US pre-clearance system arriving soon at UK airports

According to a US government official, Manchester Airport may be able to implement the scheme as early as 2021 and along with Heathrow, is currently negotiating the adoption of the system with American authorities.

US Customs and Border Protection has expressed its hope of doubling the amount of travellers taking advantage of pre-clearance over the next decade.

The scheme allows outbound passengers to undertake all immigration and customs inspections prior to departure meaning that upon touching down in the US they are treated as domestic arrivals, enabling them process more quickly through customs.

Pre-clearance is currently being run in several Canadian airports, Abu Dhabi and the Bahamas, as well as Shannon and Dublin airports in Ireland.

At a press conference in London this week, a US government official said: “Hopefully because of our close working relationship with the UK government our expansion would be able to go ahead in the next five years if all things go according to plan.”

Authorities also acknowledged the opportunity for other British airports to begin offering the service, saying: “The good news is there are a lot of airports in the UK who are interested [in pre-clearance],” and that the unnamed terminals could be looked at in a “new evaluation process this year”

Meanwhile, the official also addressed recent immigration changes to the Visa Wavier Programme (VWP).

Under the new guidelines travellers are no longer eligible enter the US using the VWP if they have visited Iraq, Syria, Iran, or Sudan on or after March 1, 2011 - with Yemen, Somalia and Libya also being added to that list in February.

Military personnel and government employees can claim exemption.

The VWP permits citizens of 38 countries, including the UK and many European nations, to travel to the United States for business or tourism for up to 90 days without a visa.

“Of course there is a lot of confusion, miscommunication and people get anxious,” added a US official.

“We want to stress that just because you have travelled to these countries does not mean you can’t travel to the US, you just can’t travel on the Visa Wavier Programme and will need an Esta.”

Furthermore, as of last week (April 1) travellers wishing to use the VWP must have an electronic passport and documents pre-dating 2006 will no longer be accepted.