Russia
 

Do I need any special papers to go from Poland to Finland via the big Bear?
Help PegLeg.

Carnet - West Africa
 

The HUBB's list of countries indicates that a carnet is required for Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Cameroun. Googling returns mixed results - some sites say a CPD is 'mandatory' for those countries, others say it is 'recommended' while others say there is no need.

A few posts from last year suggest that a Laissez-Passer is sufficient for those countries.

Does anyone have recent actual experience on carnet requirements for those countries?

Thanks

I'm trying to gather info on the middle east. A gentlemen traveling from Scotland said that he was asked for one at every Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, but officially it is only recommended and not required. This means that you have to buy temp insurance as well as a temp carnet for these countries, but NO big cash deposit?

My plans were to continue through Egypt and back to Europe via Northern Africa, but I am now re-thinking that. I am on a bit of a tight budget, and my Canadian carnet costs over $600. As much as I want to see Egypt, I may loop down into the middle east and back out the way I came, or perhaps ferry across to Greece...?

While were on the subject, is it possible to re-enter Jordan from Israel if you have a double entry visa, or to head up to Lebanon and leave Israel there. All these countries seem to instantly deny you entry if you have an Israel stamp, or seemingly if your coming from Israel, which is why I planned to exit to Egypt. Thoughts? Thanks

USA carnet
 

Hi,

Just thought I'd share my US customs experience with my fellow travellers.
I am a UK citizen working in Kuwait and took a Kuwait registered BMW GSA to USA , togehter with the Kuwait issued Carnet (just in case).

The chief customs officer took one look at the back of the carnet, and cause it did not list USA as one of the countries under Americas, he refused to accept the carnet and ask me to find somebody who would issue me a temporary import bond.

To cut a LONG story short, his colleague researched on the UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISION website Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States and found article 9804.0035 which CLEARLY states the vehicle is to be free of customs duty. They then swiftly signed all the necessary paperwork and i waas on my way, with a copy of the article.

Hope this helps somebody.
H A

Good piece of info, thanks!

BUT: the first mistake was showing the carnet at all!

Rule 1 of international travel: show them what they ask for, nothing more, and
Rule 2: answer questions, don't ask them.

Note that the carnet is NOT required AT ALL in the Americas. If you have one, you MAY save a LITTLE money and time in a FEW South American countries - but definitely not worth getting one if you don't need it for Africa or somewhere that does require it.

Rule 3: KISS Principle :)

Hi. If one has a Carte Gris (cheaper), will this not be sufficient to replace a carnet for any nation? - Or for west Africa at least? This is an important issue, yet it is impossible to get straight answers. Thanks, Alastair

AFAIK a carte gris (grey card) is what they call your vehicle ownership docs in North and West Africa.

What you may mean is a temporary vehicle importation permit (TIP) which you can certainly get in West Africa and covers most francophone countries there.
That's called a laisser passer and possibly AKA a carte brun? (brown card).

Elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa only a carnet will do, hence this long thread!

But as Grant says - if they dont ask dont offer a CdP.

Chris S

Cash deposit Egypt
 

Hey guys,

Does anyone maybe know how the cash deposit in Egypt while travelling through by car exactly works? I know its app. 2000 euros, but where and how to deposit? And is it safe?

Nick S.

Carnets in the USA
 

Re Grants comments:
I flew the bike ('08 R1200GSA)from Australia to San Francisco last year, and customs would not let me in, initially, because they thought I might sell it in the US!
My agent ended up posting a bond for me, to allow me to get on with my adventure.
The EPA got involved as well, because they were concerned about the emissions!
Remember, this is an '08 Beemer.
This mess took five days to sort out.
A carnet would have helped, but you don't need one in the US.
Yeah right.
I'm sure they make it up as they go.
Cheers Errol

A couple of updates that while I'm unable to edit the "required" page:

Senegal: several reports that carnet is required. On top of that, carnets must be stamped within 2 days of entry by customs in Dakar! On top of that, a Passavant must be bought for the 2 days (unless arriving in Dakar).

Guinea and Sierra Leone: carnets apparently not required, but without one a Laissez-Passer must be obtained from an embassy (when applying for visas).

marocco overland
 

hi guys,
i am new here...
planing to go with my camper from serbia to marocco and possible odher countrys in africa (no haveing plan about it yet)... i was in marocco few years ago and i was almoust two months there, means my visa was probably 3 months. dont remember now... i plan to go in africa from spain to marocco end go out same way....and to stay in africa 4, 5 or 6 months... now, my question is for all you nice people, how can i get permit longer than 30 days when entering marocco, i mean that insorance tax (instead carnet de passage)... i hear that wheicle must be returned after 30 days... how does that works?

"Marocco overland"
 

Sventlana71,
Somebody might answer your question in this forum/ thread, but you're more likely to get an answer if you re-post the question in
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-travel-forum/
or
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/trip-paperwork/

You might also find answer(s) at Tim Cullis's
Morocco GS Knowledgebase - ::. UKGSer.com .::
and Chris Scott's
Morocco Overland ~ the website for the book

thanks courtfisher, i will visit those links.

wooooow, THANK YOU courtfisher... links you gave me are owsome..... in it is all i need. if i meet you ever, i owe you a large beer :)

Carnet in Africa - Our experience 2010/11
 

Hi folks,

Good to see the debate is ongoing on this topic and there is a lot of grey - especially in Africa.

We were in Africa (Morocco to South Africa) by West / Central Africa Sept 2010 / May 2011 traveling with a 14 year old Land Rover. We used our Carnet all the way with the exception of Morocco / W Sahara (see Latest news / About us - Langebaan Sunset - Stonehenge UK to Cape Town SA - 2010/11)

Contrary to what you may have read in previous threads, we needed it for Mauri and Senegal (recent changes have kicked in). For Senegal we got it stamped at Rosso of all places by insisting that they did it. We did not have to go to Dakar - so that kind of shows the variance in what you read and what actually happens on the ground.

We tended to produce it at the border and it was filled in with very little fuss. The odd border guard was a bit unsure but with a bit of help it was always a simple exercise to complete. We used 17 pages of our 25 page booklet.

This debate about what you can and cannot get away with is interesting as the bottom line is the Carnet serves a useful purpose and if you have it and use it you can avoid local transit charges ("local paperwork") and when you get stopped (22 times in 22km in Nigeria for example) officials back off when they see you have it so it helps avoid bribes. It helped avoid a collection of fines in Northern Senegal but for the rest of Africa it was a breeze, easy to use and there was no debate about if it was needed or not.

I think you need to work out what camp you are in with the Carnet:

Camp 1 - Minority of people who travel of fake paperwork / Carnets to avoid costs - good luck to you and if you get caught in Africa!
Camp 2 - People who don't travel with one at all - you become subject to the border game of "guess what the charge is for this crossing". OK if you have lots of time, good language skills and dont mind hanging around at borders haggling over $$
Camp 3 - People that buy a genuine Carnet - yes there is an expense but there is also an upside, especially if you want to import the car into your end destination and the speed at which you can get through a border. If you want to save pages because you are going to a lot of countries you can always see if they will let you in without stamping it but 25 countries in 1 year is enough for most people.

I would say that any list of countries accepting or not accepting Carnets is always subject to the general rule of "what the guy sat in the hut at the border you happen to be at thinks at that particular time" and whilst the CPD may not be "officially required", it is often used to facilitate temporary importation of your vehicle anyway - so our logic was - use it when you can.

I have heard that Carnet infringements and collections on security are on the increase, so caveat emptor applies ;-)

Some links on this are as follows:

Carnet de Passage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Non-Member Areas

Hope that adds to the debate

Cheers

Nick