DHS NAMES 11 NEW FOREIGN AIRPORTS AS POSSIBLE PRECLEARANCE SITES

December 6, 2016

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that 11 more non-U.S. airports have been selected for possible Customs and Border Protection Preclearance expansion.  Preclearance allows travelers to complete immigration, customs and agriculture inspection before boarding a flight to the United States.  Upon arrival to the United States, pre-cleared flights are treated similar to domestic flights.  CBP has indicated that Preclearance is successful at preventing certain high-risk travelers from boarding aircraft bound for the United States as well as minimizing delays at U.S. airport customs facilities.  More than 10 million travelers currently fly to the United States from the 11 identified cities, which were:

Bogota, Colombia
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Keflavik, Iceland
Mexico City, Mexico
Milan, Italy
Osaka, Japan
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rome, Italy
Sao Paulo, Brazil
St. Maarten

In 2015, 10 airports in nine countries were selected for possible expansion, including Stockholm, Sweden.  The United States and Sweden recently signed an agreement that would allow the preclearance facility to open in Stockholm as early as 2019.  Other countries identified in 2015 for possible preclearance sites included Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.  CBP currently operates 15 preclearance facilities in Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.

Please contact us if you would like further details on DHS’ requirements for establishing preclearance facilities.

If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com, 202-659-6622) or Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com, 202-659-6665).

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