What is Immigration Preclearance, and Where can You Use It?
U.S. immigration is done outside the U.S. at 16 airports around the world. When you arrive at the airport you go through US customs and immigration before getting on your flight.
That’s great for non-US citizens because the lines are usually shorter and they can make quicker connections on arrival. That’s great for the US, which is requiring that foreign governments or airports pick up the cost of immigration processing. And it’s not so good for US citizens who may face delays they wouldn’t otherwise with standard immigration.
Most passengers find preclearance convenient
Airports like preclearance because it attracts passengers. Arrive at the airport a bit early and you land in the US like you’ve gotten off of a domestic flight. When you go through preclearance in Ireland the lines are usually pretty short.
British Airways has their flight from London City airport that stops in Ireland enroute to New York and is popular because it lets passengers avoid immigration in New York.
Preclearance is convenient for passengers who will be connecting — it reduces stress wondering if you’ll miss your connection, and it allows for shorter connecting time.
Net net preclearance is best for non-US citizens who tend to face the longest lines on arrival.
Who gets inconvenienced by preclearance?
Preclearance is useless, even unhelpful, if you have Global Entry.
You really don’t wait at immigration anyway. But you’re waiting for everyone else to clear immigration before your flight departs. This has been a nasty problem in Abu Dhabi where the process has been super slow and it’s led to many delayed departures.
Why does the US government like preclearance?
The US likes preclearance in Abu Dhabi because they’re able to stop people from coming to the US before they board planes, rather than once they’re already on US soil at the airport. Several of the sillier plots like the underwear bomber involved foreigners boarding planes abroad with a plot to execute prior to landing.
Where do you clear immigration before coming to the US instead of on arrival?
There are currently 16 airports with U.S. immigration preclearance:
- Canada: Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto (Pearson), Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg
- Caribbean: Bahamas – Freeport, Bahamas – Nassau, Bermuda, Aruba
- Ireland: Shannon, Dublin
- Other: Abu Dhabi
How and where will immigration preclearance expand?
The US is looking to expand preclearance. They’ve set up a process where foreign airports request it via letter by the end of November.
The criteria:
- Must be serviced by at least one US carrier (there was a lot of complaining by US airlines about advantaging a foreign carrier when they opened Abu Dhabi)
- Must be willing to provide a preclearance facility that meets US requirements
- Must be willing to reimburse US costs to the maximum extent permitted by US law .. in other words, they have to be the ones paying for it more or less.
- Must be willing to grant US immigration personnel diplomatic privileges and law enforcement authority within the facility.
Currently 18% of US arriving passengers go through a preclearance facility. The government’s goal is to increase that to one-third by 2024.
CBP plans are outlined in this new document (.pdf).
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