Hello! I live in the states and am flying through Toronto, Canada on Air Canada to and from Dublin. Has anyone tried clearing US Customs at Dublin Airport? I read there is a U.S. Pre-clearance facility that allows passengers to clearn both US Secuirty (TSA) and US Customs and Border Patrol.
Please share any experiences you might have with this process. Thank you!
Pre-clearance through U.S. Border Patrol from Dublin applies for flights to the U.S. Your flight is going to Canada. Where you will then pre-clear U.S. Border Patrol in Toronto, before going to your plane.
On your return flight are you once again going through Toronto or are you going directly to the US from Dublin? If you are going via Toronto you will preclear US immigration an customs in Toronto. If going directly to the US from Dublin you will preclear US immigration and customs in Dublin.
But if you are flying to Canada as your first landing point, you will clear USA Customs and Immigration in Canada on your way to the States. If you were flying directly from Dublin to the USA, then you would clear Customs and Immigration at Dublin airport. That is my take anyway. I've been wrong before.
I have done this, but coming from Germany, which does not have USA Customs and Immigration on site and i went through USA Customs and Immigration at Toronto airport. I have also flown directly from Dublin to USA, clearing USA Customs and Immigration at Dublin airport.
Basically it is not a pick and choose, everyone on the same flight does the same thing. Since Canada does not do pre-clearance in Dublin, you are stuck doing it in Canada. But since that will be preclearance for the US in Toronto, not much difference.
Thank you, Larry, Trotter, Sam and Paul! That makes sense! Have any of you used the ArriveCAN app? I do not have Global Entry and was reading about this app. I'd appreciate any information or tips you can share. Thanks!
ArriveCan will help you with immigration/customs into Canada but not the USA. Global Entry is only for entry into the USA.
Not sure if this works for Pre- Clearance but check out the Mobile Passport Control app for use entering the USA.
The preclearance of immigration/customs was such a nice surprise coming back from Dublin (I was not aware of it going in). I just researched it a bit more as I was curious what other airports/countries participated, and it looks like almost all major airports in Canada also participate in the program, so it looks like you will fly to Toronto from Dublin without it, but go through preclearance in Toronto prior to boarding your flight to the US. I know that you did not have it, but just an interesting note that you can use use Global entry at the Dublin airport for preclearance (so I would assume at the other sites as well).
Thank you, Frank II & Maryam!
Mobile Passport Control is available for entry to the US in Toronto and Montreal. https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/mobile-passport-control-available-use-canadian-preclearance
