Wintering Norway, US boat

[TJ D]

Hi Forum,

First off, let me state clearly to those who typically pounce on these types of questions that I am not using Cruisers Forum as my sole source of advice on this topic! But perhaps somebody has been down this road before.

We're looking at Norway for next winter, and really can't find anything online that fits our situation.

Our boat is US flagged, owned by an LLC.

We want to winter the boat in the water somewhere on the W. coast, but I will be off the boat for more than the 6 weeks allowed over the winter.

Indeed, I would be breaking Norwegian law by complying with this requirement, as I would overstay my allowed time by immigration!! There's no way to not break the rules one way or the other.

We do not want to go into bonded storage, as we will live on board for much of the time over the winter.

The Norwegian customs site has very little info.

Any insights from non-EU boats who have done this?

Thanks,TJ

[Trond123]

You are not the first one wanting to stay the winter in Norway. But be very careful.
Others have learned the hard way that it can be very expensive not to follow the laws.
There was a case with a (Swedish?) boat a couple years ago, where (if my memory is correct), the owners were presented with an import/tax/VAT bill of 25% of the boat's value. Had to be paid before the boat was released by customs. This case resulted in several articles in the local news papers in Norway at the time.

My advice would be to contact the Norwegian customs prior to your arrival in Norway, and work out the details about temporary import of your vessel.

Contact information and opening hours of Norwegian Customs.
Opening hours
Monday to Friday: 08.00–15.30
*Telephone
+47 22 86 03 12
Press # 9 for English
Other choices:
#*1 - Information centre: questions about customs regulations
#*2 - Switchboard and other questions

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Trond.

[Lars_L]

I did have my boat in Norway the last winter. You shall send a form to the Norwegian custom where you tell them where the boot is over the winter and many other tings. It should be sent in to them while you are in Norway, but you do not need to wait for an acknowledge from them before you leave. For me it took six weeks before I got it. Whit this paper the boot is allowed to be Norway one (1) year. They count from the day you arrived to Norway. (But they do not do any check when you really came.) During that time you can leave the boot for how long time you want. After one year you can send in a new for to the custom and be allowed to stay another year, but you cant get any more.

[AUK]

Hi TJ D,
We are on the hard in Brønnøysund for the second winter and have had no problems with the Customs & Excise.
Application for the first winter was made by e-mail when we had decided on our port of stay and the positive response came 1 week later.
Foreign boats can get permission to stay without any duty (VAT) paid for 1 year and if you apply before the lapse of that year, you will readily get permission for another year.
Quite easy and we enjoy the West Coast with its endless possibilities.
Good luck !
Niels

[TJ D]

Thanks, guys.

I called Norway customs, and they said that it was no problem. This was the Bergen office. I was a little worried because we are not planning to haul the boat out and store it, but actually stay on board for the winter with the boat in the water.

They told me that if we weren't doing dry storage, we didn't even have to report to them. We'll get it all in writing when the time comes. We're in England for this winter.

TJ