I was recently in Spain working on a small MV. When on the dock, I was a approached by two immigration authorities asking for my passport. Instead, I handed them my red credential book. They were happy with that.
Later I went to the local immigration office because I wanted to get my passport “stamped out”, so that I would not burn my Schengen 90 days. I presented my Red Book and they refused to stamp me out. I think I need a seaman’s book. However USCG does not offer these. Any suggestions? I’m going back after January to start working again and want to make sure I have all my ducks in order.
Did the first two officials on the dock stamp your red Merchant Mariner Credential book by mistake? I’ve never heard of anyone in the past 30 years clearing immigration/customs on a US mariner credential alone. Long time ago I think US mariners could clear some customs & immigration with a Z-Card alone but that was a long time ago. You gotta use a passport bro.
Suggestions? Get a passport. The MMC, no matter its form, is not a passport and immigration officials are not going to stamp it for Visa/Schengen purposes.
In my original post, I was requesting the my passport be stamped out because I was now going to be crew aboard a vessel. I was using my red book as proof of my MMC status. They could care less and said I was a tourist. Not true. But there is not way to change their minds.
You can see in my original post that I have a passport and it was stamped when I got off the plan. I am trying to find the procedures for stamping out as crew aboard a vessel. I know the MMC is not a passport. Thanks for your response.
No. They just looked at it. The one officer explained to the other that with these credentials I needed to stay within 10 km of the boat at all times and always reside on the boat overnight. They never asked for my passport. I did have my passport, which was stamped in when I landed. I’m trying to figure out how to stamp out so that I can work longer than 90 days in the Schengen while employed aboard a vessel.
A little bit off the subject… back around 2017-2018 we had reason to drive officers across the border from WA to BC Canada at the big Blaine crossing. Long story, but in two instances they accepted MMC in lieu of passport. Don’t know why or whether they would do it now.
At that time, you could cross the Canada and Mexico borders with even just a drivers license. Did it many times while my ship was in Cherry Point/Ferndale. Not sure if that’s still true or not, haven’t crossed a land border in a long time.
You can cross into Canada with an enhanced driver’s license but not a normal one. I travel BC quite often for many years now. (I just used a passport in the past. Now my NEXUS card).
I agree with this in my experience. If his ship is still in port then he is still in port and needs to remain “stamped in”.
When I worked offshore Trinidad I cleared in customs and immigration upon arrival at the airport, then cleared out from the port immigration office when going to the ship. But if I came back into the port I had to clear in again, and always at the ports immigration office specifically.
If his vessel is cleared into the country there’d be no justification to clear out a mariner working on the vessel before the vessel departs.
Have the ship / yacht Agent arrange the “stamp out of EU process” for you. In Spain the two biggest for yachts are BWA and EVO. The process you describe is legit and done hundreds of times a day around the EU
I just got mine renewed before expiry. All done online. They did not require the interview. Apparently they waived that a couple of years ago. Came in mail in a couple of weeks.
This. I have done this also in Spain - even if the ship is not leaving, if the company has you added to the crew list and you’re assigned to the vessel, you should be able to stamp out of the EU when you’re signed aboard, even if you & the ship stay in the EU. The issue in Spain is they have had some recent-ish high profile instances of crew abandonment, so they are hesitant to do this if the vessel is not scheduled to depart. After some back and forth with our agent we got it done, but it was a bit of a rigamarole. The company/captain/agent should manage this for you. If you are the company/captain, then work with your agent.