Us Customs Clearing Form - Point Roberts Marina printable pdf download

IMPORTANT NOTES ON CLEARING US CUSTOMS

The following items have been developed to assist our tenants in clearing Customs.

SAFETY – On long holiday weekends a member of the Marina’s Staff will be manning

the Customs Dock on Sunday and Monday afternoons to facilitate landings and assisting

with Customs clearing. You can contact the Marina Staff member on the weekends on

VHF Channel 66A. Please be patient, as they may not be able to immediately respond if

they are in the middle of assisting a boat. If a line up of boats develops that creates a

dangerous situation in our channel, Customs may elect to board the clearing boats for an

inspection and allow one crewmember to stay ashore to phone, while the captain

proceeds directly to his slip. We realize that this may not work for all boaters and we

continue to work with Customs Officials to find solutions. Custom Officials are very

aware of our safety concern and have been very cooperative in working together with us.

Q-FLAG – It is ENCOURAGED that you hoist and fly a “Q” flag or “Quarantine Flag”

when entering US waters from Canadian waters until you have been cleared by Customs.

Flying the Q flag signals that the vessel requires Customs clearance. For sailboats, the Q

flag is flown on the starboard spreader, on powerboats it is normally displayed on the

mast. If you are a power boat with no mast, the Q flag can be displayed on the bow. The

Q flag is yellow in color and can be purchased at Westwind Marine.

NEXUS or I-68 – A boat may clear via cell phone as soon as it reaches US waters by

calling 1-800-562-5943. Because the local Customs Office does not have access to your

records if you clear by the 800 number, they ask that you write the LAST 6 DIGITS of

the clearing number on a white-board and hold it up to the Customs Officer as you

proceed past him to your slip. If you fail to do this, the Officer will not know that you

have cleared and may direct you to pull over.

INFORMATION FOR CLEARING – We have drawn up an unofficial Customs

clearing form for your convenience. The form contains all of the information that the

Customs officer will require for clearing. You can find an on-line form on our website at

FISHING – We received clarification from US Customs that dropping a line in Canadian

waters DOES NOT require the boat to clear US Customs. However, each boater is

responsible for obeying all fishing regulations as set forth by the State of Washington.

BLAINE CLEARING – We understand that Blaine is now clearing by appointment only

at 360-332-6318.

So far we have not experienced a significant amount of Blaine traffic,

but will continue to monitor the situation and its impact on our customers.

Y:\NEW FILE STRUCTURE\Marina Office\Customs & Immigration\US_Customs_Clearing & form.doc

Us Customs Clearing Form - Point Roberts Marina