US Customs raises user fee

[Latitude9.5]

I know a LOT of people here at the marina that have never checked in upon return and they go a couple times each year, not something i would want to attempt for a just a couple hours of my time, however tempting it might be!

[s/v 'Faith']

Originally Posted by Lynx

I am glad that I am under 30 feet and do not have to worry about it.

Yup, Just what I thought when I read it.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Latitude9.5

I know a LOT of people here at the marina that have never checked in upon return and they go a couple times each year, not something i would want to attempt for a just a couple hours of my time, however tempting it might be!

The Bahamian government like the Canadian government shares info with the US government. If you check in to the Bahamas and don't check in on return to the US you will be caught eventually. I know of Canadians who have been called in the middle of winter, the authorities checking up on summer crossings to the US. It takes time, you might be lucky and fall in the cracks but do you want to bet your boat on it? I have met folks that ignored checking back in but it's just not worth it.

[Thanna5]

As a frequent visitor to the Bahmas, I have my decal and try to folow the CIS rules. Each time I return, my entire crew and guests must appear in person at the Ft. Pierce station within 24 hrs with documents. It takes maybe 30 seconds for the interview and document review. No one has offered a different or less complex procedure. Welear in by phone upon landfall, and are given a number .At least they don't ask for money

[Latitude9.5]

Yea the ft pierce part was the easy part last time we came back, I had to sit on hold at the 800 number for over an hour. According to the info they gave me before we left you are not allowed to leave the vessel for shore until you have made that call.

Like I said before vasco, not worth risk to me considering what little is gained by it. I travel a lot by air as well and wouldn't want to get held up a year down the road because i didn't clear on my boat and that is VERY likely to happen.

[Auspicious]

It sounds like different US ports of entry have different requirements and lead to different experiences. When I checked into the US in Norfolk, I called the customs and immigration number and read them the sticker number. Since I had an EU national on board they sent an immigration officer to us (golly!) to check us in.

I gather that experiences in Florida are quite different. Is Norfolk unusually easy to get along with, or the Florida ports unusually difficult?

[alaskadog]

Most government offices at whatever branch or level that are charged with enforcing the jillions (that is a whole lot)of laws generally have a fair amount of discretion as to the way they want to enforce the law. For example, some police departments will really come down heavy on jaywalkers and some apparently could care less. In the US Customs Offices it seems from my observation that the various States or ports have developed slightly different approaches to the enforcement of the Customs laws. The ordinary citizen would probably like to have an absolute uniform or"one size fits all" enforcement policies and procedures. But that does not seem to be the case. At all levels of law enforcement from the cop on the beat to the Chief to the DA and the judges the individuals usually have certain amount of discretion. It is good that all areas are not enforced as rigidly as in south Florida. Maybe that is the price of popularity.