First of all, jaxie doesn't understand the rules. His claim that a citizen must
be on documented vessels at all times is completely bogus. It may be true for
commercial fishing vessels, but not for recreational boats.

He is correct on the other point however. A non-citizen may not own (or in any
way have a controlling interest in) a US "Documented" vessel. Therefore, the
boat, if documented, must be undocumented before you buy it. After that, you
can have it flagged in your home country (would that mean you have to pay the
VAT?) or "registered" in whatever state of the US you reside in. However, a
non-citizen owning a state registered boat is in an odd situation. I've heard
that in this case you are not eligible for the normal cruising permit, and need
special paperwork everytime you move the boat within the US. Further, the state
title papers will not carry the same weight in Caribbean countries, especially
since they will not match your papers.

You should research this very carefully - you certainly want to have everything
setup correctly before you buy. Try Googling "non-citizen documented vessel"
and variations on that for hints.




"Hoges in WA" wrote in message
...
"JAXAshby" wrote in message
...
Ray, while you can *register* a US vessel as a non-citizen, you can
NOT ---
document --- a US vessel as a non-citizen. In fact, as a non-citizen,
you can
not even move a US documented vessel without a qualified US citizen
aboard.

dems the rules.

registration is done on the state level, documentation on the federal
level.
Hear to tell most Caribbean countries (non-French) will accept
registration, at
least for US registered vessels arriving with US citizens in command. I
suspect you really, really, really don't want to travel in a registered
boat as
a non-US citizen to non-US countries.

[snipped]
--
I'm not sure I completely understand the finer point you are making here.
If I travel from Aus to US and by a yacht second hand I can sail her away to
anywhere in the world. What I can't do is buy a US yacht and still call it
a US yacht?
I think. You obviously understand the rules very well - can you explain a
bit more for someone who doesn't.
thanks


Hoges in WA
Remove the zeds.