When it comes to clearing immigration at airports in the United States, a vast majority of people do so upon arrival. However, many people may not be aware that the United States has what’s known as a Preclearance program, whereby you clear immigration prior to boarding your US-bound flight when departing from select airports.
Continue reading: US CBP Preclearance Facilities At Airports: Where, Why, And How
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Related: In a few places, Global Entry physical card was required to use kiosks, even though not technically required (like, if you’re a GE member you should be able to proceed to the kiosk, regardless), which is frustrating, because I don’t always bring the card (now I do, just in case). This has happened to me at YYZ, and even STT (which is US territory but still has customs).
There's another downside not mentioned - after clearing immigration you're trapped in an area of the airport of the airport which may have limited services.
Ben, there is no preclearance at YYJ. There is preclearance at the ferry terminal in the Victoria harbour.
The biggest thing not mentioned is the way it can significantly simplify gate allocation/scheduling/management and cost for airlines. Two examples come to mind. First, anyone who has arrived early into Dallas and had to wait for customs to open before being allowed to deplane, that scenario is somewhat self-explanatory. The Canada example is also huge; since most Canadian airports have the facilities, most flights to and from Canada for both Canadian and US airlines can operate in and out of any domestic gate in the US, without needing to relocate the plane or wait for a gate connected to the sterile customs zones in the US, greatly expanding the flexibility of the operation. At Seattle, this is a longstanding pain point for many international services, which have to deplane at the S gates (which are limited and premium, often leading to wait times). They either schedule a short-turn, or they have to tow the plane out to a stand to wait (looking at you, Icelandair), or to another gate elsewhere to board. American's short-lived Seattle-LHR service used to fly out of the N gates, but had to arrive into the S gates, neither of which was a standard area for AA flights (which have historically been in the A gates and now are in the D gates, which can't take a widebody). Likewise, Alaska pays for only one or two narrow body gates in the S gates, mainly to land Mexico services, but will depart them out of others. In 35 years of flying Alaska in and out of Seattle, I've only boarded an Alaska flight in the S gates exactly once (and once, due to presumably related space constraints, we landed into the B gates). You can tell when an airline does this because they will say "International arrivals only". Would love to hear from others who actually know the story here (I only am presuming based on what I've seen).
One thing that I do is bypass the kiosk and use the GE app. I've used it all over Canada to just go straight to the customs agent. Also doing it via the app will let you know if you have cleared already. A timesaver especially for airports like YYZ and YUL
I've never done this except when the preclearance was at my start of my trip home. I would only do it connecting if I had extra time built in. It does mean I have to get up quite early on my flight home from DUB this summer, but it will be nice not having to go through the whole process connecting in the US (particularly not having to go through TSA if the DHS funding isn't solved by then).
Another Con:
They confiscate my apples etc before I even get on my flight, so can't bring my own fruit etc.
Other countries have a similar system. Kind of. Uruguay has immigration at ports in Argentina. Eurostar does Schengen immigration in London. St Vincent & the Grenadines has immigration in the St Lucia airport.
Brussels (BRU) was supposed to get US CBP preclearance. There was an agreement signed in 2020, but I haven't read about any progress on it.
Yep. I used to fly to Dublin a lot, and the Dublin setup was very annoying. Takes extra time, even with Global Entry, and then you are locked up in this separate area, ten gates, duty-free liquor shop and not much else. I'd much rather walk through the Global Entry back in the US. The Abu Dhabi post-clearance area has a mini-lounge at least, although it isn't much either. And don't start me on Pearson...
post-CBP area at Abu Dhabi is probably the least bad of them, but it still sucks.
Worth noting the lounge quality (if even available) within pre clearance facilities is usually a significant downgrade compared to the others in the airport you may be eligible for on the other side of the line in the airport
There is one important reason why this is not used more. If a CBP is doing the clearance in another country he needs a special permit by this country to do so. And not all countries like to have foreign officials act within their borders
Something that I didn't see mentioned (forgive me if I missed it) is that these facilities sometimes have LIMITED HOURS.
Abu Dhabi is the most notorious, in that not all of Etihad's scheduled US flights can use pre-clearance, and significant delays can lead to customers who are scheduled on a flight meant for preclearance, not having the ability to be screened, and thus the flight requiring stateside CBP/FIS when it wasn't scheduled to.
Did you put even 5 seconds of thought into this?
The whole point, even at the time of institution, was to pre-screen such potential liabilities BEFORE even setting course for the USA (where they also be secondarily screened), instead of making the USA the first point of CBP contact.
Decent idea! The issue I’d run into is the Toronto-based security screeners won’t let you use the expedited GE security like without the physical card at some times, like, peak hours. And, technically, those screeners aren’t even with US CBP, so… they’re kinda makin’ their own rules.
Surprised Australia hasn't jumped onboard the CBP-preclearance wagon yet. Given the vast amount of US bound traffic from all major east coast capitals (Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne) to the US every day of the week on at least 6 or 7 major carriers. Including the Qantas a380. Ireland traffic to the US simply pales in comparison. But then again the Australian gov't tends to move at a snail's pace, so.........
They’ve changed security at YYZ and will eventually all over Canada. Now you can do it with just the pre-check on your BP however if you don’t have the physical card you are still subject to the random “button”. It’s dumb. But then again everything in Canada right now is like an IQ of 70. And I’m a dual national.
-G
Never flown out of DUB, but will this summer. The refurbished lounge will be open, so I hope I won't find it as you did.
Not at Canadian airports where AC invests significantly in the cross-boarder lounge experience vs. the domestic lounges.
But, the ultimate and more cost effective solution is being trialed where arriving international pax can, after facial rec, pass directly into the terminal and bags are loaded onto the next flight just like a domestic connection.
As a Canadian with Nexus, US CBP is a god-send because who wants to stand in line with hundreds of other travelers when it takes me no more than 5 mins to clear US CBP on my way from YYZ to the US.
Pre-Clearance is highly valued by my brown and black friends, who value the assurance that the worst a US border control officer can do to them is to send them home to their fluffy bed in Toronto
I think this program really benefits Air Canada specifically, which is why Canada has done it all over the place. It would allow an American passenger to connect in a Canadian airport with Air Canada without having to fool with formally entering Canada, then re-entering the US. It also allows for flight from Canada to US cities that don't have airports with a proper CPB setup.
I swear these victimisation fantasies are getting out of hand. 70% of officers who have ever interviewed me upon entry into the US have been black or brown.
Worth noting as well, that USCBP are allowed to carry firearms in Canada in the pre-clearance area, but definitely not allowed in Ireland, and fairly certain in other overseas locations as well.
They also used to have Pre-clearance at London, ON (YXU) but it looks like DL dropped service from DTW, so no more US flights except for seasonal leisure markets
No, it was initiated at Pearson at the request of American Airlines, primarily so that they could offer direct flights to smaller airports which lack customs/immigration services.
The US Govt has no interest in making it easier for travellers to enter the US by providing pre-clearance overseas. The objective is to stop illegal immigration or undesirable visits at source or at least outside of the US, hence the selection of Abu Dhabi, Canada, Ireland and Korea, from where such immigration attempts have been highest. A government official 15 years ago famously likened the situation to NFL. The objective is to protect the end zone from the half way line.
You still do actually need full visas etc to enter Canada if you intend to connect there, though, even if you never actually stamp in due to the preclearance. A friend of mine found that out the hard way. It's not considered full sterile for connecting purposes.
Bingo. Flew out of Dublin back to the U.S. once and vowed to never do that again if I have the choice. Not only was there lack of anything resembling food (except coffee), but there also wasn't enough seating throughout the terminal (people were sitting on the floor in the hallways), not enough bathrooms, and the "amenities" were as bare bones as you could get. There was pretty much zero investment made to make this entire area anything more than passable.
For this reason, I kind of assumed all Pre-Clearance facilities are similar in nature and avoid them if possible.