Clearance Questions regarding cruising around Spain.

[Dulcesuenos]

We're about to embark across the Atlantic to Barcelona via Azores, then Portugal, with stops planned along the way to rest and refuel, and visits to the Balearic islands. I understand time in the Azores counts as part of our 90 days allowed out of 180, and the clock stops once we leave the Azores, and starts again in Portugal. What about sea time traveling between Portugal and Spain. Does this count towards our allowed time?

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[Dauntlessny]

Good luck with that, which means I think it's wrong.

You are going from Schengen to Schengen, clock won't stop.

I'm in Ireland now and planning a similair trip.

This is the best site for USA Schengen issues.

Going Foreign in Your Boat | JimB Sail

Good Luck, Let's keep in touch.

Richard

[Dulcesuenos]

Thanks for the link, I'm reading that if we get an exit stamp leaving Portugal the clock stops until we make landfall and clear back in?

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[karabil]

We did the trip last year. Your clock starts in Azores, the Portuguese consider the sea between mainland and azores as their territory. IF you want to stay in Portugal for the part after your schengen expires then we believe this is not so difficult. The immigration guys at Cascais (where you will land if heading for Lisbon) were extremely friendly and told us it was fairly simple to get a visa. You do need to collect a fair bit of paperwork and make your appointment around 6-8 weeks before your schengen expires. I was worried about going 2 weeks over my schengen, the woman at the office you apply for visa at told me not to worry, that was very unlikely for airport immigration to check. I was still worried that I could risk being locked out if they did check so she gave me an official letter stating I had an appointment for a visa application interview a week after my departure date so I could show it at airport if needed. God I love the Portuguese.
It is a very beautiful country and you could easily spend 6 months here.

[chuckr]

We sailed over in 2013. We checked in in the Azores and sailed and visited the islands then checked out for the sail across to Portugal - 8 days we think - then in Lagos we checked in again and saved the Schengen days. By the way it was at the suggestion of the customs guys in Azores that we did that.

From there across it can be a long sail around or you can hop the coast and sight see along the way but you need to figure out were to bail our for Schengen - we did it in Tunisia - Port Yasmine.

PM and I will give you more thoughts

[jckb]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

Thanks for the link, I'm reading that if we get an exit stamp leaving Portugal the clock stops until we make landfall and clear back in?

Yes. You read that correctly. But it only saves you a couple of days!

JimBsail.info

[jckb]

Originally Posted by karabil

I was worried about going 2 weeks over my schengen, the woman at the office you apply for visa at told me not to worry, that was very unlikely for airport immigration to check. I was still worried that I could risk being locked out if they did check

Quite rightly. Officials do vary quite widely in their approach to visa over-stays, and differ from region to region within a country.

so she gave me an official letter stating I had an appointment for a visa application interview a week after my departure date so I could show it at airport if needed. .

Good move. A small risk remains if the airport official got out of bed the wrong side.

JimBsail

[Dauntlessny]

Originally Posted by karabil

We did the trip last year. Your clock starts in Azores, the Portuguese consider the sea between mainland and azores as their territory. IF you want to stay in Portugal for the part after your schengen expires then we believe this is not so difficult. The immigration guys at Cascais (where you will land if heading for Lisbon) were extremely friendly and told us it was fairly simple to get a visa. You do need to collect a fair bit of paperwork and make your appointment around 6-8 weeks before your schengen expires. I was worried about going 2 weeks over my schengen, the woman at the office you apply for visa at told me not to worry, that was very unlikely for airport immigration to check. I was still worried that I could risk being locked out if they did check so she gave me an official letter stating I had an appointment for a visa application interview a week after my departure date so I could show it at airport if needed. God I love the Portuguese.
It is a very beautiful country and you could easily spend 6 months here.

Originally Posted by karabil

We did the trip last year. Your clock starts in Azores, the Portuguese consider the sea between mainland and azores as their territory. IF you want to stay in Portugal for the part after your schengen expires then we believe this is not so difficult. The immigration guys at Cascais (where you will land if heading for Lisbon) were extremely friendly and told us it was fairly simple to get a visa. You do need to collect a fair bit of paperwork and make your appointment around 6-8 weeks before your schengen expires. I was worried about going 2 weeks over my schengen, the woman at the office you apply for visa at told me not to worry, that was very unlikely for airport immigration to check. I was still worried that I could risk being locked out if they did check so she gave me an official letter stating I had an appointment for a visa application interview a week after my departure date so I could show it at airport if needed. God I love the Portuguese.
It is a very beautiful country and you could easily spend 6 months here.

Thank you for sharing. That really helps. My issue is that I need to fly to USA. Currently, I plan to fly from A Coruna to LHR and then on to JFK, that way from a small airport, I should not have an issue.

But having said that, I am doing it at the 80 day point, just in case someone does count to I can get back in and get the boat.

Also, as many others have said: While there is ONE Schengen rule; there are as many variations as there are ports of departure.

To point, we cruised in 10 Schengen countries, 90 ports this past summer. A total of 4 months, 130 days.

In ONLY ONE were there any issues, but they could have been a real PIA. Both on entering and exiting the Netherlands, the Dutch take it seriously unlike everyone else. Even the Germans are laid back in comparison.

And they made a very big issue of the 18 month VAT form for the boat. NOBODY had looked at it since I got it 12 months earlier, but the Dutch made sure it was in the computer system and made sure it was marked with an October deadline. Now, since I was planning to be in Norway in September, no problem.

Originally, as i had not needed it for a year, I could not find it. The Dutch made it clear that if I could not find it, i would need to get an agent to do the paperwork. What a crock.

Then in Norway, it was a challenge finding someone who cared. They stamped it, did not want a copy and did not want to stamp or even see my passport.

But in the Netherlands, I was asked for it twice.

Since I have returned to Ireland. I need a new one, but have not done it yet..

Lastly, I got a post-it for my passport that the Irish Immigration lady gave me.

They need to fix the rule so that we don't have to act like criminals.

And virtually everyone I have meet is nice, even the Dutch.

[Palarran]

I went from the Azores to Gibraltar. In this case I think the clock did stop and started again when we cleared back into the EU in Malaga. When leaving Greece after about 100 days the Immigration asked me at the airport about it and so I told them the time between the Azores and Malaga didn't count - they said ok.

[Sailormantx]

It depends mostly on the officials doing the paperwork. I cleared out of Terciera Azores for Madeira and they would not give me an exit stamp since I was heading for another Portugal island, so I lost the days of travel time. Next time I will tell them my destination is Morocco so they will put an exit stamp in the passport to stop the clock.

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[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Palarran

I went from the Azores to Gibraltar. In this case I think the clock did stop and started again when we cleared back into the EU in Malaga. When leaving Greece after about 100 days the Immigration asked me at the airport about it and so I told them the time between the Azores and Malaga didn't count - they said ok.

Yes. A boat checking out of the Azores for a non-Schengen country stops the clock. Gibraltar applies here.

b.