Foreign National buying a boat in the US

[Captain Bill]

I've had a question posed to me by a friend and honestly I don't know the answer so I though I would seek the collective wisdom of the forum. My friend is Austrian and is buying a 24 foot sailboat in Maryland. Her plan is to register the boat in the Bahamas. The problem is that she must actually get the boat to the Bahamas to do that. She has found that she does not need to register the boat in MD if she's removing the boat from the state, but as it's a 24 foot boat, her wish is to take it down the ICW to Florida before crossing to the Bahamas. Her concern is passing through the other states without a legal US registration. As a foreign national, can she get a cruising permit for the boat even if it has not yet been flagged in another country? Has anyone else done a similar thing? I'm wondering with the import fees in the Bahamas if she wouldn't be better off just getting a state registration somewhere in the US.

[capngeo]

Just had a Canadian friend buy a US boat..... He registered the boat in Canada and sailed to the Bahamas. Some of the issues were discussed in This Thread

[Zanshin]

I bought a (new) boat in Maryland as a non-us citizen with the intent of flagging the vessel in the U.K. last year.

The broker got my cruising permit for me before I'd even started the registration/flagging process so, yes, one get a cruising permit prior to getting a foreign registration completed.

Note that even with a cruising permit one needs to call in with the new location and movement details at CBP after each and every boat movement.

[Vasco]

A cruising permit is issued to a boat. The boat must be registered in an approved country to receive the cruising permit. Here's the list of countries.

Argentina Greece
Australia Honduras
Austria Ireland
Bahama Islands Italy
Belgium Jamaica
Bermuda Liberia
Canada Marshall Islands
Denmark Netherlands
Federal Republic New Zealand
of Germany Norway
Finland Sweden
France Switzerland
Turkey
Great Britain (including Turks and Caicos Islands, St Vincent [including the territorial waters of the Northern Grenadine Islands], the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the St. Christopher- Nevis-Anguilla Islands).

[Zanshin]

I checked my e-mails last night and did start the registration process in the U.K. before the boat was actually finished; I got a 6-month preliminary registration and send that provisional number to the dealer, who then used that for the application to the cruising permit (they also wanted a full photocopy of my passport, if I recall correctly).

[boatman61]

I bought a Cherubini 37 in Oriental, NC.
I regestered it in the UK under SSR and was given a cruising permit... the boat could stay in the US indefinitly... leave and come back with no problems...
I however was another matter... UK citizen...

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I bought a Cherubini 37 in Oriental, NC.
I regestered it in the UK under SSR and was given a cruising permit... the boat could stay in the US indefinitly... leave and come back with no problems...
I however was another matter... UK citizen...

A cruising permit is good for one year only. Then it has to be renewed. For a non-resident in the US, the boat must leave the US before renewal is possible.

Under CBP policy, non-U.S. residents are not eligible for successive cruising licenses. A new license will not be issued unless the following two conditions have been met: (1) at least 15 days have elapsed since the previous license either expired or was surrendered, and (2) the vessel arrives in the U.S. from a foreign port or place. (Customs Directive 3130-006A) CBP will want to see foreign clearance paperwork as evidence that you are arriving from a foreign location.

Check it out at the US govt site.

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...ld-one-expires