Preclearance Locations

Preclearance Overview

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) air Preclearance operations is the strategic stationing of CBP law enforcement personnel overseas to inspect travelers prior to boarding U.S.-bound flights. Through Preclearance, CBP Officers conduct the same immigration, customs, and agriculture inspections of international air travelers typically performed upon arrival in the United States before departure from foreign airports.

Today, CBP has more than 600 law enforcement officers and agriculture specialists stationed at 15 air Preclearance locations in 6 countries: Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; Aruba; Freeport and Nassau in The Bahamas; Bermuda; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Winnipeg in Canada. CBP also staffs a Pre-inspection facility for passenger/vehicle ferry traffic to the U.S. in Victoria, Canada.

In Fiscal Year 2016, CBP personnel stationed abroad precleared 18 million travelers, representing over 15 percent of all commercial air travelers to the United States.

Preclearance Benefits
DHS firmly believes that establishing Preclearance operations in strategic locations will assist our efforts in identifying terrorists, criminals, and other national security threats prior to their boarding an aircraft bound for the United States, and is a critical step in DHS’s continued efforts to enhance national security and facilitate growing international travel and commerce.

The aviation security benefits of Preclearance are substantial because a uniformed, U.S. law enforcement officer interviews the precleared passenger before he or she boards the plane. This added security layer provides an additional opportunity to detect and stop threats as early in the process as possible.

In addition to enhancing security, Preclearance has the potential to increase capacity and create growth opportunities for airports and air carriers in the United States and abroad, while improving the passenger experience. Preclearance generates the potential for significant economic benefits for the United States and our international partners by facilitating travel through all gateways, creating an overall increase in clearance capacity, and maximizing aircraft and gate utilization. For travelers, Preclearance leads to faster connections and the ability to exit the airport immediately upon landing the United States.

Preclearance Expansion
Building upon the success of existing Preclearance operations, CBP intends to expand the program to new locations. DHS prioritization for expansion includes technical site visits to interested airports, during which each airport is carefully evaluated based on the current and future capacity to host CBP Preclearance operations and aviation security screening meeting TSA standards, as well as an analysis of the potential facilitation and homeland security benefits. CBP is currently negotiating with several countries interested in establishing Preclearance operations, and recently concluded agreements to cover Stockholm, Sweden (signed November 4, 2016) and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (signed December 1, 2016).

CBP Headquarters

Director Field Operations
1300 Pennsylvania Ave - 1717 H St. Floor 6
CB-15 Mail Stop 1300
Washington, DC 20229

Questions/Customer Service
For general CBP inquiries, please call the CBP INFO Center Monday-Friday, between 9:00 a.m. and 4 p.m. Eastern Time.
General Inquiries: 1-877-CBP-5511
International Callers: (202) 325-8000
TDD: Federal Relay