How much Dublin airport time for Customs & Immigration

We flew home through Shannon, not Dublin, but our customs and immigration was incredibly fast - like 5 minutes or less. Note that this does not include standard security, this is an extra process. Dublin is probably a little longer, especially if you have a morning flight (there are a lot of pre-clearance flights at that time). I would recommend getting to the airport a minimum of two hours before your flight arrives, and if it were me, I'd be there at least 2.5 hours early. I always prefer to be relaxed but bored in the airport before a transcontinental flight rather than stressing out if I am going to make it.

When we flew from Dublin to DC each of the last two years, security was pretty quick, 5 to 10 minutes. But, we also went through per-clearance for U.S. Customs, and that took close to an hour.

It all depends on how many other people are in line. The last time I left out of Dublin, the U.S. Immigration part was longer than anything else. It takes about 30 minutes to get to the airport from town, and I would suggest being there 2.5 hours before your flight. I certainly wouldn't try to get there much later than that. Better to have to wait a bit than risk being late because of a slow-moving line.

I would allow 3 hours. The last time we allowed 2 and had to run for it.

OK, it looks like we will plan to be at the airport 3 hours prior to scheduled departure time. Thank you all for your feedback!

Hi folks. I work in Dublin airport an frequently see the queues....
At this time of year, and depending on your flight time, it can take some time to get through immigration. Most Atlantic flights leave in the early morning which puts an obvious strain on the facilities and staff. It short, the immigration is a bottleneck and if you have 5-6 flights leaving within 60 minutes of each, longer queues are the inevitable consequence.
I would say to give yourself a minimum 2 hours for the check-in and immigration. But that leaves little time for much else so, if you fancy some duty free shopping or want food, l'd follow the advice of the previous post and arrive at the airport 3 hours beforehand.

Thank you, SavvyPaddy. Our flight is scheduled to depart for the U.S. at 12:30 pm on a Tuesday. Your first-hand observation confirms my thinking to arrive 3 hours prior to flight time. All of these replies have been very helpful!

Hi,

It depends, we were told to go through customs 2 hrs before hand. I stood in line at the VAT Booth & realized I had to go. Did not do any of the shopping in duty free that we had planned on or had a chance to eat that day. Went through the line in about 2 minutes. Sat in that area of the airport for the next 2 hours. They did have a small duty free and a few areas for food but not to the extent the main airport had. It was a little frustrating.

Thanks,

Mary