BVI Work Permits for Boat Maintenance

This was posted today on a FB Group about working on your non-BVI registered boat:

This is confirmed via email with Keith from Nanny Cay. (US or otherwise) VESSELS not registered or licensed in the BVI: OWNERS (unpaid), or crew working on private/commercial--whatever/whichever are now required to have temporary work permits per persons workg on the boat. (you can do yourself to save $ applied for and issued by BVI Labour dept.) to do any work while hauled out in the yard (any BVI yard). The expedited permits (applied for via a business service on your behalf) are roughly $300/person, per permit and takes 48 hours to process via that business service (Keith's from Nanny Cay has contact info). You can do it yourself for a savings but it must be in person and it is a minimum 10-15 day lead time. I have contacted the Business licensing office and labor dept to inquire directly with no reply to any of my messages. The application is TOTALLY skewed toward BVI jobs hiring US employees (both scenarios not applicable for US citizen taking a boat to the BVI to do some personal UNPAID maintenance--not sure how this interpretation of the law is legal...) anyway, heads up boating community of the USVI. Please give feedback with any updates as this evolves. Would be great to band together to have a lobbying presence similar to the airline pilots. We need representation with issues like this.
Anyway the point of this post was not to complain as much as it is to INFORM so that boaters do not go check into the BVI, haul put etc only to find that they are slapped with a cease and desist and fined like some have been over the past several weeks. If you choose to go--be prepared ahead of time with permits for each working person (paid or not) aboard your boat. At least that is what I was told. Go direct to the source for confirmation. And this is evolving so what is true today may be different tomorrow. Just passing along what info I have right now....hope this helps others do what needs to get done ahead of arrival in prep--no surprises. Plan ahead if you choose to go.

What does this mean for the mega yachts that start showing up in Dec. Will every crewmember need a permit? Can you change a impeller on a generator while doing a bareboat charter?
G

It may be best to not haul the engine on deck to service any of the engine mechanisms?

Crewed yachts coming into US waters with any non US citizens as crew members have experienced a long list of government burdens and hurdles for a very long time.

What is using a winch to hoist or trim a sail? Lifting rhum bottles to pour over ice?

Good time to rifle through the CD collection and put Buffet's " Don't Stop the Carnival" in heavy rotation.

This would apply to Megayachts as well as any vessel not registered in the BVI's, unfortunately.

Can you hear the Whoosh of fleeing vessels now? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

Everything I have seen and heard down here indicates it only applies for boats on the hard. It does not apply to crews doing normal maintenance on boats in the water.

So if we have buy the $200 permit for our boat does this exempt us. This is getting to the point of absurdity. Can you pull a stick out of your through hull, or does that require a work permit? Is cleaning doing work? Seal a gasket on a porthole, is that $300? We were thinking of bringing our boat back to BVI, but leaving her in SXM is appearing more attractive

Flogging a dead Goose...

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't this the same thing talked about in this thread?

Carol - I wanted to post a first hand report on the issue. That is why I started this thread.

New information on potential permits/costs will continue to surface and impact those of us on private boats, as well as charter boats, coming to the BVI's.

Having first person reports makes decision making much easier and informed.

GlennA - the issue of taxing spare parts and food stuffs is something that I had not seen before.

OK, it just seemed like that you were saying that this was something that hadn't been mentioned before... That's why I was confused.

There is no duty on parts for boats in transit which includes boats temporarily on the hard. Duty is 20% on parts intended for local or perminently based boats.

Also, to my knowlege, there is no duty for ships stores (i.e. food, liquor, etc for consumption on board.)

I hope you are correct, GlennA. But postings I have seen from people in the BVI's on boats indicate there is now duty on food, etc. brought in, as well as suggesting spare parts can be subject to duty.

Fines have actually occurred to private people working on their own boats in Nanny Cay too.

All of this is very ominous for cruisers and hopefully will be addressed by the powers that be, and eliminated so as not to destroy a vital part of the BVI economy.

Is Nanny Cay and/or other boat yards promoting this idea? They are turning away boats due to being at capacity. It would make sense that the yard would like to have boats that their crew provides the services on which is much higher profit than just keeping the boat on the hard.

The yard and the marina do not do maintenance. Bottom painting might be their only service. There are many companies willing to take your money for any repairs. There are also some great independents whose rates are much better than the big shops.

There's a long thread on the Facebook USVI Cruisers group. Keith LiGreci, the boatyard manager at Nanny Cay, is trying to get clarification on owners working on their private boats.

We'll be coming over from St. Thomas for Cat Fight. With any luck there will be more clarity regarding crew needing to report for check in and duty on provisions. It would be FUBAR if we had to pay duty on all of our provisions in order to spend two nights at Jost.

Cheers, RickG

Spares and Ships Stores can be difficult when you consider the standard charter originating on St. Thomas. The BVI has never been consistent with enforcement and many visitors do not accurately report what they have and the intent for the goods.

A legitimate spare would be a single impeller or fan belt intended to be held as a spare and not planned to be used while in the territory. A case of impellers, a case of filters, a case of belts intended for a BVI based charter operator's use on Tortola would be different. A boat with gallons of paint expected to be applied during a stay at Nanny Cay would be different.

When it comes to legitimate ship's stores that would be a supply of goods expected to still be mostly onboard at departure or replenished in the BVI before departure. Goods imported with the expectation they would be mostly consummed would be taxable. Consider how many on this board handle the importation of a cooler of meat for consumption aboard a boat. The BVI uses the term "home use". We owe the duty on goods intended for consumption whether it is collected or not.





Before you flame me and cry in some form of rage... What is the difference between a cooler of meat in my baggage at EIS and a St. Thomas boat showing up for a week with a plan to go home empty clearing customs with $2,000 of beer and Pringles? No duty is owed on my iPad I plan to take back out on the way home. I do owe collected or uncollected the duty on the Pringles and Miller Lite my guest devour and do not replenish locally.

Please let us know what you find out, RickG! Thanks!!

If you have the Temporary Import certificate, does this make you a BVI boat, so we can do our own maintenance.

From what I have been told by someone in the BVI's, you pay $200 for a temporary import certificate (if you want to stay that long) and $300 for each person needing the permit on the boat who will doing maintenance. So $200 + $300 and they let you work on your own boat. Not nice

The standard work permit application requires a copy of your trade license. Is there an exemption for the trade license if you're working on your own boat?

There is also a requirement for a blood test and doctors certificate. Will everyone need to do that?

Is there anyone out there who has successfully gone thru the process?

Here is the official link for the requirements.

I do not understand why work permits are necessary unless you are being compensated for your work. When I was traveling internationally with Disney actors, the only time work permits were required was when there was some reason to believe our actors were doing a job that could have been performed by a local -- in our case, this was never possible since the actor was representing a role played by his/herself. Work permits were easily avoided.

This seems impossible to enforce. How on earth can you keep an owner from repairing his or her OWN boat? It's not as though they are PAYING THEMSELVES to do the work and therefore taking work away from a local? Where can they draw the line? You're not allowed to BARBEQUE on your boat because a belonger might be hired to come out and BARBEQUE FOR YOU??

This is ridiculous...coming from someone who has had to push back MANY times on work permit "requirements"....I wish them good luck with this one....since "work" can be defined as changing a light bulb for some....I do believe that some form of compensation to the "owner" for doing this work will have to be proved in order for them to enforce this. As Walker pointed out in a separate thread..."work" could be defined as sweeping the floor if they're going to be this vague. I think this will end up being more about the crew on "Below Decks" needing permits to "work" than some poor sod who's trying to unclog the head on his own 35 footer <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Here is some cut and paste from the laws of The United States:

The BVI government today announced a ban on autopilot equipped boats. A government minister stated today that the nefarious devices are stealing jobs from locals. They are considering exemptions on a case by case basis and will be setting up a new government division to process autopilot waivers. A application fee of 5000.00 dollars will be required and does not assure approval. Processing time is expected to be 3 weeks to 3 years.
The minister also announced they are taking a hard look at GPS chart plotters and expected at a minimum a new chart plotter tax and perhaps a outright ban. We have thousands of qualified locals who can serve as navigators in the BVI. iPads found with chart plotting software installed will be confiscated and the owners can expect large fines.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Hey, don't give them any ideas!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />

My sentiments exactly

if this is true, it will probably be the last time Below Deck and many other vessels ever sail in BVI waters. As to how they plan to enforce, using the yard managers as their governing force.