INITIAL AND MANDATORY DOCUMENTATION

Initial documentation needed to become “Travel ready” or ready for your Assignment

All crew members must have 4 initial documents to be ready. These documents are as necessary to embark as, when living in the city, need a means of transport to go to work! All crewmembers, who embark for the first time as from their second contract onwards, should have the responsibility of having these 4 documents valid and in order.

 The process to obtain such documents can take from 15 to 30 average working days.

The documents are the following:

  • Passport. Document to have in priority, since later part of the following documents will be linked to this (Visa, Medicals) therefore it must have a validity of at least 1 year. In case you have more than one nationality, we always recommend using the passport of your country of residence, which will facilitate obtaining visas and transit in airports.
  • C1D Visa This visa is used to navigate in the United States as well as to be able to get off at that country’s ports, only for the time in which the ship is docked. Therefore, this visa is not valid to work on land, it is only granted to crewmembers of cruises. To obtain such a document, our agency will instruct you to complete the online forms, as well as Letters on behalf of our agency and the company for which you will be hired. These letters are necessary on the day of the interview with the consul. Generally it has an initial validity of 5 years and when renewed it is granted for a longer time.
  • Medical exams. This exams will be carried out in clinics and doctors certified by the company. Depending on the company may be different for example for Princess are “Bermuda exams” other companies require the “Norwegian exams” Our agency will provide the necessary contact information of the clinics to perform these examinations which are valid for 2 years.
    At the time of the trip you must travel and board with the ORIGINAL medical exams since the photocopies are not valid on board.
  • Criminal Background or CBC, “criminal backgrown check”. This document will be processed with the Police or Justice Department, personally or via the Web, depending on the country of residence. This document is the only one that does not need English translation at the time of boarding.

In some cases an alternative Transit or Transit Visa visa may be required for some countries At the time of boarding, if necessary, we will indicate the process with enough time to be able to obtain the visa without problems.

The Transit Visa is only for the transit from the Country of residence to the Country where the boarding is taken. Once on board the visa loses validity. Common countries that need this visa are Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In case of Navigating Waters of Australia you will need a MCV visa “Maritime Crew Visa” valid for navigation and visit of the ports where the ship docks. This Visa is obtained for free Online.

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