg

Thank you - we watched and already have a similar notebook assembled. The two different wallets are interesting though. We do have a 'decoy' wallet with a random (small) amount of US currency, etc., hidden away.

[svjobeth]

Originally Posted by Nepidae

I think you have the right ideas as to what documents.

It's my feeling that you can't have too much, because you can never know what you will be asked for. It all depends on the country. I never thought of a marriage license, if you have 1, as we weren't going to countries where that could be a question. IF you are taking children birth certificates for them might be important.

1 of the 1st things I did was to get a 3 ring binder in a zipper case, with a hand grip. There are 2 sides to the 1 I have.

1 side has all of our ships papers (we are on a trawler and unlikely to visit a foreign country, other than Canada which we have boated thru), legal documents, which include most of what you mentioned including my military discharge (DD214).

The other side I use for some important manuals; engines, steering, etc.

I have plastic sleeves which I put the documents in.

This is what mine looks like; (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Case-it-1...ll&athena=true).

I know I have everything I need in 1 place and when we put our boat up for the winter, my binder comes with us.

Never know when you'll need some info that is there.

Good luck & stay safe out there.

Thanks!

[svjobeth]

Originally Posted by nofacey

Depends where you’re headed - Generally passports, Federal ship documentation, and Crew list was enough.
- needed proof of health insurance for French Polynesia and Ecuador (Dan Boaters satisfied them), and as previously mentioned stupid high health/evacuation insurance for St Helena (which we also accessed the inexpensive local coverage for $30/head sounds right)
- never had to produce our radio station license, but was asked for call sign & MMSI numbers multiple locations, New Zealand, Australia included.

Documentation requirements AND more importantly, the need for Advance Notification (with significant financial penalties for being ignored) vary not only by country, but in some areas annually - the rules change.
Found Noonsite (https://www.noonsite.com) the best source for up to date requirements.

Excellent info - thanks. And yes, we use Noonsite!

[svjobeth]

Originally Posted by TedElixirNZ

I have sailed extensively on my 45ft Sloop from Ireland then through the Med before backtracking to Gibraltar then to the Caribbean, Panama and on to New Zealand. I have found that the main thing that you will need in approaching any Port Authorities, Customs and Immigration (everywhere) is a comprehensive crew list with ships details. See attached PDF which I had as a excel file to make for easy editing as crew come and go. You would be best to take at least 4 x copies of the crew list with you to each authority to get fast clearance without the delay in getting all the data. You will also of course need all your ships documentation and the passports of all on board, Insurance detail, last Port exit document. Have these documents ready in the event you get stopped by say the Navy or Coastguard who will require to see them. I hope you find this useful and that you just get out there. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MlM...ew?usp=sharing

Thank you - we've 'borrowed' a Word doc which can be edited easily as needed for a crew list.

[svjobeth]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

We had been out cruising when our Transport Canada Registry renewed. TC were kind enough to email a copy of our new registration to us.

CBP at Lake Worth Demanded an original even tho' we showed him the email from TC. It took two weeks and a significant divot in our cruising budget to satisfy this gun toting, semi-literate thug.

These people with a gun and unrestricted power can make life difficult !


Hint - do NOT show them a copy of their own law showing they are wrong

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience here. Bureaucracy is a pain no matter where it is encountered.

[svjobeth]

Originally Posted by thataway41

One unusual one; we ere asked for certification of our life raft in Portugal. We were asked for skipper's competence certification at several European countries. I was Commodore of a YC, and still had some of the stationary left. I wrote an "official" looking certificate, put a gold seal on it and signed it as "Staff Commodore"; that was accepted.

Remember that many of the countries have a certification or competence program for their citizens--and may expect others to have similar certifications.

In some places we have been asked for serial number of engines, electronics, and other valuable items aboard. We had a list, so it was easy to copy off what was needed.

Interesting - the equipment we carry, which would need certification's is kept current. We've wondered about the various 'certificates of competency' which some countries seem to want, and have been considering going ahead and getting our captain's licenses.