Leaving and Re-entering the US by Boat

Prerequisites

• The difference between state registration and Coast Guard documentation. See US Boating Law & Pollution Rules.
• When a recreational boat needs an FCC radio licence. See US VHF Radio & Distress Calls.
• Comfort planning a coastal passage of a day or more.

Learning Objectives

This lesson covers the customs and immigration part of the ASA 104 Bareboat Cruising standard and the documents item of ASA 106 Advanced Coastal Cruising. By the end of it you will be able to:

• Explain when a returning boat must report to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and how fast.
• Use the CBP ROAM app or a phone report, and know when an in-person inspection is still needed.
• Say which boats need a user fee decal, and what a cruising licence is for.
• Describe the basic steps to enter the Bahamas, the most common first foreign trip for US cruisers.
• Fly the US ensign, courtesy flag and Q flag correctly.
• List the papers to carry: vessel documents, passports, radio licence.

A warning before we start. Customs procedures change. CBP has replaced its reporting systems twice in the last decade, and Bahamas fees changed in 2025 and again in 2026. Treat this lesson as the framework, and check the official CBP and Bahamas Customs pages in the week before you leave.

Leaving the US

For most recreational trips, leaving is the easy part.

• Under 19 CFR 4.60, a US pleasure boat that is not engaged in trade does not need to obtain clearance from CBP before departing for a foreign port. This covers documented boats with a recreational endorsement and undocumented boats wholly owned by US citizens.
• A boat that goes offshore and comes back without touching a foreign port, a foreign vessel or foreign goods has not legally left the US. A day fishing in the Gulf Stream, or a "cruise to nowhere", needs no report on return.
• Some countries further afield ask to see a departure clearance (often called a zarpe) from your last port. If you are going beyond the Bahamas, check what your next country expects, and ask CBP for a clearance if you need one.

Before you go, also check:

• Your boat insurance covers the foreign waters you plan to visit.
• Your charter agreement allows foreign travel.

Coming Home: Reporting to CBP

The core rule is in 19 CFR 4.2 and the law behind it, 19 U.S.C. 1433: the master of a vessel arriving from a foreign port or place must report the arrival to CBP immediately.

"Foreign port or place" includes more than you might think. You must report if, since leaving the US, you have:

• Landed in another country, even briefly.
• Come alongside or made contact with a foreign vessel, including a vessel hovering offshore.
• Received anything (fuel, fish, goods) outside US territorial waters.

What immediately means. As soon as you arrive at a US dock or anchorage, before anyone else goes ashore. Until CBP releases you:

• No one may leave the boat or come aboard, except to report.
• No baggage or goods may be taken off.
• The boat must be available for inspection.

Penalties. Under 19 U.S.C. 1436, failing to report can bring a civil penalty of $5,000 for a first violation and $10,000 for each later one, and the boat can be seized. A master who breaks the rule on purpose can also face a criminal fine and up to a year in prison.

How to Report: ROAM, Phone or In Person

CBP retired its old Small Vessel Reporting System and stopped accepting float plans. You now have three routes.

When ROAM is not enough. You will usually still need a face-to-face inspection if anyone aboard needs an I-94 (most non-US visitors), if you have goods to declare and pay duty on, or if you want a cruising licence for a foreign boat. Holders of trusted traveller cards such as NEXUS, or the Canadian border boat landing permit (I-68), have their own simplified arrangements; check that yours still covers you.

Approval in ROAM is not complete until you see it. If the app has not released you, everyone stays aboard.

Each CBP region publishes its own phone numbers and reporting locations. Save the page for your landfall before you leave.

The User Fee Decal

Private vessels 30 feet or longer that enter the US must have a CBP user fee decal for the calendar year.

• The decal runs from 1 January to 31 December. It is not pro-rated, so buying one in November gets you two months.
• Buy it online through CBP's DTOPS system (Decal and Transponder Online Procurement System) well before you leave, because it is mailed to you. Paper applications also exist.
• If you arrive without one, you will have to apply and pay when you report, and CBP will not release a boat with fees outstanding.
• The fee is set in 19 CFR 24.22 and is adjusted from time to time. Check the current amount on DTOPS.

Foreign Boats and Cruising Licences

If you are sailing a foreign-flagged pleasure boat in US waters, the default is that it must formally enter and clear at every US port. A cruising licence removes most of that paperwork.

• Cruising licences are only available to boats from countries that give US yachts the same privilege. The list is in 19 CFR 4.94(b).
• A licence lasts for up to one year, and is issued on condition that the boat does not engage in trade.
• It does not remove the duty to report. The master must still report arrival at each US port of call, which can be done through ROAM.
• You apply when you first arrive, usually in person or through ROAM.

Entering the Bahamas

The Bahamas is the classic first foreign cruise from Florida. The basic steps, from Bahamas Customs:

1. Before you arrive, request a cruising permit online through Click2Clear, the Bahamas Customs portal, and pay the fees. For permits of 12 months or less you do not need to register an account; use the "Request Cruising Permit" option.
2. Fly the yellow Q flag as you approach and head straight for a designated port of entry.
3. Only the captain goes ashore until the boat is cleared. Everyone else stays aboard.
4. The captain takes original proof of citizenship or identity for everyone aboard, and the boat's registration or documentation, to Customs and Immigration. You will complete an inward declaration and a health declaration.
5. Click2Clear does not finish the job: entry is only legal once an officer approves your declaration in person.
6. Once cleared, take down the Q flag and hoist the Bahamas courtesy flag.

Fees. The Bahamas changed its structure in 2026. There are 30-day, 6-month and 12-month permits priced by boat length, an anchorage fee if you are not staying in a marina, and a per-person tax when there are more than three non-resident passengers. Check the current table on the Bahamas Customs site.

Firearms, pets and fishing all have their own rules. If any apply to you, read the Bahamas Customs and Agriculture guidance before you go.

Flags at Home and Abroad

• US ensign. Fly the US national ensign at the stern when abroad. In foreign waters use the national ensign, not the US yacht ensign or a club ensign, because it identifies your nationality.
• Courtesy flag. The civil ensign of the country you are visiting, flown from the starboard spreader. Nothing else should fly above it or to starboard of it on that side. Take it down when you return to US waters.
• Q flag. The plain yellow signal flag Q means "my vessel is healthy and I request free pratique". Fly it from the starboard spreader on arrival until you are cleared. In many countries the courtesy flag goes up only after clearance.

Papers to Carry

Keep these together in a waterproof folder, as originals.

For the boat

• USCG Certificate of Documentation or state registration. Documentation is federal proof of nationality and is easier to use abroad; a state registration card is accepted in the Bahamas but may raise questions further afield. On a charter boat, check the papers are aboard and permit foreign travel.
• FCC ship station licence. A VHF used only in US waters needs no licence, but the FCC requires a ship station licence if you travel to a foreign port such as the Bahamas, Canada or Mexico. You apply on FCC Form 605 through the Universal Licensing System, and the licence lasts ten years. It also gives you an internationally valid MMSI.
• CBP decal number if the boat is 30 feet or longer.
• Insurance certificate showing foreign cover.

For the people

• Passports for everyone. Since 2009, US citizens returning by sea from within the Western Hemisphere need a document that meets the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). A passport always works. CBP also accepts a passport card, an enhanced driver's licence or a trusted traveller card such as NEXUS for return by sea, but the Bahamas and other countries you visit set their own rules, and most expect a passport.
• Visas for non-US crew. Visitors who normally use the Visa Waiver Program should check carefully, because that programme does not generally cover arrival on a private boat. Ask a US consulate before inviting foreign friends.
• A crew list with names, dates of birth, nationalities and passport numbers. Every officer will ask for it.

Worked Example: A Weekend in Bimini

You and three friends, all US citizens, plan to sail a 36-foot documented sloop from Miami to Bimini and back.

1. A month before: renew the CBP decal on DTOPS, apply for the FCC ship station licence, confirm insurance covers the Bahamas, and check all four passports are valid.
2. The week before: check the CBP and Bahamas Customs pages for changes, download ROAM, create login.gov accounts and set up the boat profile. Request the cruising permit on Click2Clear and pay. Buy a Bahamas courtesy flag and a Q flag.
3. Leaving Miami: no CBP departure clearance is needed for a US pleasure boat.
4. Arriving Bimini: Q flag up, tie up at a port-of-entry marina. Only the skipper goes ashore, with four passports, the documentation certificate and the Click2Clear confirmation. After clearance, Q flag down, courtesy flag up.
5. Returning to Florida: take the courtesy flag down as you enter US waters. On arrival, everyone stays aboard while the skipper submits the ROAM report. You are released after a short video call. Only then does anyone step ashore.

Common Mistakes

• Letting crew step ashore to buy ice before CBP has released the boat.
• Assuming a quick stop in a foreign port, or meeting a foreign boat offshore, does not count.
• Forgetting the user fee decal, then finding there is no time to get one mailed.
• Relying on a domestic MMSI and no FCC licence for a foreign trip.
• Using last year's fee table for the Bahamas.
• Flying the courtesy flag on the port side, or leaving it up after returning home.
• Inviting a foreign friend aboard without checking whether they need a visa.

Summary

• A US pleasure boat does not need CBP clearance to leave, but must report immediately on return from a foreign port, foreign vessel or foreign goods.
• Report through the CBP ROAM app, by phone, or in person. No one leaves the boat until released.
• Failing to report risks penalties of $5,000 and $10,000 and seizure of the boat.
• Boats of 30 feet or more need a calendar-year user fee decal from DTOPS.
• Cruising licences let foreign yachts from listed countries cruise US waters for up to a year, but still report at each port.
• In the Bahamas: Click2Clear, Q flag, port of entry, captain alone ashore, in-person approval.
• Carry documentation or registration, an FCC ship station licence, passports and a crew list.

Check Your Understanding

1. You sail 30 miles offshore to fish and come back to the same marina without meeting another boat. Do you report to CBP? No. A boat that returns without calling at a foreign port, contacting a foreign vessel or receiving foreign goods has not left the US.
2. What does 19 CFR 4.2 require when you arrive from a foreign port? The master must report the arrival to CBP immediately. No one may leave or board until CBP releases the boat.
3. Which boats need a CBP user fee decal, and how long does it last? Private vessels 30 feet or longer entering the US. It covers one calendar year.
4. You arrive in the Bahamas. Who goes ashore first, and what flag is flying? Only the captain, to clear Customs and Immigration, with the yellow Q flag flying until cleared.
5. Your VHF needs no licence in US waters. What changes when you sail to the Bahamas? You need an FCC ship station licence, applied for on Form 605, because you are travelling to a foreign port.

Sources

• https://www.cbp.gov/travel/pleasure-boats-private-flyers/pleasure-boat-overview
• https://www.cbp.gov/travel/pleasure-boats-private-flyers/pleasure-boat-locations/md
• https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/us-recreational-vessel-and-fisherman-clearance-procedures
• https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/western-hemisphere-travel-initiative/faqs
• https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/19/4.2
• https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/19/4.60
• https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/19/4.94
• https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/maritime-mobile/ship-radio-stations/ship-radio-stations
• https://www.bahamascustoms.gov.bs/VISITOR-INFO/MARINE-VESSEL-DECLARATIONS-CRUISING-PERMITS/
• https://www.bahamascustoms.gov.bs/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Pleasure-Vessel-Clearance-Recent-Updates-Revised.pdf
• https://www.usps.org/f_stuff/etiquett.html