Checking in to Majuro
Dock your dinghy at the Shoreline
The RRE Shoreline area is the place to put your dinghy. Tie it to the floating dock, leaving plenty of scope to allow other boats room. Photo: Karen Earnshaw
The following is not the official protocol, but merely a suggested way of clearing into the Marshall Islands.
Please note that the Immigration division requests that you notify them by email well in advance of arrival (rmi_majuro@immigration.gov.mh).
The Marshall Islands capital is one of the easiest places in the Pacific to clear in, with everything often achieved within an hour of picking up a mooring. On approaching the pass, or shortly after coming through, you are required to attempt to contact the port control on VHF Channel 16. Generally, however, there will be no response. Instead, you can call the cruising fleet on VHF Channel 71 (hailing frequency) and then move to Channel 68 or 72 for conversation and ask for assistance from a fellow sailor.
Their recommendation will most likely be to pick up a suggested mooring (it is allowed for another yacht to assist you onto a mooring but not to board, nor are any items allowed to be handed over) and then go in your dinghy to the RRE (Robert Reimers Enterprises) Shoreline area and tie up to the floating dock.
You can then take a taxi (75 cents or $1 per person) to Customs, which is in the building known as Ann’s Palace (a multi-story, peach-colored building opposite the Marshall Islands Resort). This is about 10 minutes from the Shoreline. Customs is on the ground floor. Customs will then give you instructions to go to Immigration in the green Mako Building, which is a three minute walk on the same side of the road.
Absolutely the best time to arrive in Majuro is during business hours Monday to Friday and not on a public holiday (of which there are quite a number). If you arrive out of hours or on a holiday the officials clearing you in may charge you a fee that is to be paid to the Secretary of Finance at Ann’s Palace.
The overtime fees are usually: Immigration $100, Customs $100, and Quarantine $75.
Follows are a few more UNOFFICIAL items related to Immigration/visa rules and the clearing in process (in no particular order):
It’s recommended you contact Immigration at least 72 hours in advance of your arrival: rmi_majuro@immigration.gov.mh.
All American citizens can live and work in RMI without the need of a visa.
There are some varieties on the following theme, but generally non-American cruisers pay $200 for a year’s visa, which is not renewable.
If you have a sat phone or are planning ahead and would like to contact Customs and Immigration, the country’s area code is 692. Customs: 625-8606, Immigration: 625-8633.
If another cruiser organizes for the officials to clear you at the RRE Shoreline area, on average 50 percent of the time the paperwork will be done ashore … the other 50 percent of the time they will request to visit your vessel. If your dinghy is extremely small, or difficult to put in the water on short notice, with approval another yachtie may assist you to and from the Shoreline.
