Originally Posted by crazycrab955

Interestingly, it seems that other countries with similar visa entry requirements to the USA, such as Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, have somehow found a way to overcome their concerns re ABTC pre-clearance. I have heard anecdotally that at least in the case of Singapore, they have avoided issuing pre-clearance to certain countries (e.g. Russia, China) when nationals of those countries have applied for ABTC pre-clearance. After all, pre-clearance is supposedly on an individual, case-by-case basis. That way, they preserve the pre-clearance benefit for their own citizens but are not officially obligated to issue visa-free or visa-waived travel to any/all citizens of countries that could be considered problematic.

It would've been great if the USA had pursued a similar path, instead of providing a watered-down ABTC that provides little tangible benefit. But since America is falling behind Asia in so many other areas...why should ABTC be any different?