What you are attempting to do isn't an uncommon practice - but you don't clearly set out what the conflict in information is in your post. I should think that, as long as the owner can prove that his vessel is in the US and he is prepared to leave as required, there shouldn't be any problems. I would suggest contacting someone by phone in Customs and Immigration in the US proper - perhaps Fort Lauderdale where they have lots of experience with large vessels.
Thanks for the advice , the conflict is that the government site states categorically that you cannot enter the USA on a private yacht with a visa waiver..
We tried to call the 800 # from the Bahamas and it was constantly unreachabble and told to call back, we also tried the website and it just would not load, we emailed their tech site and were told to just keep trying as they had problems.
I've printed the 15 or so emails I have recieved from them today,!
In the end we just had to sail.
We are now in Kew west ( arrived at 17 30) it took 6 hours online and the phone( 8 calls) before we got a clearence # , it is now the next day all the guest are still on board as they say we cannot do a clearence till 12 30.
What you are attempting to do isn't an uncommon practice - but you don't clearly set out what the conflict in information is in your post. I should think that, as long as the owner can prove that his vessel is in the US and he is prepared to leave as required, there shouldn't be any problems. I would suggest contacting someone by phone in Customs and Immigration in the US proper - perhaps Fort Lauderdale where they have lots of experience with large vessels.
Thanks for the advice , the conflict is that the government site states categorically that you cannot enter the USA on a private yacht with a visa waiver..
We tried to call the 800 # from the Bahamas and it was constantly unreachabble and told to call back, we also tried the website and it just would not load, we emailed their tech site and were told to just keep trying as they had problems.
I've printed the 15 or so emails I have recieved from them today,!
In the end we just had to sail.
We are now in Kew west ( arrived at 17 30) it took 6 hours online and the phone( 8 calls) before we got a clearence # , it is now the next day all the guest are still on board as they say we cannot do a clearence till 12 30.
It's just not worth the trouble in our opinion.