[QUOTE=smoker;153134]It’s simply not possible. You cannot enter the country without a visa and you cannot enter the docks without a TWIC. The rules say so. A sailor has to be given shore leave and that too is in the rules. The TWIC rules negate that. The local chaplain with TWIC is always seen ferrying the foreign sailors around.
If the maritime industry gets this, then the airline industry too will demand it and pretty soon the entire country. This will open a Pandoras box, which no country or politician will risk.[/QUOTE]
I see many foreign ships with foreign crewmen in US ports. None of them have US work visas or twic cards.
[QUOTE=lm1883;153207]Yup. There is no visa requirement to work in US waters on a foreign flag vessel, the visa requirement is only to go ashore and like jdcavo said, they need to escorted by someone with a TWIC to the gate. Many foreign officers, particularly Indians, have their families aboard and enjoy a port call in the US. Should the jones act be fully repealed our new coastal seafarers would be working foreign flag and the only time there would be a visa issue is during crew change. That is easily taken care of with a stop in the Bahamas or a trip to Canada.[/QUOTE]
Sorry c.captain for dragging this.
Let’s be very clear. The OP who started this thread is/was discussing domestic trade. Nothing complicated in understanding that, right?
tugsailor has a co named Tugs R Me, Inc and has an ATB named lm1883 which does business hauling stuff between the ports of NYC and Boston ONLY. Additionally, he also has a tug and barge which hauls stuff between the Ports of LA and HNL ONLY. Those 2 routes constitute domestic trade and by current federal laws as employment within the borders of USA meant for US citizens/residents ONLY. Hence, as a foreigner, you would need a work permit to work on these 2 routes and no category of work permit/visa exists for unlic mariners aka blue collared workers. CLEAR? For lic officers, the only current route is H1 visa and the feds won’t give that visa to lic foreign officers.
You and tugsailor are getting mixed up with foreign flagged ships involved in foreign trade and visiting ports in USA to load/unload cargo under normal operations of business involving foreign trade. These ships come in from international waters, load/unload and go back out, something which happens world wide. You don’t need a work permit for that as you’re only visiting USA and not working domestically.
Re TWIC, go through all my posts on this thread and I’ve been pointing this out with a .pdf file as proof even before Mr Cavo said it.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;153203]I see many foreign ships with foreign crewmen in US ports. None of them have US work visas or twic cards.[/QUOTE]
it’s called a “crew list” visa and are used world over
if a foreign ship is in the US for more than 29 days, then the crewlist visas expire and the foreign nationals need to leave the US.
this was a big problem with foreign flagged casino vessels which would leave a US port on cruise to nowhere but not touch a foreign port thus not completing an international voyage nor a domestic one either…I have heard of these vessels every month going to Mexico say just to have that monthly foreign port call to allow the crew the remain on their vessel effectively getting around the need for work permits for their people. What was that one in Texas that went bust?