Entering any country as a foreign national and even a citizen can be nothing short of a nightmare on occasion.
Almost all of us that have flown into a new country have experienced long queues through immigration and customs. One destination that can be infamous for long waits on arrival is the U.S. With passengers unable to transit through the U.S., this means that each and every arrival into the States must clear customs and immigration, which can lead to long queues.
There are just a few locations in the world that passengers can pass through U.S. customs and … [+]
After disembarking from a long flight, which can involve time zone changes around the world, one of the last things that any of us want to do is to wait in a queue.
However, there are a few locations around the world where passengers clear customs and border patrol (CBP) on their departure.
This means that even before passengers board their flight into the U.S. they have already been stamped into the United States, and you will arrive as a domestic passenger, alleviating a lot of the hassle and queues upon landing.
Passengers wait in line to use the Automated Passport Control Kiosks set up for international … [+]
There are a total of 15 locations around the world that passengers can pre-clear into the U.S. The majority of these are located in Canada and the Caribbean, but further afield Dublin and Shannon in Ireland offer the service.
Perhaps the most unique (and useful) location to use U.S. Preclearance is in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. With the flight time from Abu Dhabi to the East Coast of the U.S. taking over 14 hours, clearing immigration before embarking on your journey can save a lot of hassle stress when arriving in the U.S.
Interestingly, you will actually be stamped into the United States a day before you even arrive depending on what time your flight leaves. The border in Abu Dhabi looks and feels like you have stepped onto U.S. soil, and more than 2.5 million passengers flying on Etihad from Abu Dhabi have now benefited from CBP preclearance.
After passengers pass Customs and Border Patrol and have entered U.S. “soil” there are separate … [+]
With Abu Dhabi serving as a strategic location connecting the Middle East and sub-continent to the U.S. the facility is unique and only paralleled by the CBP preclearance facilities in Ireland.
Passengers can fly to four U.S. destinations through preclearance at Abu Dhabi. Etihad serve New York, Washington D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles on A380, 777 and 787 aircraft.
