What if You Can't Pay the Bond in French Polynesia ?

[ViribusUnitis]

Just because it's no big deal in AUS, doesn't mean it's no big deal elsewhere.

Most countries want nothing but model citizens to ever come in. No funny weed smoking, no crazed police man cap stealing, nothing but honest, hard working, straight laced model citizens, that never do anything but pay taxs, and do as their told.

Personaly, I can't say I blame them. Would you invite anyone that had any sign of being a trouble maker into your house? Expecally if they are the highest level of trouble maker? (felon, by deffinition is the highest level of trouble maker.) Heck, even most employers in the US won't allow US felons to work!

If it truely is no big deal, then maybe the AUS goverment would be willing to exponge all the old, no big deal, offences?

In general, I'd say you have to pay to play. When your in your home country, your paying all of the regular taxs. Income, VAT, sales, mooring fees, slip fees, personal property taxs, registration, licencing, etc. When you get out of your country, you get to pay what ever that country decides you should pay. Sometimes it can be negocated between your country and the country your visiting to fix the fees and taxs to a specific level.

If an "citizen of the world" wants to go to an EU country with all the right and privlages of an EU citizen, then they must pay all the fees of an EU citizen. If they just want to visit, then they ahve to pay all the fees that the EU demands. It's a simple matter of ownership. The EU owns the islands, thus if you only get to do what the EU decides you get to do.

[fishwife]

I understand that my offence as a young person is treated as a 'misdemeanor' (sp?) if you are a US citizen, not so, if you are an alien. (Can you see my green tentacles?)

P.

[fishwife]

Originally Posted by Viking Sailor

P.

So what you are saying is that, even though you didn't qualify for a U.S. visa by virtue of being a convicted felon, you were nevertheless able to get a visa and hence your boat through the kind help of American citizens including a Senator. That seem like a fairly friendly and just resolution considering how complex and obscure the situation must have appeared to someone charged with enforcing the laws of the United States. In fact I find it hard to understand why you even needed to go to the U.S. considering the boat was in the med and the ease in which a bank can transfer funds these days. I just guess that there is some part of the story that was left out that would make this clear. Anyway, it's great that you have your boat and may you enjoy it for many years to come.

Thank you for your good wishes Viking Sailor. Am I allowed to infer from your nickname that you may have a 'rape and pillage' mindset. I assume that this doesn't apply to 'aliens' who would of course be 'felons'.

P.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by ViribusUnitis

. No funny weed smoking, no crazed police man cap stealing, nothing but honest, hard working, straight laced model citizens,

At least our politicians know how to inhale!

[ViribusUnitis]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

At least our politicians know how to inhale!

Hey I never said the village idoit wasn't running the joint. If you could find a way to convince our politisions that weed is not bad, I'm all for it!

That said, much the same goes for just about any country. Countries don't like trouble makers. They can't do to much aobut the trouble makers that are born there, but they can do their best to keep the ones born outside from coming in.

[hellosailor]

Entry bonds are normal. Try to get into Bermuda without proof that you have passage back OUT again. You won't.

Most island paradises, among other places, want to be sure that broke stumblebums won't become a burden on their society or social welfare system. And, that tourists and visitors will have enough spare money to enrich the local economy. So...

No entry bond? No return prepaid passage? You're a bum in their eyes and they don't want you in. Right or wrong, that's the way it goes, unless you're a refugee trying to enter Canada and drop off the books. (That'll change.)

The only "piggy piggy!" change from place to place is how fat the percent is that they take off your bond. IIRC in FP you need to convert your money into the local scrip to post the bond, and then convert it back to take anything useful home, and they rip you off both times. (There's no reason euros or dollars couldn't be accepted, if all the wanted was passage. This is just "enrich our bankers" greed.)

So reasonable men either recognize that someone else got there and became king first, or do as the Norse did: "Pile up your gold and cattle and women on the docks, and when we're done we'll leave quietly. Or, we can plunder and pillage and have some fun with your toy kingdom before we go. Your choice."

Hmmm...not much gold or beef in FP...Tell 'em to just ship out some women, and I'll call off the invasion fleet. :-)

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by fishwife

I understand that my offence as a young person is treated as a 'misdemeanor' (sp?) if you are a US citizen, not so, if you are an alien. (Can you see my green tentacles?)
P.

Fishwife,
With your checkered past there is a high likelihood that you would reoffend. With your EU passport you might end up sailing around Cuba, then try and enter Gitmo without proper insurance. Your past haunts you.


Paul L

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

But I would be interested in knowing the "hoops" for a UK citizen to enter the US.

I went to the USA about 15 years ago - Vegas . I was going RTW by jumbo and it was enroute. Got off the Plane from NZ (why I decided not to stop over in Tahiti or Fiji still puzzles me )........Visa on Arrival.

All very polite and civilised


Nowadays I would have to travel to London to get a Visa - for me that would cost the best part of £500, leaving aside loss of earnings and the aggro of going to London / England and with no guarantee of a successful application or not being required to revisit the Embassy (London) on a later date. Plus a miriad of ever changing rules and requirements to fall foul of...........and upon arrival in the States no guarantee of Entry due to the whims of the entry officer, whether or not supported by the whims of Google ............and the risk of detention. or worse. (to be fair, I haven't always been a Nun ).

The competition is Europe on my doorstep, with most of the rest of the world visitable with a visa on arrival.

For business purposes I don't need to visit the USA (chicken & egg with that I guess) for recreation I can't be bothered with the hassle and needing to plan exact dates ahead of time (hell, I walked past a Travel Agent once saw a cheap flight price and the next day was enroute to SEA for 3 months ) - the USA doesn't have anything that I want and can't get elsewhere.

But every country gets to do as it sees fit - can't make everyone happy..........especially when the Bogeyman is out there.

Boo!

[sailorboy1]

damn, this is starting to bum me out, now I'm going to have to add a year more of working to my plan in order to save enough to cover the entry fees

other than that, lets play nice here, lots of places to see and I doubt I have enough years left in me to see most worth seeing

[Rangiroo]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

damn, this is starting to bum me out, now I'm going to have to add a year more of working to my plan in order to save enough to cover the entry fees

other than that, lets play nice here, lots of places to see and I doubt I have enough years left in me to see most worth seeing

Just go...it is not a "FEE" it is a BOND...that means that you get your money BACK when you leave....if you haven't enough money to pay a $1500 bond for a month or so then SURELY you haven't enough money to be sailing around the Sth Pacific anyway. The currency exchange fee the banks charge is a BANK fee not a government fee....the banks in the USA charge the same exhorbitant fees so discard that one as something to complain about....in fact....do your homework...if you show up in a country knowing nothing about the entry requirements then you deserve exactly what you get!
And lastly...if you (not you Don!!...)have to complain about these sorts of things then stay home for god's sake! Cruising and all it's cost just are what they are...it still beats the HELL out of living on land if you are so inclined and complaining about crap like this before you have even left is bordering on farcical.

For the record too...FP is stunningly beautiful...someone made a sarcastic comment about crowded expensive resorts but you are on a BOAT not staying in a fake grass hut and the islands are incredibly beautiful!! If I were to do it again I would stay the whole season just in FP then do the rest to NZ the year after...Fatu Hiva...stunning!!....Fakarava...BEST pass dive anywhere on the planet...Bora Bora...frikken amazing!!!....do NOT skip past FP or you will regret it. Get there in early July for the Heiva Festival if you can.
YES it is VERY expensive for supplies but that is what Panama is for...load up to the waterline. Don't spend any more time than you absolutely have to in Papaaete and then the high prices mean a lot less.

Enjoy!

[meyermm]

Originally Posted by Rangiroo

Just go...it is not a "FEE" it is a BOND...that means that you get your money BACK when you leave....if you haven't enough money to pay a $1500 bond for a month or so then SURELY you haven't enough money to be sailing around the Sth Pacific anyway. The currency exchange fee the banks charge is a BANK fee not a government fee....the banks in the USA charge the same exhorbitant fees so discard that one as something to complain about....in fact....do your homework...if you show up in a country knowing nothing about the entry requirements then you deserve exactly what you get!
And lastly...if you (not you Don!!...)have to complain about these sorts of things then stay home for god's sake! Cruising and all it's cost just are what they are...it still beats the HELL out of living on land if you are so inclined and complaining about crap like this before you have even left is bordering on farcical.

For the record too...FP is stunningly beautiful...someone made a sarcastic comment about crowded expensive resorts but you are on a BOAT not staying in a fake grass hut and the islands are incredibly beautiful!! If I were to do it again I would stay the whole season just in FP then do the rest to NZ the year after...Fatu Hiva...stunning!!....Fakarava...BEST pass dive anywhere on the planet...Bora Bora...frikken amazing!!!....do NOT skip past FP or you will regret it. Get there in early July for the Heiva Festival if you can.
YES it is VERY expensive for supplies but that is what Panama is for...load up to the waterline. Don't spend any more time than you absolutely have to in Papaaete and then the high prices mean a lot less.

Enjoy!

I could not agree more

[osirissail]

Just in from the Pacific Puddlejumpers group: "We have arrived in ... Atuona. Beautiful scenery, volcanic. The check-in went very well, we are members of "Latitude 38" Mag. Pacific Puddle Jump so we did not have to put up a bond. The bad news is everything is so expensive. $5 for a beer in the store, $8 per hr for internet on the one computer in the post office. . . ."
- - Actually, I think something was left unsaid in the above part of the email report. There are two cruiser/yacht service organizations in Papeete and usually one or the other will "vouch" for you in exchange for a fee somewhere around US$100 (+/-). This gets you on a "bond waiver" list with the local government officials. The "bond" is never really done away with, it is simply "waived" for people of adequate financial status.

[meyermm]

That will still be too much for Gecko he wants to be paid to visit I think and so he can whinge some more. With a bit of luck the bond will keep him away so the rest can enjoy the place.

[speakeasy]

Originally Posted by meyermm

That will still be too much for Gecko he wants to be paid to visit I think and so he can whinge some more. With a bit of luck the bond will keep him away so the rest can enjoy the place.

Generous and charming.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by fishwife

Your embassy took the view that a 'convicted felon' must have come by their money by nefarious means, despite my company accounts showing entirely legitimate trade in 'rare earths' for 18 years.


.

P.

Come on.
Try being a convicted felon and getting into Canada, or Germany, or Mexico, or or or...........
The US is actually less draconian than most of the rest of countries. Well....maybe was since 9-11. Seems tougher all over since then.