Madagascar - Clearance
Madagascar Pre-Arrival Procedures for Yachts
- Permission to enter must be applied for in advance of arrival from the Minister of Transport (see how to below).
- Check your Nationality requirements before applying to Madagascar as some countries are not permitted entry. Do not apply for an E-Visa as these won’t be accepted by the port authorities.See Immigration for more details.
- If you are coming from a country affected by cholera (or other outbreaks), you may also be denied entry into Madagascar, so it may pay to check this also. See Health for details.
- All crew must have vaccination certificates for Covid and possibly yellow fever depending on where you have come from. See Health for details.
Applying for Permission to Enter
Application for a permit to enter MUST be made in advance of arrival and authorization to enter received.
It is recommended that you apply for your entry permit as soon as possible, because some applications are taking up to two months or longer to process.
Write a cover letter in French [using Google translate if necessary) to send with the required documents.
E-Mail Specifications:
Subject Line: “Request for authorization of exceptional entry of a sailboat in Madagascar”
FAO: Minister of Transport and Meteorology of Madagascar
To:
ministre@mtm.gov.mg (Minister of Transport & Meteorology)
sg@mtm.gov.mg
dgtmfa@mtm.gov.mg
dtmf@mtm.gov.mg
dgapmf@apmf.mg (Director of APMF in Tanna – ph: +261320325781)
Cc:
dircab@mtm.gov.mg
spministre@mtm.gov.mg
attachesg@mtm.gov.mg
rodinjc9@gmail.com
xavierjessicah@gmail.com
ratsimbamichel@yahoo.fr
Letter/E-mail Body:
- Be sure to include:
- the reason for your arrival;
- the last 3 ports you have cleared out from, including dates;
- the probable date of arrival in Madagascar;
- the port of entry into Madagascar (Hell-Ville or Nosy Be [Nosy-Be is known to the most yacht-friendly]);
- the length of stay in the maritime space of Madagascar; and
- the list of places you wish to visit on arrival.
Documents to Attach:
With your request to enter, attach pdfs of:-
- Vessel Registration Certificate
- Safety Survey Certificate issued by the flag state
- Photos of the boat from the bow, stern, starboard and port sides
- Crew list (and list of non-crew on board)
- Passport photo of each crew member
- Copies of all passports
- Copies of all vaccination certificates [Note: All crew must have COVID vaccination certificates and may need to provide a valid yellow fever vaccination certificate if arriving from a country where yellow fever is widespread].
Once the e-mail has been sent and the documents received, the procedures for granting or not the authorization will be initiated and in the positive case, an exceptional authorization to enter Madagascar signed by the Minister will be issued. Once you receive by email the electronic version of the signed authorization you can organize your departure for Madagascar.
- It is recommended a couple of days after sending the documents, call the Director of APMF in Tanna (in bold above) to confirm receipt of e-mail and progress.
- Check your spam folder regularly as cruisers have reported finding the authorization there.
- Your approval letter/permit – will be valid for 3 months from the date of issue.
Madagascar Arrival Procedures for Yachts
On approach, fly the ‘Q’ flag. Do not bother to call via VHF as the officials usually do not have working radios.
General Procedure
Officials in Madagascar, apart from being slow and not always reliable, are normally not a problem. However, you may well be asked to make an unofficial payment – see the fees section on dealing with payment requests.
Speaking French may be an advantage. However, some officials do know a little English.
Use of an agent is not mandatory, however, using one will probably make clearance smoother and aid with translation.
It is likely on arrival you will be required to dinghy ashore and show your permit approval, obtained in advance, to the Police.
Have at least 5 copies of the following:
- Authorisation letter
- Crew list
- Passports
- Boat registration
- Clearance from last port of call
Order of Authorities:
- Police/Immigration (in many ports the Police will act as Immigration): They will arrange for your passports to be stamped and visas obtained and the officer will want one copy of your ship’s registration papers. The officer may hold your passports for a short while (if stamping is necessary at the airport for example) and return them with the entry visa attached. In some ports, the Police may take the exit zarpe from your last port.
- Customs: The officer will ask for two copies of your exit papers from your last port. One copy will be stamped and handed back to you and the other copy is retained by Customs. There will be a fee for this service, ask for a receipt for the payment. This stamped zarpe is the only paperwork you will receive from Customs to say you have entered the country legally. In some ports, Customs may want you to fill out a crew list/boat information form.
- Port Captain/Coastguard (Marine Malagasy): The officer will look at your passport and ship’s paper and complete a Formularaire De Visite form which you have to sign. You will need to give the date of entry in and exit from Malagasy territorial waters planned point of departure and itinerary. Pay the officer for his services and get a receipt upon request.
- Health: In some ports, an inspection is required. A Health Official / Vet will come on board and spray your boat, irrespective of whether you have pets/plants onboard or not.
- If coming from a country with a cholera outbreak (East Africa for example), it is at the Health officer’s discretion as to whether you are permitted to enter. Health will probably want to spray the boat and prescribe pills for the crew, plus require payment (approx. $100).
Authorities may want to inspect your vessel [for example in Hell-Ville this is a requirement]. If your dinghy is not large enough to transport them to and from your boat, you will need to pay an additional fee for a boat to ferry them. If you do transport them in your dinghy, life jackets must be worn by everyone.
Domestic Cruising in Madagascar
It is necessary to both clear in and out at each port visited.
On leaving a port; ensure that you have an outward Clearance document and also a “Permis de Circulation.”
Madagascar Departure Procedures for Yachts
International Clearance
A Permit to depart must be applied for in advance of departure. Apply several days prior to departure as it can take some time.
Application for a “permission de sortie” MUST be made in advance of departure and authorization to enter received.
- Write an e-mail with subject: “Request for Permission de Sortie” to the Minister of Transport and Meteorology of Madagascar [ministre@mtm.gov.mg] copying in all the e-mail addresses as stated above in pre-arrival, specifying:
– the reason for your departure,
– the port of departure from Madagascar,
– the probable date of departure from Madagascar,
– next port and country,
– any intentions to anchor in Madagascar following departure. - Note: If you are going to South Africa (Richards Bay), you must attach your pre-authorization from OSASA in order to get permission to leave.
Once you have received permission to leave, go to the Port Captain’s office to complete a Maritime Clearance Form/Bon De Partance ou Passeport. After you make payment the form is stamped and you are issued a payment receipt.
Next visit the Police/Immigration office to get your passports stamped for exiting the country. You will need to provide a crew list to be stamped (2 copies). Immigration retains one copy and you must return to the Port Captain’s office with the other stamped crew list.
No agent is required.
Last updated: January 2025
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Due to concerns over a multi-country outbreak of Cholera in Indian Ocean countries, Madagascar has closed to foreign yachts coming from South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Comoros and Mayotte until further notice. It has been confirmed by contacts in Nosy Be, however, that yachts from South Africa are being permitted entry as long as a permit to enter has been obtained in advance. See the clearance section for details.
It should also be noted that E-visas are not acceptable for visiting yacht crew and a short-term visitor fee has to be purchased on arrival. See Immigration for more details.
If planning an Indian Ocean passage with ports of refuge, bear in mind that Madagascar still requires visiting yachts to have applied for a permit to enter in advance. This can take several weeks to obtain. Keep an eye on your spam folder.
Susan Harrison from Nosy Be reports that several boats were successful in obtaining permits last season coming from Tanzania, SA, Mayotte, Reunion, and Asia. All followed the procedure as outlined on Noonsite and were welcomed.
In the event of an emergency, Channel 16 is monitored in office hours by APMF, and the Navy should be monitoring 24/7. You should be permitted a 24 hour stopover to effect repairs, as Jeremy Horne was.
Nosy Be.
I had to divert into Nosy Be enroute to Mayotte from Seychelles with a technical problem. I arrived at the same time as another yacht, they had requested entry permission nearly two weeks before intended arrival, they had not received approval. Both I and the other yacht were refused entry, even though I had a technical problem!
Apparently there is only one person able to give authorisation, a Minister, he is often unavailable!
I do not recommend visiting Madagascar until they decide to change their approach to yachts!
Thanks Jeremy for reporting this – it seems nothing has changed then. Yes, a permit is required to enter and the process to get one is very complicated and my understanding is that you have to be persistent. See all info. here – https://www.noonsite.com/place/madagascar/view/clearance/. I have reached out to our contacts in Madagascar to find out the correct procedure for arrival in an emergency as clearly being turned away is not ideal.
Madagascar’s maritime borders still remain closed to yachts, however, with a newly appointed Minis-ter of Transport yachts may now make an application to enter in advance. Bryce of Catamaran “Lady Blue” reports; “Just wanted to let you know that we are currently in Sainte Marie, Madagascar. We arrived on the 10th of April and we plan to cruise towards Nosy Be while making a few stops underway (i.e. Diego Suarez). A few weeks before leaving Mauritius (last port of call) I wrote to APMF in order to request permission to enter into the territory of Madagascar. After 2 weeks of waiting time and me chasing, the local authority replied positively to my request and so we received the authorization letter. We are the only foreign yacht cruising in the area as of now.” Find out more at Madagascar Biosecurity. https://www.noonsite.com/place/madagascar/view/bio-security/#
I planned a visit to Port Dauphin in November 2022. There were rumours that despite Madagascar being recently open to flights and cruise ship visitors, that it was closed to private boating from abroad. We contacted the embassy in London to be told that they ‘are not aware of any restriction for visiting boats’.
We cancelled are visit however, after harbour staff in Le Port, La Reunion, said that we definitely could not go there (except in an emergency) and he said that he had spoken to several boats that had been refused access in the last month or so.
I just spoke to someone who had cause to seek shelter there for weather and was carefully monitored to prevent shore access and given a military escort away from the country when the weather improved.
The 30-day visa into Madagascar is no longer free. As far as we can tell we were treated fairly in all of our dealings with the officials when we cleared into Ambodifotatra.
First, we went to the police station who act as Immigration. The 30-day visa cost 115,000 Ariary each person. We paid this to the officer plus 40,000 for a taxi. He took the passports, and one copy of our two copies of the exit zarpe (clearance) from Réunion. We went back at the time he suggested the next day and he returned the passports with the visas attached. I don’t know where the copy of the Réunion exit paper went… he said it is no longer required.
We still DID have to go to Îsle Madame (the fishing harbour) to see the Customs office. This is well within walking distance for this old geezer. It is in the first building you come across, like an abandoned hotel. The office is in the west wing, access from the north, outside. There we filled in a crew list/boat info sheet of paper and paid 60,000. We asked him if it was really necessary to visit the Coast Guard office just 20 metres away to the west and while considering it finally said we should.
There at the Coast Guard, we paid another 60,000 and filled out another vessel and crew info sheet.
That is what is required to check in when asking for a 30-day visa. I’ll come back to post again when we check out domestically on Monday to tell you what we did.
The Madagascar relay station for the Peri-Peri net has now closed. Although no longer resident in Madagascar, Ex-Net Controllers Des and Nell Cason of SY Gambit are happy to offer advice to cruisers visiting the country. They have sailed this area extensively and welcome the opportunity to stay involved in the well being of fellow sailors. Contact them by E-mail at sygambit(at)Gmail(dot)com
Just a word of caution, we are in Deigo Suarez, Madagascar in the commercial port anchorage and had an intruder on our boat around 0200. He was trying to steal our portable generator. He had a knife and was able to cut the lines securing it before he was scared off the boat. He had a friend waiting for him in a small dugout outrigger. He also stole lines off the boat. So please be very careful here.