Expired Permit

[KG1]

Hi. I am really hoping someone can help me. Our 49' yacht is currently docked in Daytona, Fla having work done on it. I live in Canada. My U.S. cruising permit will expire before I get back to the boat. What do I need to do to renew my permit? I've searched the 'net and seen all sorts of recommendations. I need to know exactly what needs to be done to renew a cruising permit. Is it possible to do remotely? Thanks for any help.

[Vasco]

AFAIK you have to leave the States for 14 days after the expiry of the permit before a new one can be issued. Every permit is a new one, there is no "renewal" of the old permit. I always ask for a permit for 10 months because if I get one for 1 year I might return to the States before its expiry. I usually enter the States in May and depart in December or early January. If you re-enter the States before the permit has expired they will not issue a new one.

[hellosailor]

I would suggest cbp.gov:
Questions/Customer Service

(04/30/2010)For general CBP inquiries, please call the CBP INFO Center Monday-Friday, between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time.


General Inquiries: 1-877-CBP-5511
International Callers: (703) 526-4200

and whatever they tell you on the phone, ask them where you can confirm what they say online, or if they can send you a written confirmation.

Last I had heard, the policy was one year, not one day longer, and that you had to exit the US for 14 days and enter another nation's waters before you could return and apply for a new permit.

It is possible that if you are having "necessary repairs" or the boat is hauled in a yard (so it is not in US waters) that there's some provision for grace. After all, there are treaties and such for vessels delayed for necessary repairs.

But...you may have to sneak out in the dead of night if you can't get some type of waiver. CBP used to have a web page up with particulars but I couldn't find it.

[Vasco]

Just a warning to those who think they can pretend to go to the Bahamas and then enter the US and get a cruising permit. A cruiser entered the Bahamas and did not clear in (just to save $300). He got away with it in the Bahamas. When he entered the US a few months later and applied for a cruising permit, claiming he had come from the Bahamas, he was detained. Apparently the US authorities now have pretty good access to the Bahamian data and the Bahamian data did not show this vessel as having cleared into the Bahamas.

On a similar note, last year sailing up the Florida coast, about three miles out, a real go-fast Cigarette type boat came from nowhere to one boat length off us and then slowed right down. It was a Homeland Security boat. They did not board us but I think they checked us out on their computer. I guess we were legit because they then sped off towards another sail on the horizon.