The difference between port of entry and preclearence

[Jer&Cau 0]

Hiii to all,

i have a very odd question... i was reading some where.. some countries have preclearence Customs and Border Protection before u get to the US ..is that considered a port of entry ..or all ports of entry are located in the US ???

[eric_and_teresa 10]

Ports of entry are located in the U.S. and preclearence offices perform an advanced inspection/authorization to enter the U.S. territory (before actually getting into the U.S. territory), but it is an exception and it only works in Canada and some aiports of the Caribbean.

You can read more about it here: Ports of Entry

Edited March 18, 2008 by eric_and_teresa

[lucyrich 20]

Technically speaking, all ports of entry are inside the US. But a preclearance station performs all the equivalent function to a port of entry. If you ever have to fill out a form that asks what your port of entry was, you might write "Shannon, Ireland", even though that's technically a preclearance station and not a port of entry.

If you're worried about how to schedule an airline trip to enter the US, don't. All commercial airline trips are required to go through some place that can process your visa with no problems. There's no practical difference between having your visa processed at a preclearance station versus a port of entry.

Well, there's a little difference. One may make you nervous during the flight and the other may make your flight more relaxing. Also, be sure and allow extra time for intial processing of a K1, K-3, CR-1, or IR-1 visa, so it might be important to know whether to schedule this extra time before or after your flight.

Edited March 18, 2008 by lucyrich

[athena_ny 1]

Technically, as a port of entry means...the place where you entered the US, it has to be on US soil. Preclearance sites are often referred to as POEs because they perform the functions of the US POE without being on US soil. So it's a "sorta the same but not really" situation.