Customs

[Snowman]

i'm traveling from st lucia to the bvi / usvi. is it easy to go through custome in the usvi,,, or is there a lot of paper work. i haven't done this recently. i & the crew are all us citzens. thanks

[JeanneP]

There is not a lot of paperwork, but for crew there is nothing. The skipper/owner of a boat proceeds alone to customs and immigration with his crew's passports and boat's papers. The crew waits patiently on the boat until clearance occurs. US citizens do not need to obtain visas in advance to visit the Caribbean islands, except for Venezuela. And the French islands, sometimes.

The crew's passport must be current, with more than 6 months remaining, to be admitted to a country. Otherwise, the Caribbean is an easy place to visit.

[chriscolum]

I visited Martinique once, the complete crew arrived on a 57 feet sailing boat and we did not need visas. Just passports and regular boat papers (documents)(registration, insurance etc...)

[JeanneP]

France is a "we will make it as easy for you as your country makes it easy for our citizens." Thus yes, US citizens don't need a visa. We met a French fellow who stopped in Martinique with his Australian wife, and they had to leave immediately because she didn't have a visa before they arrived.

They were only doing what Australia would have done to a French citizen.

The moral of this story is to check before you get there. And keep in mind that just because it was okay for you, it's not okay for everyone else.