United States border preclearance

The United States Department of Homeland Security operates prescreening border control facilities at airports and other ports of departure located outside of the United States under agreement between it and the host country. Travelers are subject to immigration and customs inspections by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers before boarding their transportation onward to the United States. Preclearance applies to all passengers regardless of their nationality or purpose of travel. Upon arrival, precleared passengers arrive in the United States as domestic travelers, but may still be subject to re-inspection at the discretion of CBP. This process is intended to streamline border procedures, reduce congestion at American ports of entry, and facilitate travel into airports that otherwise lack immigration and customs processing facilities for commercial flights.

The history of inspecting U.S.-bound passengers in foreign countries began in 1894, when American immigration inspectors were deployed to sea ports in Canada. Modern preclearance facilities were first introduced at Malton Airport (now Toronto Pearson International Airport) under an informal arrangement with the government of Canada and are now available at eight major Canadian airports and one seaport, while several other seaports and one rail station in British Columbia have "pre-inspection" facilities for screening immigration admissibility only. Preclearance facilities also exist in airports in Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Ireland, and the United Arab Emirates.

Reasons for implementation

The preclearance program aims to streamline border procedures for flights entering the United States, reduce congestion at ports of entry, and to facilitate travel into U.S. airports that may not be equipped to otherwise handle international travelers. Although more U.S. airports have expanded or introduced customs facilities since the preclearance program began, LaGuardia Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport remain the two largest U.S. airports without customs facilities for processing commercial flights.

Preclearance programs have been accused of being motivated by a desire to prevent the arrival of asylum seekers, who are otherwise protected under the 1951 Refugee Convention's provisions on non-refoulement once they arrive at their destination.

Benefits and drawbacks

Preclearance is particularly beneficial to those who have an ongoing connection (such as a connecting flight) upon arrival in the United States, as there is no risk of border delays causing them to miss such a connection. A corresponding drawback, however, is that a delay in preclearance could cause the passenger to miss the outbound flight.

Precleared air travelers with further connections enjoy the convenience of having their baggage checked through to their next destination. Like connecting domestic passengers, they disembark into the sterile area or airside of the airport and may walk directly to their next gate.

Connecting international passengers who have not been precleared must instead collect their checked baggage prior to customs inspection, walk their baggage through customs inspection, exit to the landside of the airport, recheck their baggage for connecting flights, pass through security screening to reenter the sterile area of the airport (because certain items allowed in checked baggage cannot be brought into the sterile area), and then proceed to their onward gates.

Another advantage is that CBP officers are able to exclude inadmissible passengers and prohibited goods before a flight, train journey, or voyage commences. This saves CBP the difficulty of dealing with them on U.S. soil and helps to minimize the risk of untoward incidents happening there. An alien who is denied entry into the United States at a preclearance facility may not board the U.S.-bound flight, so CBP does not need to deal with making deportation arrangements. The passenger may exit the airport and return home (unless the passenger arrived at the preclearance airport from an earlier flight).

Preclearance also provides considerable flexibility to the airlines operating in those routes where such a program is available. For example, major U.S. airlines and their subsidiaries routinely operate many daily flights from locations like Toronto or Nassau to New York City. The presence of preclearance facilities in Toronto and Nassau enables airlines to conveniently direct their flights from those airports to land at LaGuardia Airport (which has no border protection facilities) instead of John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) or Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), thereby allowing them to save valuable landing slots at JFK and EWR for other international arrivals from overseas airports which lack CBP preclearance facilities.

Preclearance exists at most major Canadian airports, theoretically enabling more convenient travel from those cities to the United States. However, the waits at some busy preclearance facilities, notably Toronto Pearson (the busiest U.S. preclearance facility), can often exceed the waiting times for processing passengers from non-precleared flights at destination airports and cause significant delays to departure schedules. With the notable exceptions of LaGuardia Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, many U.S. airports now have more customs facilities compared to when the preclearance program first started in 1952. Airport authorities have blamed these delays on reduced staffing levels by CBP, but pleas for increased staffing have been answered with deferrals due to domestic priorities. NEXUS and similar programs are now being explored and expanded as a means to try to restore some of the original convenience to the preclearance process.

CBP also sets the hours of operation of its preclearance facilities, which often tend to be shorter than the operating hours of the airports, seaports, or railway stations they operate in. Transportation operators who would like their passengers to be able to take advantage of such a facility will need to schedule their departure times to coincide with the preclearance facilities' operating hours. Carriers may launch flights from preclearance airports to the U.S. outside CBP preclearance operating hours, but passengers who choose to take such flights will be processed in the same way as most other international passengers upon arrival on American soil.

Legal restrictions

Preclearance facilities exist because of agreements made between the U.S. federal government and the governments of the host countries. Travelers who have passed through preclearance facilities, but whose flight or ship has not departed, remain in the legal jurisdiction of the host country. U.S. officials may question and search travelers with such passengers' permission. Their power to arrest or detain travelers (such as for customs or immigration violations or outstanding warrants) is limited; for example, in Ireland, a preclearance officer may detain a person whom they reasonably suspect to be carrying a weapon and search the person, or may detain someone whom they reasonably suspect to have committed an indictable offence under Irish law or have obstructed the preclearance officer in the performance of their duties. Anyone so detained must be delivered forthwith to the Garda Síochána to be dealt with in accordance with Irish law.

Some countries have laws in place that specifically cover preclearance issues. If a CBP officer has any security but non-immigration/customs-related concerns about a traveler, the attending CBP officer may need to refer the matter to local officials. Passengers can choose to abandon their flight and refuse search, and unlike in the United States, officers cannot search them without permission absent an immediate threat. Most preclearance facilities have a sign explaining so. CBP Officers in the Preclearance Division are not armed on foreign soil. However, since the Parliament of Canada approved Bill C-23, CBP officers would be allowed to carry sidearms on duty in Canada if they are working in an environment in which Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers are normally armed.

Canada

History

The precursor of U.S. preclearance operation began in 1894, when the U.S. government entered into agreements with Canadian steamship and railroad operators to place U.S. immigration inspectors at four largest Canadian seaports of Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, Nova Scotia and Saint John, New Brunswick, to inspect prospective immigrants seeking to enter the U.S. via the northern land border. Prior to this arrangement, immigrants entering via the northern border were usually uninspected as the U.S. had no immigration inspection facilities on its side of the border, thus their arrivals were not entered into records. After the arrangement came into force, prospective immigrants would first pass Canadian quarantine and then be inspected by U.S. immigration inspectors as if they were entering via a U.S. port of entry. Once admitted, they would be given documentation to physically cross the land border by train within 30 days without additional inspection. This agreement lasted until the mid-20th century, with the last passenger manifest concluded in 1954.

The modern form of preclearance arrangements between the two countries began informally at Malton Airport (now Toronto Pearson International Airport) in 1952, following a request from American Airlines. The operation was extended and became formalized with Canada's passage of the Air Transport Preclearance Act in 1974, the 1999 Preclearance Act, and with the 2001 Canada–U.S. Agreement on Air Transport Preclearance. In 2019, previous agreements and legislations were replaced by the ''Agreement on Land, Rail, Marine, and Air Transport Preclearance Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Canada'' (LRMA), which allows for significant expansion of the scope of preclearance facilities.

On March 16, 2015, U.S. and Canadian officials signed the ministerial-level LRMA. The agreement paved paths for the expansion of CBP’s preclearance facilities as well as its detention powers on Canadian soil to the levels similar on U.S. soil. For instance, under the LRMA, CBP officers working at preclearance facilities in Canada will be able to carry firearms and detain travelers who try to voluntarily withdraw their outbound travel or willingly leave the preclearance area. Although CBP does not have arrest powers in Canada, the bill also includes increased cooperation with the CBSA to arrest travelers found to be breaking the law. On March 10, 2016, U.S. and Canadian officials announced that the three priority transportation hubs that would receive preclearance were Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport, and Montreal Central Station.

On December 8, 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama signed the bipartisan ''Promoting Travel, Commerce and National Security Act of 2016'' into law, completing the U.S. requirement for the ratification of the LRMA. On December 12, 2017, Canadian Governor General Julie Payette gave royal assent to the Canadian ''Preclearance Act''. The LRMA was formally ratified by both countries on August 15, 2019 and replaced previous treaties and Canadian legislations.

The preclearance agreement is fully reciprocal, meaning Canada is allowed to operate preclearance facilities in the United States on the same basis as U.S. facilities in Canada, including CBSA agents’ expanded powers under the LRMA. On average, however, U.S. airports offer far fewer daily flights to Canada compared to the reverse, making this an expensive and inefficient proposition that, , has not been exercised by the Canadian government.

In Canada, the preclearance measures interface with the Quarantine Act in the case of a public health emergency.

Air

The following Canadian airports operate U.S. preclearance facilities:

*Calgary International Airport
*Edmonton International Airport
* Halifax Stanfield International Airport
* Montréal–Trudeau International Airport
*Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport
*Toronto Pearson International Airport
*Vancouver International Airport
* Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport

At the request of Porter Airlines, a new terminal building at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (Toronto Island) officially opened in Fall 2010 and includes both CBSA inspection facilities and provisions for CBP's preclearance facilities. The request to include preclearance, however, was formally denied by the Department of Homeland Security in August 2010 due to the lack of U.S.-bound passenger flow at the time.

After the conclusion of legislative procedures by both countries in 2017, both Toronto Island Airport and Quebec City Jean Lesage International Airport were included in preclearance's expansion plans. The necessary upgrades in Quebec City were anticipated to take 18 months and C$35 million to complete, although as of 2021 there was yet a targeted completion date. In December 2021, it was announced that Toronto Island Airport's preclearance facility will become operational in 18-24 months, and the expansion will cost approximately C$20 million which has yet to be secured.

In airports with preclearance, passengers must first pass airport security inspection before they can proceed to the preclearance area. Security checks are conducted by Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) in the standards of both CATSA and U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations.

Rail

There are currently no full preclearance facilities for rail passengers in Canada. Nevertheless, special operations termed "pre-inspections" have been conducted by CBP and CBSA officers at Pacific Central Station in Vancouver, British Columbia for passengers departing on the Amtrak Cascades trains to Seattle and Portland, Oregon since 1995. The "pre-inspection" procedures were enacted prior to the implementation of modern preclearance legislations, therefore only deal with immigration admissibility to the U.S., and the trains are still re-inspected by CBP for customs purposes at the border line in Blaine, Washington despite not making any further stops within Canada. In October 2019, Amtrak has requested the partial preclearance operation arrangement to be updated to full immigration and customs preclearance under the LRMA so the stop at the border can be eliminated. Amtrak estimated that the trip time will be shortened by at least 10 minutes. Amtrak suspended services on the route from March 2020 until September 2022, and no public timeline for implementation has been announced.

In May 2012, U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to fast track the approval of a preclearance facility at Montreal Central Station, which would allow U.S.-bound travelers on Amtrak's '' Adirondack'' to bypass an existing immigration stop at Rouses Point, New York for entering the United States. This has become possible after the ratification of the LRMA in 2019. Nevertheless, there remains no timeline for the establishment of such a facility, as train services remain suspended between the two countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to passenger pre-inspection, the LRMA allows for U.S.-bound cargo to be precleared in Canada and vice versa. While there are no CBP cargo preclearance posts that operate in Canada , CBSA has been running a joint inspection project with CBP at Rouses Point, New York, for Canada-bound rail cargo since 2017. The project became permanent after the ratification of the LRMA in 2019.

Sea

* Prince Rupert Alaska Marine Highway System Ferry Terminal

The Alaska Marine Highway terminal in Prince Rupert, British Columbia is the only marine preclearance location in the world. It became operational on June 20, 2022 and is used by the Alaska Marine Highway ferry service to Ketchikan.

Prior to the opening of the preclearance facilitates, "pre-inspection" facilities were available for users of the Ketchikan-Prince Rupert service until the route's suspension on October 1, 2019, after the state announced that it could not unilaterally cover the cost of security service provided by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to unarmed CBP officers which has become mandatory under the LRMA. However, both Canadian and Alaskan governments announced in September 2021 that they would work to upgrade Prince Rupert's facility for the port to become the first seaport preclearance location by the time of the route's resumption in mid-2022, which would alleviate the need for RCMP presence as CBP officers would be able to legally carry firearms.

Aside from the sole preclearance operation, the United States also operates several "pre-inspection" posts at the port of Victoria, British Columbia for both the Black Ball Line's MV Coho car ferry service to Port Angeles, Washington and the '' Victoria Clipper'' passenger-only ferry to Seattle; and the same program operates at the terminal in Sidney, British Columbia for Washington State Ferries' Anacortes–San Juan Islands ferry service to Anacortes, Washington

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