United States border preclearance
Encyclopedia
The United States
operates border preclearance facilities at a number of ports and airports in foreign countries. They are staffed and operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection
officers. Travelers pass through Immigration and Customs
, Public Health
, and Department of Agriculture
inspections before boarding their aircraft
, ship
or train
. US officials state that this process is intended to streamline border procedures, to reduce congestion at ports of entry, and to facilitate travel between the preclearance location and some U.S. airports that may not be equipped to handle international travellers. However, the US and other countries who engage in the practice have been accused of being motivated also by the desire to prevent the arrival of asylum seekers, who are protected under the 1951 Refugee Convention's non-refoulement
provisions once they arrive at their destination.
Preclearance exists at most major Canadian airports, providing (in theory) convenience to travellers from those cities to the U.S. Arrangements also exist with some airports in Bermuda
, The Bahamas
, Aruba
and at two airports in Ireland
. In Canada
, U.S. Border Preclearance is also known by its French
name, précontrôle. When travelers from a preclearance port arrive in the U.S. they do so as domestic travelers (pre-cleared flights are always subject to reinspection at the discretion of Customs and Border Protection). This is particularly beneficial to those who have an ongoing connection (such as a connecting flight), as there is no risk of border delays causing them to miss their connection. (A corresponding drawback, however, is that a delay in preclearance could cause the passenger to miss the outbound flight.) Air travelers with further connections have their baggage checked through to their destination; without preclearance the baggage would have to be collected prior to customs inspection and then checked-in for the subsequent flight.
Preclearance provides considerable flexibility to the airlines operating in those routes where such program is available. For example, major U.S airlines and their subsidiaries routinely operate many daily flights from locations like Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
, or Nassau
, Bahamas, to New York City
. Thanks to the presence of preclearance facilities in Toronto and Nassau, the airlines can conveniently direct their flights from these locations to land at LaGuardia Airport
, rather than the much larger and busier John F. Kennedy International Airport
. This allows them to save the valuable space at JFK for their other international arrivals.
However, with the notable exceptions of LaGuardia Airport
and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
, many more US airports now have customs facilities compared to when the preclearance program first started in 1952. The waits at some busy preclearance facilities, notably Toronto Pearson
, can also often exceed the waiting times of non-precleared flights at the destination and cause significant delays to departure schedules. Reduced staffing levels by US Customs and Border Protection have been blamed by airport authorities, whose pleas have been answered with deferrals due to domestic priorities. NEXUS and similar programs are now being explored and expanded as a means to try and restore some of the original convenience to the preclearance process.
Preclearance applies to both U.S. citizens as well as citizens of most other countries who travel to the U.S. As the U.S. requires those in transit through the U.S. to pass through U.S. immigration (unlike many other countries, which permit airside transfers), preclearance also applies to transit passengers.
These facilities exist because of agreements made between the federal government of the United States
and the government of the host country. Travelers who have passed through the U.S. government checks, but whose flight or ship has not departed, remain in the legal jurisdiction of the host country. U.S. officials may question and search travelers with the passenger's permission, but they do not have powers of arrest (either for customs or immigration violations, or for the execution of outstanding warrants), although they can deny boarding. Local criminal laws apply, and are enforced by local officials. Some countries have laws in place specifically to cover preclearance issues. Since CBP does not have legal powers on foreign soil, passengers can only be detained for local laws by local authorities. A passenger can choose to abandon their flight and refuse search, and unlike in the United States, officers cannot search them. Most preclearance facilities have a sign explaining this.
, Ontario
, in 1952, following a request from American Airlines
. This was extended and formalized with Canada's passage of the Air Transport Preclearance Act passed by the Canadian House of Commons
in 1974, the 1999 Preclearance Act and with the 2001 Canada-U.S. Agreement on Air Transport Preclearance. The preclearance agreement is fully reciprocal, meaning the Government of Canada has the option of opening Canadian Preclearance facilities in the United States, but as of 2011 this option has not been exercised by the Canadian government. The following Canadian airports operate U.S. preclearance facilities:
The U.S. operates a preclearance post at Pacific Central Station for Amtrak Cascades
rail service between Vancouver
, British Columbia
, and Seattle, Washington.
The U.S. operates a preclearance post at the port of Vancouver. This is particularly valuable to travellers using cruise liners which visit Alaska
or that depart from Vancouver and have a first stop at other US coastal cities situated along the west coast of North America (Seattle, Astoria, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego).
The U.S. operates a preinspection post for immigration only (customs is still performed upon arrival in the U.S.), at the port of Victoria
for the Black Ball Line
MV Coho
service to Port Angeles, Washington
.
Per the request of Porter Airlines
, a new terminal building constructed at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport officially opened in Fall 2010 and includes both Canada Border Services Agency
and provisions for U.S. Customs and Border Protection border preclearance facilities, however the latter has been denied by Washington.
began in 1960. The Bahamas
and the U.S. signed a treaty in June 1974 formalizing the process.
Plans were underway for a preclearance facility to be opened at Punta Cana International Airport
located in the popular tourist destination of Punta Cana
, Dominican Republic
by the end of summer 2009, however as of June 2011 the facility has not opened yet. In April 2011, a team from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security traveled to Jamaica
for talks with Jamaican government and tourism officials regarding the prospects of opening future preclearance facilities on the island.
The U.S. and Ireland entered into a preinspection arrangement in 1986. Shannon Airport
initially offered only immigration checks, with customs and agriculture inspections done on arrival in the U.S.—a procedure more properly known as preinspection. In August 2009, Shannon opened an addition to its preclearance facility that provided customs and agriculture inspections as well. The facilities at Dublin Airport
, like those at Shannon, initially offered only immigration checks on select flights. In January 2011, a section of the recently opened Terminal 2 dedicated to preclearance opened with full CBP facilities. Both airports now allow U.S.-bound commercial flights that use the preclearance facilities to arrive at domestic terminals instead of international terminals, which in turn allows arriving passengers to leave airports upon landing without further inspection. Since March 2010, the Shannon preclearance facility is also available for use by private aircraft; the Dublin facility is only available for commercial flights.
Note: In Dublin, the preclearance immigration facility is only available for U.S.-bound flights departing before 16.00. Passengers on later flights undergo U.S. immigration and customs checks upon arrival in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
operates border preclearance facilities at a number of ports and airports in foreign countries. They are staffed and operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting import duties, and enforcing U.S. regulations, including trade, customs and immigration. CBP is the...
officers. Travelers pass through Immigration and Customs
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security , responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security...
, Public Health
United States Public Health Service
The Public Health Service Act of 1944 structured the United States Public Health Service as the primary division of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare , which later became the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The PHS comprises all Agency Divisions of Health and...
, and Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
inspections before boarding their aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
, ship
Ship
Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...
or train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
. US officials state that this process is intended to streamline border procedures, to reduce congestion at ports of entry, and to facilitate travel between the preclearance location and some U.S. airports that may not be equipped to handle international travellers. However, the US and other countries who engage in the practice have been accused of being motivated also by the desire to prevent the arrival of asylum seekers, who are protected under the 1951 Refugee Convention's non-refoulement
Non-refoulement
Non-refoulement is a principle in international law, specifically refugee law, that concerns the protection of refugees from being returned to places where their lives or freedoms could be threatened...
provisions once they arrive at their destination.
Preclearance exists at most major Canadian airports, providing (in theory) convenience to travellers from those cities to the U.S. Arrangements also exist with some airports in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
, The Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
, Aruba
Aruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
and at two airports in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. In Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, U.S. Border Preclearance is also known by its French
Canadian French
Canadian French is an umbrella term referring to the varieties of French spoken in Canada. French is the mother tongue of nearly seven million Canadians, a figure constituting roughly 22% of the national population. At the federal level it has co-official status alongside English...
name, précontrôle. When travelers from a preclearance port arrive in the U.S. they do so as domestic travelers (pre-cleared flights are always subject to reinspection at the discretion of Customs and Border Protection). This is particularly beneficial to those who have an ongoing connection (such as a connecting flight), as there is no risk of border delays causing them to miss their connection. (A corresponding drawback, however, is that a delay in preclearance could cause the passenger to miss the outbound flight.) Air travelers with further connections have their baggage checked through to their destination; without preclearance the baggage would have to be collected prior to customs inspection and then checked-in for the subsequent flight.
Preclearance provides considerable flexibility to the airlines operating in those routes where such program is available. For example, major U.S airlines and their subsidiaries routinely operate many daily flights from locations like Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, or Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
, Bahamas, to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Thanks to the presence of preclearance facilities in Toronto and Nassau, the airlines can conveniently direct their flights from these locations to land at LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...
, rather than the much larger and busier John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
. This allows them to save the valuable space at JFK for their other international arrivals.
However, with the notable exceptions of LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...
and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public airport located south of downtown Washington, D.C., in Arlington County, Virginia. It is the commercial airport nearest to Washington, D.C. For many decades, it was called Washington National Airport, but this airport was renamed in 1998 to...
, many more US airports now have customs facilities compared to when the preclearance program first started in 1952. The waits at some busy preclearance facilities, notably Toronto Pearson
Toronto Pearson International Airport
Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport serving Toronto, Ontario, Canada; its metropolitan area; and the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration that is home to 8.1 million people – approximately 25% of Canada's population...
, can also often exceed the waiting times of non-precleared flights at the destination and cause significant delays to departure schedules. Reduced staffing levels by US Customs and Border Protection have been blamed by airport authorities, whose pleas have been answered with deferrals due to domestic priorities. NEXUS and similar programs are now being explored and expanded as a means to try and restore some of the original convenience to the preclearance process.
Preclearance applies to both U.S. citizens as well as citizens of most other countries who travel to the U.S. As the U.S. requires those in transit through the U.S. to pass through U.S. immigration (unlike many other countries, which permit airside transfers), preclearance also applies to transit passengers.
These facilities exist because of agreements made between the federal government of the United States
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
and the government of the host country. Travelers who have passed through the U.S. government checks, but whose flight or ship has not departed, remain in the legal jurisdiction of the host country. U.S. officials may question and search travelers with the passenger's permission, but they do not have powers of arrest (either for customs or immigration violations, or for the execution of outstanding warrants), although they can deny boarding. Local criminal laws apply, and are enforced by local officials. Some countries have laws in place specifically to cover preclearance issues. Since CBP does not have legal powers on foreign soil, passengers can only be detained for local laws by local authorities. A passenger can choose to abandon their flight and refuse search, and unlike in the United States, officers cannot search them. Most preclearance facilities have a sign explaining this.
Canada
Informal preclearance arrangements between the U.S. and Canada began in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, in 1952, following a request from American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
. This was extended and formalized with Canada's passage of the Air Transport Preclearance Act passed by the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
in 1974, the 1999 Preclearance Act and with the 2001 Canada-U.S. Agreement on Air Transport Preclearance. The preclearance agreement is fully reciprocal, meaning the Government of Canada has the option of opening Canadian Preclearance facilities in the United States, but as of 2011 this option has not been exercised by the Canadian government. The following Canadian airports operate U.S. preclearance facilities:
- Calgary International AirportCalgary International AirportCalgary International Airport, , is the international airport that serves Calgary, Alberta, Canada and the surrounding region; it is situated approximately northeast of downtown Calgary...
- Edmonton International AirportEdmonton International AirportEdmonton International Airport is the primary air passenger and air cargo facility in the Edmonton region in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is a hub facility for Northern Alberta and Northern Canada providing regularly scheduled nonstop flights to over fifty communities in Canada, the United...
- Halifax Stanfield International Airport
- Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International AirportMontréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International AirportMontréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport or Montréal-Trudeau, formerly known as Montréal-Dorval International Airport, is located on the Island of Montreal, from Montreal's downtown core. The airport terminals are located entirely in Dorval, while the Air Canada headquarters complex...
- Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International AirportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International AirportOttawa/Macdonald-Cartier International Airport or Macdonald-Cartier International Airport , in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is named after Sirs John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier...
- Toronto Pearson International AirportToronto Pearson International AirportToronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport serving Toronto, Ontario, Canada; its metropolitan area; and the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration that is home to 8.1 million people – approximately 25% of Canada's population...
- Vancouver International AirportVancouver International AirportVancouver International Airport is located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, about from Downtown Vancouver. In 2010 it was the second busiest airport in Canada by aircraft movements and passengers , behind Toronto Pearson International Airport, with non-stop flights daily to...
- Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport
The U.S. operates a preclearance post at Pacific Central Station for Amtrak Cascades
Amtrak Cascades
The Amtrak Cascades is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak in partnership with the states of Washington and Oregon in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and the province of British Columbia in Canada...
rail service between Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, and Seattle, Washington.
The U.S. operates a preclearance post at the port of Vancouver. This is particularly valuable to travellers using cruise liners which visit Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
or that depart from Vancouver and have a first stop at other US coastal cities situated along the west coast of North America (Seattle, Astoria, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego).
The U.S. operates a preinspection post for immigration only (customs is still performed upon arrival in the U.S.), at the port of Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
for the Black Ball Line
Puget Sound Navigation Company
The Puget Sound Navigation Company was founded by Joshua Green in 1913. It operated a fleet of steamboats and ferries on Puget Sound in Washington and the Georgia Strait in British Columbia...
MV Coho
MV Coho
The M/V Coho is an auto ferry operated by Black Ball Line. Black Ball owns and operates this single ferry between Victoria, British Columbia and Port Angeles, Washington.-Construction and design:...
service to Port Angeles, Washington
Port Angeles, Washington
Port Angeles is a city in and the county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,038 at the 2010 census. The area's harbor was dubbed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791, but by the mid-19th century the name had...
.
Per the request of Porter Airlines
Porter Airlines
Porter Airlines is a regional airline headquartered at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Porter operates regularly scheduled flights between Toronto and locations in Canada and the United States using Canadian-built Bombardier Dash-8 Q 400...
, a new terminal building constructed at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport officially opened in Fall 2010 and includes both Canada Border Services Agency
Canada Border Services Agency
The Canada Border Services Agency is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border enforcement, immigration enforcement and customs services....
and provisions for U.S. Customs and Border Protection border preclearance facilities, however the latter has been denied by Washington.
Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean
Informal preclearance with BermudaBermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
began in 1960. The Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
and the U.S. signed a treaty in June 1974 formalizing the process.
- ArubaArubaAruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
- Queen Beatrix International AirportQueen Beatrix International AirportQueen Beatrix International Airport , in Oranjestad, Aruba, is an aviation facility. It has flight services to the United States, most countries in the Caribbean, the northern coastal countries of South America, Canada and some parts of Europe, notably the Netherlands... - The Bahamas - Grand Bahama International AirportGrand Bahama International AirportGrand Bahama International Airport is a privately owned international airport in Freeport, Bahamas. The airport is a joint venture between Hutchison Port Holdings and The Port Group...
in FreeportFreeport, BahamasFreeport is a city, district and free trade zone located on the island of Grand Bahama of the North-west Bahamas. In 1955, Wallace Groves, a Virginian financier with lumber interests in Grand Bahama, was granted 50,000 acres Freeport is a city, district and free trade zone located on the island of... - The Bahamas - Lynden Pindling International AirportLynden Pindling International Airport- Trivia :During World War II,it was known as Windsor Field used by the Royal Air Force Transferring Fighter and Bomber aircraft such as the B-17, B-24, and the P-40 from New Providence to Italian, North African and European Theatres of War and as a station for Consolidated Liberator I and North...
in NassauNassau, BahamasNassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas... - Bermuda - Bermuda International AirportBermuda International AirportL.F. Wade International Airport , formerly named Bermuda International Airport, is the sole airport serving Bermuda, a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is located in the parish of St. George's and is northeast of Bermuda's capital city of Hamilton. In 2006, L.F. Wade...
Plans were underway for a preclearance facility to be opened at Punta Cana International Airport
Punta Cana International Airport
Punta Cana International Airport is a privately owned commercial airport in Punta Cana, eastern Dominican Republic. The airport is built in a traditional Dominican style with open-air terminals with their roofs covered in palm fronds. built the Punta Cana International Airport in 1984. A number...
located in the popular tourist destination of Punta Cana
Punta Cana
Punta Cana is part of the newly created Punta Cana-Bávaro-Veron-Macao municipal district in La Altagracia, the easternmost province of the Dominican Republic. The area is best known for its beaches and balnearios, which face both the Caribbean and Atlantic, and it has been a popular tourist...
, Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
by the end of summer 2009, however as of June 2011 the facility has not opened yet. In April 2011, a team from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security traveled to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
for talks with Jamaican government and tourism officials regarding the prospects of opening future preclearance facilities on the island.
Ireland
Shannon Airport
Shannon Airport, is one of the Republic of Ireland's three primary airports along with Dublin and Cork. In 2010 around 1,750,000 passengers passed through the airport, making it the third busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland after Dublin and Cork, and the fifth busiest airport on the island...
initially offered only immigration checks, with customs and agriculture inspections done on arrival in the U.S.—a procedure more properly known as preinspection. In August 2009, Shannon opened an addition to its preclearance facility that provided customs and agriculture inspections as well. The facilities at Dublin Airport
Dublin Airport
Dublin Airport, , is operated by the Dublin Airport Authority. Located in Collinstown, in the Fingal part of County Dublin, 18.4 million passengers passed through the airport in 2010, making it the busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland, followed by Cork and Shannon...
, like those at Shannon, initially offered only immigration checks on select flights. In January 2011, a section of the recently opened Terminal 2 dedicated to preclearance opened with full CBP facilities. Both airports now allow U.S.-bound commercial flights that use the preclearance facilities to arrive at domestic terminals instead of international terminals, which in turn allows arriving passengers to leave airports upon landing without further inspection. Since March 2010, the Shannon preclearance facility is also available for use by private aircraft; the Dublin facility is only available for commercial flights.
Note: In Dublin, the preclearance immigration facility is only available for U.S.-bound flights departing before 16.00. Passengers on later flights undergo U.S. immigration and customs checks upon arrival in the U.S.
See also
- Extraterritorial jurisdictionExtraterritorial jurisdictionExtraterritorial jurisdiction is the legal ability of a government to exercise authority beyond its normal boundaries.Any authority can, of course, claim ETJ over any external territory they wish...
- Immigration to the United StatesImmigration to the United StatesImmigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...
- List of United States immigration legislation
- United States Department of Homeland SecurityUnited States Department of Homeland SecurityThe United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
- United States Citizenship and Immigration ServicesUnited States Citizenship and Immigration ServicesUnited States Citizenship and Immigration Services is a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security . It performs many administrative functions formerly carried out by the legacy United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , which was part of the Department of Justice...