With the new Customs procedures and this change in boatyard rules I am wondering if the USVI-BVI Friendship Day festivities will be much fun this year.
[color:"red"]By Tom Oat
stjohnnewspapermon.com
USVI boatowners accustomed to hauling out their vessels – which in many cases are their businesses – for maintenance work at the popular Nanny Cay boatyard in the British Virgin Islands during slow periods are finding out they can’t work on their own boats – without a BVI non-resident work permit.
The change comes on the heels of a major shift in Her Majesty’s Customs rules which now requires all non-resident day excursion visitors to personally present their identification to Her Majesty’s Customs — as USVI-based vessels always have had to on their return from the BVI at St. John’s Cruz Bay Creek as the “closest” U.S. port in lieu of the
While USVI excursion boat operators are trying to figure out how the major change in clearing customs will impact their business operations next season, now they have to get a temporary work permit fromk BVI officials to work on their own vessels in a BVI boatyard, according to one ancient mariner.
“You can still haul your boat, but you can’t work on it yourself anymore,” the veteran sailor reported to stjohnnewspapermon.com — without a non-belonger work permit.
Now, USVI boat owners have to get a temporary work permit to perform work on their own vessels after years of being able to do much of their seasonal maintenance themselves in the BVI shipyard, the old salt said matter-of-factly.
“They tell you how to do that, who get the work permit for you – for a fee,” the captain reported.
stjohnnewspapermon.com
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