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US Immigration and overnight stays


babs135
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Reading another thread about how long it may take to go through Immigration, etc when we reach New York made me wonder what happens if the stop is an overnight one? Will we have to go through the whole rigmarole again or will we be able to just walk off the ship?

 

We will be disembarking when we reach San Francisco but the stop there is also an overnight one. Because we will be leaving the ship altogether at this point :loudcry: will we have to go through immigration again? The stop before SF is Mexico.

 

Thanks

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When doing overnight stops in Manhattan and staying on board, you only go through the immigration process once, the rest of the time when going on and off the ship you just have the security checks. Don't know what happens when your next port of call is still in the USA. Although the Jones Act should kick in and in that case should not be necessary unless the cruise stops in another non US Port enroute.

Edited by Pennbank
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Last year on QV, after having been through the Panama Canal, the last stop being in Guatemala before arriving in LA, it was of course necessary to go through the customs yet again. The ship was only in LA for that day, with some disembarking and new pax arriving. A lot of the problems getting of the ship were caused by those who just cannot follow instructions and adhere to times given!

On your second day in SFO, I am sure you will be disembarked early in the morning, having arrived the day before.

I hope this helps.

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For what it's worth, the immigration check in Seattle on Monday (round trip Alaska cruise; the only foreign port was 10 hours in Victoria BC) was about as cursory as they come. The agent (standing at the baggage hall exit, no cubicle) glanced at our passports and if he verified that we matched the photos I missed it. San Francisco probably will be closer to that than to New York.

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When doing overnight stops in Manhattan and staying on board, you only go through the immigration process once, the rest of the time when going on and off the ship you just have the security checks. Don't know what happens when your next port of call is still in the USA. Although the Jones Act should kick in and in that case should not be necessary unless the cruise stops in another non US Port enroute.

 

I don't think the Jones Act has anything to do with this. It's just a matter of entering the US and staying there. Once you've cleared Immigration at the first US port, you won't have to do it again unless you have another port outside the US. They try hard to set up the schedule so that you don't keep entering and leaving the US. On the Cunard 175 TA, we entered the US in Boston, had immigration there. The next and final stop was New York, and we did not have to go through Immigration again. Same thing on a Cunard Canada cruise where we entered in Boston and a HAL Canada cruise where our first stop was Bar Harbor. All US after that, so no repeat Immigration inspection.

 

 

Reading another thread about how long it may take to go through Immigration, etc when we reach New York made me wonder what happens if the stop is an overnight one? Will we have to go through the whole rigmarole again or will we be able to just walk off the ship?

 

We will be disembarking when we reach San Francisco but the stop there is also an overnight one. Because we will be leaving the ship altogether at this point :loudcry: will we have to go through immigration again? The stop before SF is Mexico.

 

Thanks

 

If you've been to Mexico before San Francisco, you've been out of the US and have to go through the entry process again, even though you did it in NY. In San Francisco, this will be first thing on the first day, and after that, you're cleared to come and go as you wish.

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For what it's worth, the immigration check in Seattle on Monday (round trip Alaska cruise; the only foreign port was 10 hours in Victoria BC) was about as cursory as they come. The agent (standing at the baggage hall exit, no cubicle) glanced at our passports and if he verified that we matched the photos I missed it. San Francisco probably will be closer to that than to New York.

I should amend my post by observing that my arrival in Seattle from Alaska was a closed-end cruise, where all the passengers had originated in Seattle so were simply re-entering the US. If some passengers had boarded in a foreign port it's probably more involved.

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I should amend my post by observing that my arrival in Seattle from Alaska was a closed-end cruise, where all the passengers had originated in Seattle so were simply re-entering the US. If some passengers had boarded in a foreign port it's probably more involved.

 

Were most of the passengers US citizens, too? It slows down when there are more non-US and the "inspection" is more detailed.

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When doing overnight stops in Manhattan and staying on board, you only go through the immigration process once, the rest of the time when going on and off the ship you just have the security checks. Don't know what happens when your next port of call is still in the USA. Although the Jones Act should kick in and in that case should not be necessary unless the cruise stops in another non US Port enroute.

 

Once again, the Jones Act has absolutely nothing to do with passenger vessels. You are perhaps referring to the PVSA (Passenger Vessel Services Act)? And neither the Jones Act (cargo ships) nor the PVSA have anything to do with customs and immigration procedures at ports. And a cruise that begins in a foreign port, as these TA's do, has nothing to do with the PVSA, since this is not transportation of passengers between two different US ports.

 

And you are obviously confused as to what the PVSA does, since sailing from one US port to another (without "permanently disembarking", meaning you are allowed port stay visits ashore as long as you are getting back on the ship), would not "kick in the Jones Act (sic, PVSA)". Now, if the ship did stop at an intervening foreign port, then there would be another US immigration clearance, as the ship is coming from foreign.

 

As noted above, once you and the ship have cleared immigration upon arrival, then you are "in the country" and there will be no further immigration checks as you come and go as you please during your overnight. And even if the next port is a US port, there will be no immigrations clearance there either, since you "never left the country".

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And you are obviously confused as to what the PVSA does, since sailing from one US port to another (without "permanently disembarking", meaning you are allowed port stay visits ashore as long as you are getting back on the ship), would not "kick in the Jones Act (sic, PVSA)".

 

When I'd want to visit Russia by car, I'd need to go through a lot of paperwork. Yet, when I visited St Petersburg on a cruise, I can't remember much paperwork entering Russia. (except for long lines and mean looking border people).

 

Does a passenger "just visiting for a few hours" have a special status as compared to "we're planning to stay for 3 weeks, maybe longer, we're not sure"? I mean besides cabotage laws, but somewhat similar to being in transfer on a airport and not "really really" entering the country.

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When I'd want to visit Russia by car, I'd need to go through a lot of paperwork. Yet, when I visited St Petersburg on a cruise, I can't remember much paperwork entering Russia. (except for long lines and mean looking border people).

 

 

 

Does a passenger "just visiting for a few hours" have a special status as compared to "we're planning to stay for 3 weeks, maybe longer, we're not sure"? I mean besides cabotage laws, but somewhat similar to being in transfer on a airport and not "really really" entering the country.

 

 

 

Cruise passengers have to been on organized tour either ship or private. Private companies get the visa for the length of your tour. Same for the ship.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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When I'd want to visit Russia by car, I'd need to go through a lot of paperwork. Yet, when I visited St Petersburg on a cruise, I can't remember much paperwork entering Russia. (except for long lines and mean looking border people).

 

Does a passenger "just visiting for a few hours" have a special status as compared to "we're planning to stay for 3 weeks, maybe longer, we're not sure"? I mean besides cabotage laws, but somewhat similar to being in transfer on a airport and not "really really" entering the country.

 

Different countries have different visa or immigration requirements for various reasons to enter the country. Many have made policies that cruise ship passengers are "in transit" similarly to airports, and some don't and require a full tourist visa.

 

What my comment about "permanently disembarking" is meant to point out is that up until the 80's, foreign flag cruise ships could not have consecutive US ports of call, since this was considered to be "transportation between two US ports" and therefore restricted to US flag vessels. In the 80's, the law was changed to include the terminology of "permanently disembarking" at a different US port than you embarked at, to allow cruise ships to have US ports of call during the cruise. So, this is a cabotage issue, not an immigration issue.

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