Clearing into or out of the French side to the Dutch rench side is questionable.

Making you clear immigration when going from the French side to the Dutch side or vice versa is in violation of the Treaty of Concordia which guarantees free passage between the 2 sides. There has been talk from Dutch side immigration that boats going from the dutch side to the french side have to clear out and back in. There are over 30 tour operators that go from the Dutch side to the French side every day and we are trying to find out exactly what the story is. As of now they have not been able to show us a law that says we have to do clearance. It seems that they make up the rules and they want. if they require boats to clear, when that have never left the territorial waters of Sint Maarten, then they have to have every vehicle, bus, car and taxi do the same.
If you are coming from outside the territorial waters then you do have to clear. ex: Anguilla, St. Barts or if you went more than 3 miles from shore.