Offshore Without a Land Address

[Scot McPherson]

Why can't you just use you home port marina as an address.

i.e.

Your Name
s/v Your Boat
C/O Your Marina
City, State, ZIP


As already said by others though, once you go off the grid, the grid goes off on you too...

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Canibul

we'd be real intested in who you used for these policies. I tried quite a bit to find a personal liability policy that covered us while in the US, and about a half dozen tries produced the same info over and over:

I can get a Personal Liability Policy in the country where I reside. Period. IF I lived in the US I could get one that would cover me everywhere, but as a TCI resident, I can get one here that only covers me in the TCI. Local insurance company told me there's no way they can keep up with liability laws all over the world.

We pay a fortune in rental car insurance. forty, fifty days a year.

Your description of your situation suggests that my answer will not be useful. With my St. Brendans Isle residence my residence remains in the US where I usually cruise except for trips to the Bahamas. We had a State Farm policy with the same agent for thirty years while we owned cars and this same agent was willing to set up our non-owners policy.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Can you post a link for the car insurance?

We have it through Geico.

Mark

[crazyoldboatguy]

=== Why can't you just use you home port marina as an address? ===

I don't have a "home marina". I use a mooring. Perhaps I could use the Lat/Long as my address.

[Canibul]

State? Zip? neither. drives me nuts when online ordering forms insist everyone on earth must have a zip code. not here.

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by Canibul

State? Zip? neither. drives me nuts when online ordering forms insist everyone on earth must have a zip code. not here.

Having no zip code was a problem for us as well, when we lived in Nevis. Sellers' computers demanded zip codes, no matter what. I finally figured out that if you gave them 99999, the problem was solved.

[crazyoldboatguy]

I am getting so much useful information. Maintaining auto registration, drivers license, insurance, mail forwarding - much to mull over.

Thank you all for taking the time to post. I hope I can reciprocate.

[belizesailor]

Just to add what works for me (USA Citizen) to the info mix:

Address: USA authorities and many businesses don't like lat/lon as an address so I maintain a USA mailing address at (what is now) a UPS Store. Have used this address for many years and it works fine for almost everything. Consistency is good. I also maintain a physical address, because for some purposes a PMB won't work. Issues to be aware of is how the address you choose may effect your tax status and things like jury summons (some jurdictions take these more seriously than others and may not be amused if you no show).

Mail: I have important items scanned and emailed to me to avoid delays. Other stuff gets sent to me once a month via mail forwarding/consolidation service (service used depends upon which country I'm in).

Residency: Some IRS rules, and now the ACA, depend upon IRS tests for whether you reside in the USA or not. Legal residency in a foreign country is the trump card...no doubt about your legal residency that way. I established legal residency in Guatemala (easy). Some gringos make this hard by trying to do it all themselves. Hire an agent in your country of choice and in the USA (or home country) and make this dead easy.

Driver's Liscence: Handy if you do much land travel (we do a lot using my Jeep) or want to rent a car, or use for ID (many places have accepted mine for uses like ID verification for CC use). Many jurisdictions want a physical address for your DL.

Phone: Most authorities, and some business, are easier to deal with if foreign location does not come up at all. So, I have a USA phone number via Skype, that plus my USA address means as far as they know I'm in the USA. I use call forwarding on this number to my local cell (wherever that may be) so I only have to give out one number and just change the call fwding. Also have voice mail on this number w email notification. I also maintain a USA fax # (eFax) for the same reason.

IP Address: Some web sites behave differently, or block you entirely, if you have a non-USA IP address. I used VPN to get around this.

...

[dwedeking2]

Just found out that my bank won't allow my forwarding service to forward my new card (this according to the bank rep I was on the phone with for another reason, and I'm not sure if the forwarding company would actually not forward the email if I asked them to). So I changed my address to a friends house and then will change it back after I get the new card. A couple of online vendors will only ship to billing address and I don't want to "use up" my welcome with friends and family by having them deal with anything I buy.

Make sure you set all this up before you ditch your land based address. USPS PO Box requires a physical location (had to show rental agreement to get one in Hawaii as we were off grid there).

MagicJack for phone because you can't port a number to skype (keep your old phone number) otherwise I'd prefer to do a skype number.

TunnelBear.com I found works decent to mask your IP as coming from the US though I've run into problems ordering some things online being in a foreign IP (maybe because cards are US based?). Luckily I have access to a computer in the states for work via remote control so just ordered on that system. Certain services won't run or run differently with a foreign IP (Pandora won't work in some countries, Netflix gives you a different group of shows to watch depending on country)

[crazyoldboatguy]

belizesailor - what is "vpn"?

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by crazyoldboatguy

what is "vpn"?

"Virtual Private Network"

This provides two functions: it encrypts your link between your computer and the VPN server, and it makes your apparent location that of the VPN server's connection to the greater Internet.

[Canibul]

If you go with a mail/packaging forwarding company, I've heard a lot of good things about St. Brendan's Isle.

I will also tell you first hand to stay away from MyUS.com in Sarasota. I've been using their service, similar to SBI, for a couple of years now and am now looking for alternatives. I am convinced they hire compete idiots at MyUS. We've been getting a lot of stuff shipped in, with Fed Ex coming to the house or boat at least twice a week. And it's a rare time that there isn't some problem with MyUS. They get the descriptions wrong. They are extremely difficult to work with. They lose things. They mis label merchandise. They cause all kinds of grief with the customs people here.

I'm looking for another forwarder for the packages. I don't want to use SBI because they insist on a Federal form for forwarding mail, when I don't want mail forwarded at all. I'm looking for a courier/packaging forwarding service so I can have things consolidated in a central location and then shipped to me. It saves a lot of money, since Fed Ex and everyone else here ( DHL and UPS) all charge $25 per shipment to clear stuff in. But once I get loose from MyUS, I can guarantee they will never get my business again.

[Surftrip]

My passport has a physical address printed on it below my picture.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[hellosailor]

Fictitious Florida "residency", like secret offshore banking, is bound to come to an end sooner or later, but arguably is as good a solution as any, until that happens. SBI are probably the top name in the business, and conveniently located in Florida.

[dohenyboy]

The threshold for reporting is $10,000 or more at any time during the year in a foreign account. I think its higher if you have residence abroad. To top it off, starting for 2013 you have to file the report (FUBAR) electronically. Not paper.


Sent from an undisclosed location on the high seas or from the lounge chair by the pool, you decide.