I’ve flown to foreign countries. You get off the plane, your documents and luggage are checked, and you go on once cleared by customs. What about if I sail in on my boat? Whats the process for going ashore legally?
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Depends on the country you are from and the country you are going to visit. Laws and rules are different around the world
Countries have legal entry and exit points. International airports are the obvious ones. Major roads, rail, and seaports are also important depending on the country. Just like at the airport you get funneled to a counter where you present your passport. There is usually a place to buy a visa (if needed) immediately beforehand. Sometimes you just get waved through and in Shenzhen Europe you can usually just cross over wherever without issue. It seems straightforward but it can get confusing and I have personally accidentally entered two countries illegally (Colombia and Kyrgizstan).
It can vary depending on how you travel and what country you are going to and what country you are from.
Every country has its own rules for entry, no matter whether by air, sea or land. They also have various rules depending on which country you are from.
For instance: I live in Costa Rica. If I go to Nicaragua, I will need to go inside the govt building on the Costa Rica side and get my passport stamped as “leaving the country.” Then I go to the Nicaragua side and get my passport stamped as “arriving in the country.” There are also examinations of your luggage or backpack.
When I went on a cruise and we docked at a foreign port, the cruise ship gathered up our passports and did the “arrival” thing for us.
In some countries in Europe, you can drive or take the train from country to country without any border passport check due to the Schengen agreement.
So yes, it varies.
I think he’s asking what if you were to take your sailboat and go to some random dock in another country.
There are legal points of entry. For example, if you are sailing around the Caribbean, your first stop at a new port is the customs house. It isn’t quite a controlled as an airport, but they don’t appreciate it if you delay your visit to customs/immigration in any way.
Same idea when flying a private airplane.
In most cases, “ports of entry” exist at even the medium-sized airports and docks. For instance, my local airport is a port of entry and you can clear customs there – if someone is on duty. Otherwise you go to the desk and there’s a phone there to call customs.
There’s plenty of places you can just drive, sail or fly (private planes) from one country to another and they rely on you to self report. For instance, at the nearby tiny Frenchman’s Bay Marina, which you could reach from probably half the US (via the Mississippi and a *lot* of locks) there’s just a phone you use to call the main customs office, and a NEXUS terminal if you have the card. No one checks on you.
These entry points are much more common than you might think. Check out this map for Ontario for instance:
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/do-rb/provinces/on-eng.html
There will be a customs and immigration building at or close to the dock. You need to report there with your papers etc. after arriving.
If it’s a major port it will be one of the buildings on site; elsewhere it might be a street or two away (one of the beaches in Costa Rica doesn’t really have a dock but there’s a Customs and Immigration building a few minutes walk away).
do some research about entry in the port you will arrive at before going.
example: [https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-67?language=en_US#:~:text=Entry%20may%20be%20made%20only,the%20CBP%20Officer%20in%20charge](https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-67?language=en_US#:~:text=Entry%20may%20be%20made%20only,the%20CBP%20Officer%20in%20charge).
generally the captain takes everyones passport to the local customs office for processing and returns to the boat with passports stamped meanwhile the crew/guests must remain on the boat until he returns
some times there are problems:
the office might be closed (they are not 24×7 operations) so you wait on the boat!
sometimes you can only enter at very specific ports/marinas
sometimes there are special docks you must initially tie up at.
each place is different and they may come and inspect the boat/crew and impose fees
or they might refuse entry for just 1 person, then you the captain must take them out immediately like it or not!
in the end its like an airplane, you cannot land anywhere only designated airports, and if somebody is denied entry the airline is required to fly them out of country on the next flight out.
the difference (airplane vrs small sailboat) is the number of people it would be impractical for the airplane pilot or cruise ship captain to collect all 100-1000 passports and present so they set it up for each person to go through immigrations then customs at the cruise ship port, or the airport
I took a boat from Japan to China years ago. I just did the usual customs stuff when I got off at the port.
You would need to find a marina/port with a customs office and bring your passport inside. They’ll ask the same questions as you’d get asked at the airport.
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