Customs Information

Updated: 30 August 2010  (click here for a printer friendly PDF version of this document)

• Bypassing US Customs Docks with Nexus or I-68
• Passports
• Arrival Reporting Procedures
• Entering Canada  
• Entering USA
• Restrictions

Get Your I-68 and Bypass US Customs - You can totally bypass the stop at the US customs docks if everyone on board possesses a I-68 or Nexus document. The Cruise Committee is working with the Anacortes office of Customs and Border Protection to issue I-68 documents on Sunday, September 5. More information on the I-68 program for Puget Sound can be found at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/pleasure_boats/boats/pleasure_locations/psound_newash.xml. The process takes at least 20 minutes per couple. The boat skipper should ensure that all parties on the boat go to the Customs office in the main office building at Cap Sante. Each person must have a valid passport. The skipper also  must bring boat documentation including the vessel name, the Coast Guard registration number or the Washington State license number, and have a 2010 Customs Decal number. The latter can be purchased at the office. Cost for the I-68 is $16 per person or $32 for a family, cash or check only.

Passports - Valid US passports or approved substitutes (Enhanced Driver License, NEXUS) facilitate entry into Canada and and now are required upon return to the U.S. It is strongly recommended that you bring your US passports, otherwise re-entry into the US will be very difficult. Children traveling without both parents must have a certified letter from the non-traveling parent allowing the traveling parent (or grandparent) to take their children into Canada. Resident aliens must have valid papers to return to the U.S.  Get more information at http://www.getyouhome.gov/html/lang_eng/index.html

Arrival Reporting - Unless all of the passengers on your boat have NEXUS or I-68 cards for US entrance or your boat was pre-cleared, you will be required to meet face-to-face with customs and immigrations personnel at a designated customs clearing station. To facilitate the clearance process, have at hand the following items for reference: 1) passport for each person; 2) the vessel registration number (state license or USCG registration); 3) its name and length; 4) Customs User Fee decal number (USA); 5) full name and mailing address of each traveler; 6) birth date; 7) citizenship; 8) purpose and duration of stay; 9) declarations of goods; and 10) Canadian clearance number (when returning to the USA). Permanently record any clearance number given to you into the ship’s log.

The Master or the Master's designee may go ashore, but only to report the arrival to Customs, either in person or by telephone on the dock. Except to assist in making the boat fast to the wharf, no other person may get off of or leave the boat, and no other baggage or merchandise may be removed until the report of arrival has been made and release has been granted by a Customs Inspector. No one from your boat should make any personal contact (i.e., shaking hands with friends) with anyone else who is not on your boat, until clearance is granted. The U.S. penalty for failure to report is $5,000 for the first violation, and the boat may become subject to seizure and forfeiture.

All vessels with anything to declare, and all vessels 30 feet or more in length, have to pay an annual processing fee, at or before the first time of arrival into the U.S. during each calendar year. If you report by telephone, this matter may be accomplished by either credit card or a mail reply. Many charter boats will have this customs decal fee already paid.

Entering Canada

NO Pre-clearance - It wasn't possible to work out a secure pre-clearance process with Canada because the Causeway dock facilities can't be properly secured, unlike the situation in 2005 at the Wharf Street Floats. For this reason, all boaters, unless everyone on the boat has Nexus cards, must follow the normal customs dock procedures.

Customs Dock Clearance - Persons entering Canada by boat  must report to a Designated Reporting Station listed below. Once docked at one, you communicate with a Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) office by telephone at 1-888-226-7277. The reporting stations have a direct dial phone on the dock. The following marinas on the south part of Vancouver Island serve as Designated Reporting Stations:

Victoria: Victoria Customs Dock (near Wharf Street Floats)
Sidney: Canoe Cove, Port of Sidney, Van Isle Marina
South Pender Island:  Bedwell Harbor (Summer)

Each dock holds about four to six boats. Because the area in Victoria Harbour is crowded with pleasure boats and taxing sea planes, cruisers may want to stop on the way from Roche Harbor at Sidney and clear at the Port of Sidney or at the Van Isle Marina to avoid the crowds.
 

Entering U.S.A.

With Pre-Clearance - Those boats who have submitted pre-clearance for every person on the boat can proceed directly to a special customs processing station on Dock A on the breakwater at Friday Harbor. A customs officer will have your clearance papers and the time needed to enter the passenger information and to do the security checks is minimized. Do not stop at the special dock if you haven't submitted pre-clearance information before 25 August 2010 for every passenger on the vessel.

With I-68 or Nexus - Boats with all passengers carrying an I-68 or Nexus card can get clearance approval in before their arrival by phoning 1-800-562-5943 and talking to the Small Craft Reporting Center. If all is in order, you will be given a clearance number and can proceed directly to your dock in Friday Harbor.

Without Pre-Clearance - All boats entering the USA on Thursday, September 10, after the Sidney, BC, overnight must stop at the US Customs dock at either Roche Harbor or at Friday Harbor.  The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers recommend clearing in Roche Harbor just after leaving Sidney. The customs kiosk at the end of the docks has computers there, whereas the customs office in Friday Harbor requires docking the vessel in a secured temporary spot, then the captain must hike several hundred yards up to the office on the mainland. Roche Harbor is definitely the easiest way to clear US customs, unless everyone on board has a Nexus or I-68 document.

The master of the vessel must report to a Customs and Border Protection officer at one of the Ports of Entry listed below in person during normal business hours (0800 to 2000, seven days a week) and use the associated phone number to contact the local CBP. Note: bringing non-citizen passengers who have not been previously cleared into the USA on a multiple-entry visa is not permitted and the captain is subject to a major fine.

If you arrive outside of normal business hours, phone 1-800-562-5943 from one of the reporting stations listed below to get instructions from CBP.

Phone Clearance - To use the phone clearance system, every person on the vessel must have a pre-issued I-68 form or a NEXUS border crossing card. For more information, contact your local Customs and Border Protection office or read the "Get Your I-68 and Bypass Customs" section above.

Restrictions - Canada: You cannot bring the following produce into Canada: apples, peaches, pears, apricots, cherries, plums, nectarines, quince, hawthorn (haws), corn-on-the-cob, and potatoes. Canada restricts imports of alcohol and tobacco to the following quantities per adult:  no more than 1.5 liter of wine, or 1.14 liter spirits, or 24 cans of beer per adult.  No more than 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, or 2 kilograms of tobacco. (Further information 250-363-3618 or at http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5082-eng.html#s2x12)