Venezuela - Clearance
COVID-19: Entry protocols for yachts have been affected by the pandemic. See the Biosecurity section for details.
On entry into Venezuela, clearance is done through six different offices, unless you intend to just pass in transit. All offices are well-prepared and run efficiently. Clearance is made much easier when able to produce an outward clearance paper (zarpe) from the previous country visited.
The offices are as follows:
- Coast Guard
- Imparque
- Customs
- Immigration/Police
- Parc Office
- Harbour Master
All offices know the difficulty of returning upwind to Gran Roque to clear out, so you can get all necessary stamps and signatures in advance by paying an additional USD$20 when clearing in at the customs office.
Domestic Clearance:
Cruising permits are required and are issued for surrounding areas when clearing in by the Port Captain. To travel further afield one must clear out and then clear in at the next port.
Be aware that the rules often change and that individual port captains may adjust the rules to fit their needs and interpretation of the law. It has been reported that so-called “national” clearance, when traveling between states, is no longer required, but this seems to depend on officials in each port.
It may be necessary to have an official pilot for entry into Maracaibo, La Guaira, and Ciudad Bolívar. It is not recommended to clear into Maracaibo as yachts are charged the same price as large commercial vessels.
If wishing to stop at any of the Venezuelan islands between Isla de Margarita and Bonaire, this should be stated when clearing out of Isla de Margarita. A mention will be made on the clearance paper that permission had been granted to stop at puntos intermedios. This may not always be acceptable to other officials but more and more yachts are visiting La Blanquilla without any difficulties as the local Coast Guard becomes accustomed to foreign yachts.
It is possible to visit Los Roques independently, without having to visit the Venezuela mainland. More information under Los Roques.
Note:
- Immigration clearance is only required when entering and leaving the country.
- It is necessary to clear both in and out of each state visited with both Customs and Port Captain when moving from one Venezuelan state to another.
- There is no clearance at weekends.
Last updated: August 2019.
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And what does that translate to?
It seems for the moment not good to visit Los Roques and Las Aves. Alejandro who looked after the cruisers and was harbour master and a sort of Agent is no more there. Officials take what they get from the yachts. The islands are not safe for the moment, to use Alejandros word’s: it is “Wild west”.
The Aves are now under the prodection from Los Roques, same problems.
Trees van Mierlo says:
Oct 01, 2018 11:19 PM
1 Oct 2018: we just returned from a 2 week holiday in los Roques and las Aves ( barlovento) it is paradise for us. We felt safe. If you want to go there, be sure to stock enough provisions. Shops were empty because the freightboat did not arrive for 2 weeks. In los Roques we were escorted by a local friend. We paid for coastguard, customs and immigration 5 US dollar per boat. the national park was for us ( 40ft sailboat and 2 persons) 215 US dollar… This was much more than we counted for. Even our friend was stunned. But the Bolivar rate was just changed. 1 week later it could be half the price or lees, he assured us. I think we were there with a bad timing (for rates). We stayed and had a wonderful time with the sweetest people (great Spa!) and enjoyed the lovely remote anchorages, the red footed booby’s in the marshes of Barlovento and beautiful snorkeling spots.
We intend to visit Bonair at July 2019. Is there anyone nearby now or at this time?
The situation in Los Roques is changing on a daily basis. Read the latest reports from cruisers adjacent (top right) in the report “Los Roques, Las Aves, Bonaire & Curacao: Latest Updates”.
Los Roques and Los Aves November 12-24, 2017
We had a great time in these islands. We had absolutely no security issues. All the immigration officials were extremely friendly as was everyone else we met. Although we had 6 stops to check in I would much rather do that then check into Antigua. With the current currency situation a 42 foot boat with 2 people cost $50. I was dinged for another $40 got get a transit visa since I’m American. The rules were that I was required to have a visa before I got to Venezuela so this was their work around. A Canadian traveling with me did not have to pay extra.
I checked on the exchange rate on dolartoday.com before I got there to know roughly where the unofficial exchange rate was currently. It was 50,000 bolivars to $1 but the best we could do was 30,000 bolivars to $1 but even with that rate everything was an incredible bargain. Beers at real nice beach bars were $.50 and a three course meal was $6 – think excellent cerviche for $1.
Free wifi was available in the main town square and in the same building as immigration by the airport. If you have long range antenna you can get it on your boat.
While we were there we only saw two other cruisers and had all the anchorages we stayed at completely to ourselves. It is just like the Bahamas without the people – endless white sand beaches, good snorkeling, good holding and great sailing.
Los Aves were equally spectacular and equally void of cruisers.
Based on some comments here and elsewhere I was a little concerned about stopping but it turns out we stumbled into paradise. I only wished I had time to stay longer