Crew signing-off

From 1 July 2007, where crew wish to sign-off a vessel in Australia, there are a number of requirements that must be met.

Customs Form B521 Seaports - Notification of Sign-Off

From 1 July 2007, Customs will introduce a new 'Seaports - Notification of Crew Sign-Off' (Customs Form B521).  The form contains certain bio-data details of crew wishing to sign-off and allows Customs to perform an appropriate risk assessment and to check a crewmembers lawful status prior to signing the crewmember off a vessel.

This form must be submitted (by hand, fax or e-mail) to the local Customs office 24 hours prior to the expected sign-off taking place.  Failure to submit the form, 24 hours in advance may result in delays in Customs attendance for sign-off or delays during Customs sign-off processing.  Where agents/masters receive notice less than 24 hours prior to a crew change-taking place, it is expected that they will provide this form to the local Customs office as soon as possible and provide a reason for the late notice.

The new form includes the following data:

• Vessel details;
• Crew bio-data;
• Expected sign-off date and time;
• Includes a space to indicate the sign-off reason - eg. Repatriation, hospitalisation, etc, as well as any relevant sign-off details (eg. flight details, hospital details, etc).
• Number of days requested - the minimum sign-off period is 5 days. Where more than 5 days is required this is to be requested via the form.  It should be noted that Customs can only approve up to 10 days for a sign-off period.  Where more than 10 days is required this will need to be referred to a DIAC Regional Seaports officer.

After providing this form to Customs, agents/masters will still need to make contact with the local Customs office to determine where and when the actual sign-off processing activity will occur.  The sign-off processing may occur on board the vessel, at Customs House or some other location as advised by Customs.

It should be noted that for crew to sign-off a vessel, the vessel must have arrived in Australia (eg. be in a Customs S.15 port, be at an Australian Resource Installation, etc).  Crew attempting to sign-off a vessel that has not yet arrived in Australia (i.e. before its first port arrival) or after it has departed Australia (i.e. after its last port departure), are to be treated as passengers, and are ineligible to utilise their MCV to be considered lawful in Australia (i.e. they need a visa other than the MCV to be lawful).  Agents/masters are to utilise the same form to advise Customs of 'sign-offs' occurring under these circumstances.  Where crew do depart a vessel prior to its arrival in Australia, they are to be removed from the inwards crew list - they will be inwards cleared as a passenger when they arrive in Australia.

Crew sign-offs from a vessel that is between ports in Australia can be approved subject to master/agents obtaining relevant permissions from the local Customs office.

Where crew have signed-off a vessel and their departure from Australia (or sign-on to another vessel) is delayed, it is important that advice is sought from DIAC or Customs on how they may be able to extend their sign-off period to avoid becoming unlawful.