American Airlines, clearing US immigration in Dublin?

ramman

I'm flying Dublin-Chicago with American Airlines in a few weeks. I've read contradicting statements on the website, one saying that you pre-clear US customs and immigration in Dublin Airport and another saying you don't. Can anyone clarify this?

Hellm0

I'll be flying to Chicago soon too acually, the usual deal is that you go to the US gate's and go through immigration there. May have changed though as its been a few years since my last trip.

flanzer

There is a long standing bi-lateral agreement between the USA and Ireland whereby you can get pre-clearance in Ireland. That goes for all airline passengers whose flight originates in Ireland and lands in the States

BuffyBot

You clear immigration here (depending on the departure time), but customs on the otherside if my brain is working correctly

macrubicon

Just as BuffyBot says... you can do immigration here, but customs over there.

Be prepared to collect your bags and "re-check" them outside customs if you are travelling on.

The immigration area is shared so get there early as they will only guarentee you immigration clearance if you are there by a certain time. I seem to remember it opens at 7.30am, but be in the queue before 8 by the latest.

I did it in July ( with Continental ) and to be fair it was painless... Was given the forms at check in, sat down and filled them in over a coffee and queued up. As it's a shared area, the procedure is the same for all the airlines.

There is someone there to check all is in order with the forms before you get to the desk so that is not a worry...

The only quirk is if you are on one of the flights that does the Shannon stop. If you are you will not clear immigration in Dublin, but in Shannon. The process is all the same though.

Saruman

Just reminded me, i usually fly to chicago with Aer longus but this time im going via London with Virgin as it was cheaper and Aer lingus has been unreliable with all the strike problems. So next year i guess i will have to go through US customs in the US for the first time instead of here in Ireland. Doh...
I wonder will they let me go through with my wife, who is American...

lord lucan

Saruman wrote: »

Just reminded me, i usually fly to chicago with Aer longus but this time im going via London with Virgin as it was cheaper and Aer lingus has been unreliable with all the strike problems. So next year i guess i will have to go through US customs in the US for the first time instead of here in Ireland. Doh...
I wonder will they let me go through with my wife, who is American...

most US immigration halls have separate counters for US citizens and foreign visitors,your wife will have to go through the US citizens one and you'll go through the regular one. they used to have this in dublin but now everyone goes through the same ones barr flight crews. you shouldn't have any problems getting through with your wife.

Stky10

Not to thread steal... but anyway...

Do you need a biometric passport to get into the US now?. Is there anyway you can get in without one.

Ms Inquisitive

The situation with immigration has changed in Dublin recently due to the increase in US bound flights. The large majority of flights now deal with immigration at the US Airport.

Sorry guys, I know what the queues can be like at the American end and it ain't pretty!

BuffyBot

Stky10 wrote: »

Not to thread steal... but anyway...

Do you need a biometric passport to get into the US now?. Is there anyway you can get in without one.

No you don't.

You just need a valid Machine Readable Passport (which most recent Irish passports are)

Ponster

lord lucan wrote: »

most US immigration halls have separate counters for US citizens and foreign visitors,your wife will have to go through the US citizens one and you'll go through the regular one. they used to have this in dublin but now everyone goes through the same ones barr flight crews. you shouldn't have any problems getting through with your wife.

Boston for example still has a seperate queue for US nationals and visitors but couples are generally advised to stick together as the white customs card you fill out is per family so you need to be together when presenting it.

highlydebased

As far as I know AA dont preclear at Dublin. Due to congestion in the pre-clearance facility.

The new customs facility at Dublin and Shannon wont be operational until next year

Dodge

Neon-Circles wrote: »

As far as I know AA dont preclear at Dublin. Due to congestion in the pre-clearance facility.

Surely it can't be down to the airline as its a US government initiative?

highlydebased

Its totally down to the airline where they clear. If AA, CO, DL etc decided that they did not want to clear at all before departure, that would be allowed

Savman

I worked for 5 years in the Airport, some of it down in US Immigration checking forms etc, and I remember a lot of US bound flights coming thru pre-inspection in Dublin but there were a few exceptions that didn't.
There's definitely not a general rule for all airlines, maybe they choose themselves or maybe some are exempt, I dunno I'm sure your airline would be able to advise best

brettmirl

I've been out to the US three times this year. First time with AA and the second time with Aer Lingus, we cleared immigration at Dublin. Third flight with Aer Lingus was an afternoon flight and we had to join the LONG queue at JFK. Make sure you fill in the gree form properly (back and front) or else it's back to the end of the queue. Also, when I was at JFK there was a shortage of those green forms in English, so a lot of people had to guess what they were filling out on the Spanish language form.

Dodge

Neon-Circles wrote: »

Its totally down to the airline where they clear. If AA, CO, DL etc decided that they did not want to clear at all before departure, that would be allowed

Thanks, didn't realise this was the case.

highlydebased

As far as I know, the immigration closes at around 1500 at Dublin. Therefore the evening EI109 from Dublin to JFK (at 1600) is unable to clear