Im planning on taking a trip to US and I know how rigid and time-consuming the immigration can be. I want to take a flight that pre-clears immigration in Ireland. I would like to make this as \'easy\' as possible since in the past Ive had bad experiences with US immigration. In your experiences Shannon or Dublin airport is better regards the immigration? Which one proves to be less stressful, faster and more efficient? Its hard for me to decide that which airport to pick because I read both good and bad about both of them. I just want to make sure that I will be choosing the one that has a smoother immigration process. Any advice will be appreciated!Thank you very much in advance :-)
Reply to this Hello Kata 😊
I deleted your duplicate post. I will however move this thread to the other forum if it does not get enough replies in this one.
I dont think you will be able to predict and thus avoid all possible hassles, because many time wasting and complicated hassles happen unexpectedly anyway.
I have flown into and from both airports. Neither is so big it would make a difference which you choose. I would choose the one with the best value flights, or the one most convenient in location. Just get to the airport with plenty of time to spare for the emmigration, check in etc. I think most of the immigration hassles will be on the US side of the journey anyway.
Mel
Reply to this I have done one flight from Shannon to Boston. It was all very smooth, though of course there was waiting in lines for passing immigration and hand searching all on-board luggage. I agree with Mell, there is no way to predict how things will go and the procedure will be the same at both airports, so better to pick the most convenient flight. Good thing is that once in Boston I just picked up my bag and left, so that was completely hassle-free.
Reply to this Thank you guys for your answers:-) I see that there is no such a thing as 'better' airport immigration vise...I found relativly good priced tickets from Dublin...but that flight would go first to Newark/NJ and than to LAX. Do you think in this case would be enough if I clear the immigration in Dublin or will they be asking me for my documents at LAX as well?
I also found cheaper flights that go Dublin/London/LAX but I think in that case I wouldnt be able to clear immigration in Dublin bcs my second stop would be in England. Am I correct about this one?
Thanks in advance:-)
Reply to this Your passport etc will be checked when you enter the US, you only clear immigration once. The good thing with Dublin and Shannon is that you enter US territory in the departure airport. In fact my flight started in Dublin but I did the immigration formalities in Shannon, there is an area of the airport which IS US territory (there was also in Dublin, but it was not used for this flight), manned by American passport officers.
I don't know if there is such an area in London (which airport?), I think it is only in Ireland in Europe. This system only exist in many countries for sure. Anyhow, you can only go through the immigration at the airport where your US bound flight starts, so if you go Dublin to London to LAX it will be in London (if the system is in place there).
Anyway, it is convenient to get the immigration done before boarding the plane, and not at the end of a long flight, and my experience is that immigration lines in the US can be huge, I have waited two hours.
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