Saba - Immigration
Saba Immigration Procedure for Yacht Crew
Saba is a Netherlands Municipality, the rules are more in line with the Schengen Agreement, although Saba is neither a member of the EU nor part of the Schengen Agreement Area.
Passports are required for all visitors.
Do I need a Visa?
In most cases you do not need a visa to transit through the Dutch Caribbean.
See the Government of the Netherlands website for more information.
If, however, none of the situations apply to you and you need a visa to enter, you can find out how to apply at the following links:
- Short Stay Visa (less than 90 days)
- Long Stay Visa
Length of Stay
If you do not need a visa to travel to Saba, you can stay for a maximum of 90 days in a 180-day period.
If you are a Dutch or US national, you can stay for longer: a maximum of 180 consecutive days in any 365-day period.
Other Visa Information
If you need a visa and intend to visit the Dutch Caribbean several times over a 4 year period, you may be eligible to apply for the Caribbean Carpet Programme. Find out more here.
A visa (if required) must be obtained prior to arrival. Find a consulate or embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands near you at http://www.government.nl/issues/embassies-consulates-and-other-representations/contents. The links in “do I need a visa” explain what is needed to apply.
Full details on tourist visits to Saba can be found at https://english.rijksdienstcn.com/immigration-naturalisation/tourist-stay
Last updated: September 2024
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If there is swell or wind from the south/south east at all the mooring at Fort Bay is very tricky (I was told you can stay on them overnight if you want)… and the dingy ride to the port even trickier. In this case better to grab a mooring on the west side and make the 2 mile dingy ride. If conditions look not good for this just sit and wait till they do and then check in.
Also, they take sailclear now… didn’t help wiht imigration, but did help wiht customs paperwork. Worth doing.
Thanks for letting us know about SailClear – that’s very helpful. We’ve added the info. to Noonsite.
See this link for mooring maps: https://www.sabaport.com/yacht-moorings
About half of the moorings in Ladder’s and Wells Bays were missing as of early Jan 2018. I think we were on mooring P, which is farther out than it seems from shore. Mooring G is definitely the best sheltered. Definitely take a look around the mooring field to understand the mooring locations. (Also the balls are pretty small so you’ll need to get up close to locate them.) Make sure that you run your own rode through the mooring pendant; the marine park is trying to prevent chafing of their mooring lines.
We used the Anchor Pro app and kept one phone with the boat at all times.
The marine park people said that mooring overnight at Fort Bay was not recommended at all (but you can take your “big boat” there during the day if your tender cannot traverse the sometimes treacherous 2 nm from Wells Bay to Fort Bay).
Mooring at Wells Bay was most comfortable but rolly at night. Wind speeds were roughly 12 knots or less. Would not recommend going to Saba if the forecast calls for any higher than that.
We found it impossible to land our dinghy at Wells Bay or Ladder Bay, so we took it to Fort Bay every day. We have an inflatable that did just fine. We were lucky to catch a weather window with little swell. Make sure you have enough dinghy fuel when you arrive. If you need to fill up a tank, there is a gas station at Fort Bay — take the road heading east and walk up the slope. The fuel station is at the top of the slope.
Taxis: you can get a list of taxi operators at the marine park office. Hitchhiking also works.
Must-dos: hiking the Ladder, hiking Mount Scenery, scuba diving, snorkelling. You can moor your tender to the diving mooring balls as long as you vacate the mooring if an actual dive boat shows up. Wells Bay and Torrens Point have great snorkelling.
Laundromat: is on The Road, about a third of the way up to the Bottom.
We really enjoyed Saba and thought the visit was worth the extra preparation and hassle.
Sargassum hits Saba:
Reported by Joan Conover 10 August 2017.
Saba has its beaches full of Sargassum weed. There is currently no solution to this problem. An online site to track Sargassum weed via satellite images is in development – lots of discussions right now about what to do about this problem.
Search “Sargassum” on noonsite for latest news items.