The arrival of the America’s Cup in Barcelona has resulted in many more comings and goings of yachts and crew passing through. In order to handle the increased traffic and to control movements more stringently, immigration authorities now require Seaman’s Books, with...
Updated 25 November 2024With effect from 1st January, 2024, yacht crew will be able to stamp out (on board) in Palma de Mallorca only upon presentation of a Seaman's Book.An official communiqué from the border force police, issued on December 15 2023, states that...
With the end of the Med season upon us, we have been asked by many (British) crew in the past days to sort out their passports for them.There's a high occurrence of crew that have been aboard for the season without stamping out of the EU and onto the boat. This can...
The definitive guide to US B1/B2 visas for yacht crew.
This guide to the Seaman’s Book explains what it is, why yacht crew should get one and how to obtain one.
Now that the UK has left the EU, there are some extra hoops for British passport holders to jump through when arriving in, or leaving, the EU. British crew members in Spain (or France) who already appear on a crew list are not required to visit immigration in order to...
With national lockdowns and border closures on the increase, international travel is again becoming more complicated.While seafarers are generally exempt from restrictions designed to curtail tourism, carrying a travel letter from a licensed ‘consignatario’, setting...
Any non-European crew requiring a visa in order to fly in and join a yacht will know that Spain has not been the optimal Schengen zone country to arrive in first. Spanish authorities have in the past offered only Transit Visas with two-day validity to travel through...
Spanish police issue new guidance for issuance of transit visas Spanish immigration police have issued new guidelines for the issuance of Schengen transit visas to seafarers departing the zone or travelling to join another vessel within the territory. Stipulations...
We are receiving many queries from non-EU crew with expired visas, or with limited time remaining. The initial guidance in March from local immigration police was that days remaining would “no longer be counted”, suggesting that visitor visas would be frozen in time....