We recently received an interpretation of the Norwegian Sailing Permit Circular (Circular UDI 2010-139) from Inge Hoem, Senior Advisor UDI (Norwegian Department of Immigration), which we have copied at the end of this post. We have also been in direct correspondence with Inge to answer several questions that we had regarding the Circular.
In a nutshell, the Circular requires everyone except Schengen nationals to acquire a sailing permit if they wish to sail for recreation in Norway. Those nationals who require a visa need to apply for the sailing permit 2 months in advance and those nationals who do not require a visa need to acquire a sailing permit from the police upon entry into Norway at an authorized port of entry (if you wish to enter Norway at an unauthorized port of entry, then you need to apply 2 months in advance).
UDI has also confirmed that a sailing permit is required for foreign nationals who wish to sail in Norway even if they have already cleared into Schengen through another country (e.g. Sweden).
Though it seems that, from what our readers have reported in 2010, the police are not requiring those who fall under the visa exemption to fulfill the requirements for the sailing permit, the fact that this Circular exists means that it can be enforced.
The requirements for this sailing permit make Norway the most restrictive sailing destination we know of in the western world:
- The U.S. gives you a cruising permit, which requires you to call in whenever you change ports, but you don’t have to tell them ahead of time which ports you are going to visit;
- Canada gives you a cruising permit for 6 months and then leaves you alone;
- the EU gives you a cruising permit for 3 months and then leaves you alone.
In our opinion, the sailing permit requirements make it impossible to sail safely and enjoyably in Norway for anyone other than a Schengen national.
We sincerely hope that UDI will take another look at this regulation and rewrite it keeping in mind that we who visit Norway by boat are not a threat but are good for Norway’s economy and culture.
Let us know what you think about the sailing permit by leaving a comment. We will pass comments on to UDI so that they can see the impact of this Circular on those who wish to sail in Norway.
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Visa and sailing permit for recreational sailing in Norwegian waters
Persons subject to the visa requirement who wish to sail for recreation in Norwegian waters must have a visa and a special sailing permit issued by the UDI.
- A sailing permit is normally granted during the period 1 May to 15 September, and only once per year.
- You must submit a visa application to a Norwegian embassy or consulate no later than two months prior to the planned departure date. With your application, you must enclose a list of everyone taking part in the trip, and information about the vessel and the sailing schedule. This information should be given on a special form, which is available from the Foreign Service mission. The form can also be downloaded at the website UDIregelverk.
- All participants must have a valid passport or other travel document.
The time period for the trip, the name of the vessel and the ports of call are stated in the sailing permit. Calling at other ports is only permitted in the event of an emergency situation. In the event of an emergency, contact the police.
Persons exempted from the visa requirement who wish to sail for recreation in Norwegian waters must have a sailing permit. As a main rule this permit is issued by the Norwegian police upon arrival in an authorized port. The authorized ports of entry are listed in Annex 16 of the Norwegian Immigration Regulation (lenke).
Persons exempted from the visa requirement who plan to arrive the realm through a non-authorized port of entry, must apply for the sailing permit at a Norwegian Foreign mission no later than two months prior to the planned departure date. The required documents are the same as for persons subject to the visa requirement.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
If someone enters Norway at Kristiansand 1st May and legally leaves Norway on 15th September he is allowed 20 weeks of sailing. Assuming traveling with a sailboat at 5 kn average, 6 h per day and 5 days a week, results in a covered distance of 3000 nm, i.e. 1500 nm up and 1500 nm return. Its a pity for such a marvelous country to only visit the southern halve. The rules seem to be for cars and are fully adequate for these means of transportation. Sailboats travel much slower and the regulation could reflect this fact.
In order to avoid illegal importation of boats into Norway (to avoid VAT) , a fee could be asked for at entry and upon exit it would be reimbursed.
Give it a thought.
yours faithfully HU Boksberger
We sailed for serveral weeks in Norway in 2009, and enjoyed it very much. Being Canadian, with also a UK passport, we are non-Schengen.
We are presently in Scotland, and will leave out boat there for the winter.
We have been trying to decide whether to cruise the Baltic or the Norwegian coast summer 2011.
This bureaucracy has decided us. We will avoid Norway and go to the Baltic.
We spent last summer in Norway and loved the country and the people. This summer we are in the Baltic which is also wonderful. Unfortunatley both Norway with this regulation and the rest of the Baltic with the 90 day Schengen restriction are making it difficult for us. We were planning one more summer here but will head back to the UK this fall.
When we checked in at Bodø in June after passage from the Shetland Islands, the police could have cared less whether or not we even checked in. They had some trouble finding the stamp, and only one person in this relatively large police station even knew what the stamp was.
We are now in Reine, preparing to head south with the first good weather chance.
This is really absurd, and totally inappropriate on a planet getting more and more globalized. We here in Scandinavia should welcome sailors from all over the in the same spirit we want to be met when we sail the world.
I’m ashamed of this bureucratic excluding attitude and will urge everyone to email norwegian authorities to protest against this.
hopeful regards,
Leif Eriksson, Gothenburg, Sweden
Having sailed from Bergen to Bodo through the incredible landscape across the Fjords – deciding when &where to spend the night… – made our cruising one of the best within the EU. Would be a shame if visiting vessels are not allowed to navigate “free of schedule”.
Hope the authorities realise “marinas & harbours” are different from commercial airports….
I have sailed in beautiful Norway three different summers from Bergen to the Lofoten Islands and have loved the country, its people and its freedoms. The new regulations for recreational pleasure craft (power or sail) are incredibly onerous and will be most difficult to observe. They are so restrictive that safety may be called into question. Complying with these regulations makes it seem that one is entering and visiting a police state. I will definitely change my summer cruising plans and avoid Norway if these regulations go into effect. I also believe that the regulations will become an embarrassment to Norway in the eyes of the public. It is difficult to understand what possible purpose such strict restrictions on travel by private pleasure craft will serve.
I agree totally with comments by Priscilla Travis and others above. We have been enthralled with Norway during our two summer cruises here. The current rules for us (as US citizens) are fine – just check in, and then go cruising. It would be nice to have longer than 90 days for us to stay here, however. We are going back to London again this fall becuase of the 90 day rule.
This summer has been typical, we have often chosen our places to stop on the morning or evening before we set out for somewhere else, and have changed midway some days. The rest of our stay here will be the same.
Sailing with an enforced time-table would be awful, and would be very dangerous as well.
It gives great credit to Phyllis and John that they persevere on this topic with Norwegian authorities. It is a sad fact that legislation on the two topics “sailing permit” and “wintering a yacht in Norway” is made by bureaucrats with little knowledge of boats. While most officers in authority will have enough common sense not to enforce legislation as written, it is a matter of time before an eager holiday-stand-in will read the fine print and create an issue. Many will have read about the case going for an Oslo court in November this year, where a Swedish couple were billed 200 000 kr for wintering their boat in Mo I Rana.
While it is a few years ago Swedish minister of trade and industry Bjørn Rosengren stated that “Norway is the last Sovjet republic”, no one should underestimate the potential trouble an overzealous bureaucracy can cause. So keep up the good work, and hopefully common sense will win in the end!
In 1969 I travelled up the coast of Norway on the ferry from Bergen to Tromso and I have long wanted to return and explore that coast in more time in my own boat. I am very disheartened to learn that the government is thinking of introducing regulations that would require visiting yachts to file a cruising plan and mandate the yacht to stick to the plan. This would undoubtedly detract from the enjoyment of the cruise through not allowing the yacht to adjust its schedule to the more interesting places it finds en route, but, much more importantly, it would be outright dangerous, particularly in a country like Norway with unsettled weather, to require a skipper to stick to a pre-determined plan with no regard for the prevailing conditions at the time.
I can’t believe that land visitors to Norway are required to stick to pre-determined travel plans and it would be a very sad day if sailors were subjected to this requirement. It would undoubtedly result in many fewer yachts visiting the country. I hope that isn’t the purpose.
Thank you everyone for your comments. I will contact UDI today and refer them to this post. I hope that once they read here what impact this regulation would have on foreign sailors if enforced as written, they will take your concerns into consideration when they review this Circular.
I have tentative plans to be sailing your way in 2012 or 2013. Given this layer of bureacracy, I will unfortunately have to avoid Norway. Such a nautical country should better understand the cruising sailor, his comfort and his safety.
How sad to make life more complicated than it is already. We spent a month in Norway last year on our way back to the Uk after three seasons overwintering in Sweden. We were under the, clearly erroneous, impression that, coming from another Schengen country, the authorities would not be interested in us. This proved to be the case and we came and went without any official notification or inspection. We anchored whenever possible but also spent nights in many harbours without hindrance from the authorities. With very uncertain weather in May and June 2009 we would have found it impossible to stick to our original passage plan. We are now back in the UK and are unlikely to go to Norway again but we do hope that these restrictive regulations will not be enforced.
I am also one of those intending to cruise Norway within the next year or two, having found you guide very useful during my brief cruise of Western Sweden in 2007. It may be stating the obvious ,but surely the Norwegian equivalent of the RYA are best placed to exert pressure on the bureaucrats who dreamed up this nonsense .If it remains in force my plans will be alterred to minimise the time in Norway,the beauty of cruising is freedom fr0m schedules and fixed plans !
I have cruised the coast of Norway for many years and have just returned from a short trip to the Stavanger/Bergen area. Norway is a wonderful country with magnificent scenery, a kind and friendly people and excellent facilities for boats. I can only echo the comments of other contributors regarding these proposed regulations. It is difficult to see what they will achieve other than to deter yachtsmen from visiting Norway. They seem to have been drawn up by someone who has little understanding of the practicalities, and indeed the point, of travelling in a small sailboat.
Having cruised Norway before I make the following comments:
1) When planning a trip from UK to Norway I would not even think of where my arrival point might be until shortly before departure. It would entirely depend on the wind direction.
2) When cruising I would not necessarily make a plan as to which direction I might go and where I might finish up for the day until sometimes late in the day. Once again it would depend on wind and weather.
3) If I suddenly decided I wanted to explore somewhere which I had not put on a planned itinerary I would not be able to do so.
4) When leaving Norway to return the date, time, point of departure and destination would not necessarily be known in advance and would not be possible to report in advance.
All in all Norway will never again be anywhere I shall revisit unless these absurd regulations are rescinded. The Norwegian Government should be completely ashamed of themselves, and I am indeed most surprised that the Norwegian people (who are not at all like that) allow them to behave in such a extraordinary manner.
I have just returned from my third July cruising from the Western Isles to Norway, albeit after a gap of ten years. Two changes were immediately apparent. Firstly the increase in the number and size of motor cruisers, with a commensurate deterioration in behaviour. Second, we didn’t meet a single boat of UK origin between departing from and returning to Out Skerries.
The point has already been made above. Small boat cruising is weather dependant, both Norwegian landfall and daily schedules. In particular the Norwegians are keen to maintain the justified mystique of Stat as a danger area. Surely they would not wish to enforce regulations likely to pressurise sailors into taking unwarranted risks.
The first time I dutifully attempted to contact the Norwegian police, but totally failed to find anyone to take any interest in me, so I gave up trying. Since then the only contact I have had with authority was being seen off from Vingen by a coastal patrol.
Finally, crew composition and changes are frequently not finalised until the last minute, which render applying for a permit with such specifics, er, specified two months in advance less than encouraging.
Historically, regulations which have been in existence have not been conscientiously enforced. Let’s hope new regulations don’t ruin what is otherwise an amazing cruising experience.
I cruised the entire coast of Norway in 2007 and returned to sail in southern Norway in 2008. On both occasions, I was hard pressed to find any authority to even stamp my US passport, much less wory about my US documented vessel. However, if these new rules are to be enforced, I would have to consider avoiding Norway altogether, which would be very sad. It offers some of the best cruising ground in the world. These rules appear to be totally impractical for the cruising sailor wishing to enjoy an extensive visit with numerous anchorages, subject to the vagaries of weather and schedules and requiring several crew changes .
Norway (along with the rest of Scandinavia) was one of the first places I was planning to cruise to once I leave the United States in the summer of 2012. I would hate to have to miss this beautiful country, but those restrictions make it a distinct possibility.