US Imigration Control

phog

Planning a trip to the US. Is it better/quicker to go through Immigration Control in Shannon prior to travel or through it in the US Airport?

Do any English airports have a similar process as I’m checking prices from Ireland and the UK.

eoinf

unless I'm mistaken you'll breeze through the airports here its when you arrive that you have to go through immigration . Fill in the visa get it stamped takes a while queueing but thats about it.

BuffyBot

Departing from Ireland you can pre-clear Immigration (but not Customs) at Dublin or Shannon. No UK airport has this facility.

astec123

Just head on over, many I know have and had no bothers, both from UK and Irish airports. Its a myth about long queues. It will take about 30 minutes at peak times of the year or rather it did when I went.

Tom Dunne

phog wrote:

Planning a trip to the US. Is it better/quicker to go through Immigration Control in Shannon prior to travel or through it in the US Airport?

You don't actually have a choice in Ireland - you have to go through US immigration here. The pain is when you fly from Dublin to Shannon, get off the plane, go through immigration and then get back on the plane. Good riddance to the Shannon stop over.

It does save some time on the other end, though as other posters have said, the queues don't tend to be too long (remember everything is big in America, not like our cattle sheds that double as airports).

FlutterinBantam

astec123 wrote:

Just head on over, many I know have and had no bothers, both from UK and Irish airports. Its a myth about long queues. It will take about 30 minutes at peak times of the year or rather it did when I went.

Hopefully there is no flight from Nigeria in at the same time or Jamaica

xx eddie

Question for ye all so.

We are about to book for a trip going from Dublin -Chicago-Vegas. We checked with Aer Lingus to see if we can check all the way through and they have told us that in Chicago we will have to collect our luggage, go through immigration and then check in for Vegas. some new procedure or something. Anybody know about this?

We now dont now if we have enough time between our arrival and transfer to do all of this as we will have to change terminal aswell.

Anybody able to put a time estimate on that for me?

Benedict XVI

xx eddie wrote:

Question for ye all so.

We are about to book for a trip going from Dublin -Chicago-Vegas. We checked with Aer Lingus to see if we can check all the way through and they have told us that in Chicago we will have to collect our luggage, go through immigration and then check in for Vegas. some new procedure or something. Anybody know about this?

We now dont now if we have enough time between our arrival and transfer to do all of this as we will have to change terminal aswell.

Anybody able to put a time estimate on that for me?

Traveling direct from Ireland to Chicago you will go through Immigration in Dublin or Shannon and Customs in Chicago, which is a good thing.
Customs in Chicago should not be a major headache; it’s the immigration part that causes the delays, but you’ll be doing that in Ireland so it’s fine.

Flights entering the US have always cleared Customs at first point of entry, regardless of final destination.
If you are not traveling direct from Ireland then you will have to go through both Immigration and Customs in Chicago, which could be hectic depending on how many other international flight are in at the same time and where they are from.

As a rule I’d give myself 2 hours min. to get your connection, your bags may be slow coming off the belt etc and you don’t know how far it is to get between terminals.
I’m sure there are websites that give the approx travel time between terminals

Try the O’ Hare official site for starters http://www.flychicago.com/ohare/home.asp

FlutterinBantam

All the above is correct.... its not as daunting as it seems... The baggage will be labelled thru to Las Vegas... you will just have to clear it thru customs and the airline will take it back from you and process it for the onward flt...there is a train from the Intl term to whatever term you leave from....not a big deal at all

Our man in Havana

tom dunne wrote:

You don't actually have a choice in Ireland - you have to go through US immigration here.

Only if the airline involved has signed up to use the US immigration in Dublin. The airlines are free not to use this service if they wish.

xx eddie

Thanks for the info folks. Turns out we have about 3 hours between connections so should be ok. I thought we only had 2 which was beginning to sound tight given what we heard about the procedure and any delays along the way.

Cheers.

Willymuncher

I flew through Chicago O'hare last week and its not a big deal with checking in your luggage again for the domestic flight, you just pick up your luggage, hand your little immigration slip to the customs officers...walk through the door, give the luggage back to the carriers, and you'll be on your merry way to your next gate, the shuttle provides a pretty fast way of getting around too so you'll have plenty of time. Its handy too when you're coming home you won't have to go through all that business again, just get off the plane and find your flight home.