TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Customs and Immigration Martin / Barts / Anguilla

C&I when clearing in and out can take from 10 minutes to over an hour; but is a relatively simple process.

1. First you need to clear out. The captain (and only the captain) goes to the office with the boat's paperwork (registration) and the passports of everyone aboard and fills out the form(s). Once you have pratique (the outbound clearance), you have 24 hours to leave the country.
2. When entering foreign waters, you fly the yellow flag on the starboard spreader and the captain (and only the captain) takes the paperwork, passports and exit clearance to C&I and fills in form(s).

This process repeats for each country. Which side of the island are you chartering from - the Dutch or the French? If on the French side in Marigot you can clear out at the Island Waterworld store or the ferry dock, or you can clear out at my favourite location in Anse Marcel. Clearing in on the French islands such as St. Martin and also St. Barths is identical, they have a standardized identical French system and the costs are usually around €5. The non-French islands are different and not as relaxed or cheap.
Anguilla uses the https://www.sailclear.com/ online system. Clearing into and out of the Dutch side is done at the Simpson Bay Bridge police station.

I've been clearing in-out for years and on most of the islands. I always wear a clean polo shirt and shower/shave beforehand and bring my Kindle for reading material. It can take 10 minutes if all goes well, but I've often had over an hour of waiting - hence the Kindle.