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Where is Custom/immigration handled Ireland to US

We are coming home to Portland from Ireland in July with a layover in JFK ,Dulles, or O'Hare ( haven't booked yet) Where do we go through customs/immigration? Wondering how long of a layover I need in our connecting city? Thanks! Also, is there a better time to buy tickets, I am looking at $1400 currently!

Posted by
5436 posts

It depends which airport and which company. Pre-clearance is possible in some circumstances in the Republic of Ireland, eg Dublin. If leaving from Northern Ireland this is not currently possible.

Posted by
10570 posts

When we flew home from Dublin in 2009 we went through customs/immigration in Dublin.

Posted by
9371 posts

You will go through US immigration before leaving Ireland, whether through Dublin or Shannon.

Posted by
272 posts

We went through customs/immigration at the Dublin airport before returning to the US in August. Be sure to allow extra time.

Posted by
14608 posts

You might take a look at Delta/KLM's prices. I just booked Pullman to Dublin in June using the Delta/KLM flight from SEA to AMS and it was around $1050. That included the Pullman flight which usually bumps the cost up. I wasn't sure if you were leaving from Portland as well as returning to Portland.

Posted by
635 posts

We flew home to the US from DUB last September 30. At that time, only passengers for JFK went through US Customs before boarding at the Dublin Airport. All others (including ourselves, traveling on Aer Lingus to Chicago) cleared Customs on arrival in the US.

The Aer Lingus website, however, seems to indicate the Customs pre-clearance program has now expanded to all US-bound flights from Dublin.

Posted by
250 posts

Thanks everybody, I'm thinking a two hour layover in the states ought to be plenty then.

Posted by
506 posts

Look around, we just bought tickets round trip from San Francisco to London in May for $1030.00 on United Airlines. The prices had gone done since the last I looked.

Posted by
124 posts

Ireland a.k.a Dublin International Airport and Shannon International Airport are the only places in the WORLD where you go through US immigrations/customs and get your US entry stamp before you get on your airplane to the United States. If you are headed to any other country before arriving in the United States you will not be going through this part of the airport. It is a totally different wing of the airport, all workers are US citizens there and it is also considered US soil. I was just there this past November bring my Irish boyfriend home with me to the States.

*sorry should of said the shop lady at the airport kept calling it "US Soil," we (boyfriend and I) started calling it that. I think it's funny that the workers at the airport call it that. It's not the end of the world.

Posted by
5436 posts

It isn't the only place in the world, but it is the only preclearance in Europe. In law though it is not considered 'US soil' - the Act establishing them says: 'The laws of Ireland shall at all times apply in Preclearance and In-Transit Preclearance areas.'

Posted by
124 posts

Marco - the signs said US customs and immigrations, I talked to the customs officer he said Ireland was the only place that had this. When you leave the customs officers room it even has a sign welcoming you to the US and then you had to go through another security area.

Posted by
3 posts

Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal have preclearance from Canada. Been that way for years. Not sure if Vancouver does. A smaller airport in Kitchener, Ontario does not. So it depends.

Posted by
1446 posts

Sarah, Ireland is neither the only place in the world to have pre-clearance facilities, nor are they to be considered 'American soil'. The guy you spoke with didn't have all his "facts" right.

In Canada, for example, some American laws are enforced in the pre-clearance areas (related to Immigration, Food, Agriculture, etc.), but Canadian laws must be respected too (such as our Charter of Rights and Freedoms). U.S. Customs officers do not have the power to arrest anywhere in our airports.

I was the first passenger to go though U.S. Customs and Immigration pre-clearance at the Ottawa airport, back in July 1997. Toronto has had it since at least the 1970s. Now 8 airports in Canada have U.S. pre-clearance border posts.

I think that the UAE, Aruba, Bermuda and the Bahamas also have pre-clearance facilities.

Posted by
15777 posts

Yesterday I saw I report on CNN that Dubai has just become the second country (after Ireland) in the world to offer pre-boarding U.S. immigration clearance. According to Richard Quest, the U.S. airlines are up in arms because it gives the local airline an unfair trade advantage on flights from that part of the world.

I did clear U.S. immigration;/customs in Calgary before my flight to O'Hare recently.

Posted by
1446 posts

LOL, it sounds like even CNN can't get their facts straight... Wouldn't be the first time.

Abu Dhabi in the UAE is the newest, not Dubai, and that's the crux of the American airlines' disgruntlement: they don't fly from there direct, only Etihad does - which gives it an advantage over its U.S. competitors.

Posted by
15777 posts

Diane, I bet it was me, not CNN. Since I haven't been to much of the Arabian peninsula (or am ever likely to be) I get some of the cities/countries mixed up. Thanks for the correction