EU or US flag for 4y lifeaboard in US-waters?

Sorry, maybe i was not clear enough, we are currently circumnavigating the world, at this moment in the Caribbean so our point of starting is different. I like the idea of buying a boat in the US but then i want to stick with the boat i have in mind. So i follow your conversation about buying and dealing with the US rules. Afterwards we have to deal with the fact that we want to bring the boat to Europe and deal with taxes and CE certification.

We decided neither to transfer a ship from Europe to US nor to transfer a US ship later to Europe. It would be a different thought if we planned a trip around the world.
Ships can be bought and sold both in Europe and in the US. Also a US yacht type is not necessarily easy to sell in Europe without major modifications or vice versa.
The sales loss does not have to be significant if a differentiated calculation is made.


When cruising a US vessel in North/Middle American or Caribbean you avoid not only the detailed questions regarding ship equipment, ship design, spare parts and power supply (50hz vs 60hz) but also topics like costs of transfer, tax liabilities between EU and US, EPA and CE...


A non US flagged vessel of private use has to leave the US after 12months for at least 15 foreign documented days. This might work once or may be twice, or not. I don't want to get rushed because of that. Plus there are sources of mistakes as far as what I've realized.

Martin J said:

Keep it non US if your not a US resident. Lots of little empires as quoted above.
For instance you cannot sail into the USVI without enetring and obtaining your 90 day visa by official scheduled air or ship. (Not Yacht). If you stay more than 90 days in US waters the fines are impressive. Stay more than 183 days in a year your considered a resident and as such welcomje to the IRS on world wide earnings. Also some of the days count into the following year etc so after a couple of years if your maxing it drops to 121 before you pay tax's etc. Keep the boat your nationality and obtain a cruising licence etc. and watch your days.

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1. IRS on world-wide earnings because of a Delaware C-Corp??? No no no, impossible. Please explain!

2. I did get in the USVI / yacht / visa trouble once. My actual consideration is getting E-2 or EB-5 visa which should make things way easier.

No great advice here, but a warm welcome to the USA! I wish for you to receive the same wonderful hospitality here that my wife and I received when visiting Germany last summer! We’re going back to Germany soon! We treasure our German-American heritage, a few family ties from the 1800s, and our NATO partnership. Please include North Carolina in your travels, including unspoiled coastal towns like Edenton, Bath, (The Original) Washington, New Bern, and more. North Carolina truly is Trawler Heaven!

NCheaven said:

No great advice here, but a warm welcome to the USA! I wish for you to receive the same wonderful hospitality here that my wife and I received when visiting Germany last summer! We’re going back to Germany soon! We treasure our German-American heritage, a few family ties from the 1800s, and our NATO partnership. Please include North Carolina in your travels, including unspoiled coastal towns like Edenton, Bath, (The Original) Washington, New Bern, and more. North Carolina truly is Trawler Heaven!

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Thx for the warm welcome to the US!
NC is one of the few states we haven't visited yet. We have to and will do so!