Question about POE and Pre Clearance

[TZM 44]

Hello, my CR1 visa has been approved and I am planning to fly soon. Had a couple of questions:

 

1. The flight I will most likely be taking is Jeddah > Frankfurt > Atlanta. Will I have to go through pre-clearance in Frankfurt and if so what should I expect? My transit is for about 4 hours, do you think that is sufficient? Will the entire immigration process be repeated in Atlanta again?

 

2. I did not receive a sealed packet, as its online. So what documents other than my passport and medical CD should I keep on hand?

 

[Lil bear 4,189]

2 minutes ago, TZM said:

Hello, my CR1 visa has been approved and I am planning to fly soon. Had a couple of questions:

 

1. The flight I will most likely be taking is Jeddah > Frankfurt > Atlanta. Will I have to go through pre-clearance in Frankfurt and if so what should I expect? My transit is for about 4 hours, do you think that is sufficient? Will the entire immigration process be repeated in Atlanta again?

 

2. I did not receive a sealed packet, as its online. So what documents other than my passport and medical CD should I keep on hand?

 

I don’t see Frankfurt on the list of airports with CBP Preclearance. Unless this is wrong , you will do your immigration process in Atlanta. 

 

Nothing else needed for the POE process .., though we did hand carry our own copy of all the paperwork just in case 

[payxibka 10,045]

7 minutes ago, TZM said:

Hello, my CR1 visa has been approved and I am planning to fly soon. Had a couple of questions:

 

1. The flight I will most likely be taking is Jeddah > Frankfurt > Atlanta. Will I have to go through pre-clearance in Frankfurt and if so what should I expect? My transit is for about 4 hours, do you think that is sufficient? Will the entire immigration process be repeated in Atlanta again?

 

2. I did not receive a sealed packet, as its online. So what documents other than my passport and medical CD should I keep on hand?

 

1)  Frankfurt is not preclearance .  The purpose of preclearance is to not repeat once you land.  

 

2) normal nowadays passport with visa is what you need 

Edited August 21, 2019 by payxibka

[TZM 44]

22 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

I don’t see Frankfurt on the list of airports with CBP Preclearance. Unless this is wrong , you will do your immigration process in Atlanta. 

 

Nothing else needed for the POE process .., though we did hand carry our own copy of all the paperwork just in case 

Thank you so much

[TZM 44]

27 minutes ago, payxibka said:

1)  Frankfurt is not preclearance .  The purpose of preclearance is to not repeat once you land.  

 

2) normal nowadays passport with visa is what you need 

Thanks!

[TZM 44]

8 minutes ago, TZM said:

Thank you so much

Although London is not on the list, I read on another forum that the passengers had to go through pre clearance at Heathrow. Additionally, I know Muscat, Oman also has pre-clearance but its not on the list either. 

[pushbrk 12,877]

2 hours ago, TZM said:

Although London is not on the list, I read on another forum that the passengers had to go through pre clearance at Heathrow. Additionally, I know Muscat, Oman also has pre-clearance but its not on the list either. 

Probably somebody is misusing the term Preclearance.  For the US, preclearance is full clearance.  The flight lands as a domestic flight.  Anything done short of that at any international airport, can be called anything that entity calls it.  Your POE will be in the US, if you take the route you mentioned.

[LilyJ 1,258]

Keep in mind that in Frankfurt, as far as I know and from my experience with connection flights there, you will still have to go through Schengen Area passport check and through airport security still, even though you are just taking a connecting flight. So give yourself ample time to be able to get through security and passport check and to your gate (it's the biggest airport in Europe and very busy so you definitely want to make sure you have enough time to not miss your connection. Has happened to me there before). I would say give yourself at least 2 hours, so you have some wiggle room in case you land in Frankfurt late or anything like that. Make sure you don't need a visitor visa to pass through Frankfurt, and if you do, get it taken care of so you aren't rejected at passport check.

 

Edit: Just re-read you would have 4 hours layover, so you should be fine there. But make sure everything else is taken care of in terms of whether or not you need a Schengen visa to enter for your connection flight and be aware of passport check and airport security.

Edited August 22, 2019 by LilyJ

[SalishSea 17,819]

3 hours ago, TZM said:

Although London is not on the list, I read on another forum that the passengers had to go through pre clearance at Heathrow. Additionally, I know Muscat, Oman also has pre-clearance but its not on the list either. 

London does not have US immigration pre-clearance.  Perhaps you meant Dublin.

[TZM 44]

41 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

Probably somebody is misusing the term Preclearance.  For the US, preclearance is full clearance.  The flight lands as a domestic flight.  Anything done short of that at any international airport, can be called anything that entity calls it.  Your POE will be in the US, if you take the route you mentioned.

Thank you!

[TZM 44]

21 minutes ago, LilyJ said:

Keep in mind that in Frankfurt, as far as I know and from my experience with connection flights there, you will still have to go through Schengen Area passport check and through airport security still, even though you are just taking a connecting flight. So give yourself ample time to be able to get through security and passport check and to your gate (it's the biggest airport in Europe and very busy so you definitely want to make sure you have enough time to not miss your connection. Has happened to me there before). I would say give yourself at least 2 hours, so you have some wiggle room in case you land in Frankfurt late or anything like that. Make sure you don't need a visitor visa to pass through Frankfurt, and if you do, get it taken care of so you aren't rejected at passport check.

 

Edit: Just re-read you would have 4 hours layover, so you should be fine there. But make sure everything else is taken care of in terms of whether or not you need a Schengen visa to enter for your connection flight and be aware of passport check and airport security.

Thank you for the information. Just checked, since I have a valid US visa/residence permit, I do not need an airport transit visa.

20 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

London does not have US immigration pre-clearance.  Perhaps you meant Dublin.

In your opinion, would London be an easier airport to transit through compared to Frankfurt?

[SalishSea 17,819]

Just now, TZM said:

Thank you for the information. Just checked, since I have a valid US visa/residence permit, I do not need an airport transit visa.

In your opinion, would London be an easier airport to transit through compared to Frankfurt?

Not necessarily.  I have used both LHR and GAT on many occasions (LHR is busy, but efficient), but I've never been to Frankfurt.  Maybe ask on the Europe regional forum here on VJ?

[TZM 44]

1 minute ago, Jorgedig said:

Not necessarily.  I have used both LHR and GAT on many occasions (LHR is busy, but efficient), but I've never been to Frankfurt.  Maybe ask on the Europe regional forum here on VJ?

Thanks!

[payxibka 10,045]

Many airports have additional security screenings prior to boarding.   I went through it in HK and Seoul.   This is not immigration preclearance. 

[Lil bear 4,189]

27 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Many airports have additional security screenings prior to boarding.   I went through it in HK and Seoul.   This is not immigration preclearance. 

I believe that all US bound flights now have an additional security check .. a short list of questions asked by security staff between check in and boarding .. that’s probably what is being referred to ...