Simon Schus

Hi all,

I’ve been approved for Global Entry for entry into the US. The first place I’m going to be using it will be at the Dublin pre-clearance facility, flying DUB-BOS on EI in December. It’ll be the busy Christmas period so GE is likely to come in useful. However, I have two questions:

1) How does the GE process differ in DUB compared to when clearing immigration and customs in the US in JFK or BOS?

2) I’ve seen the GE kiosks in DUB on the far left hand side of the US pre-clearance immigration hall. However, where does one go after getting the receipt from the kiosk? I would presume that that I would have to show the receipt from the GE kiosk to an immigration official. However, I can’t work out where this would be. Is there a desk right next to the GE kiosks? Or would I visit the desk on the far, far right of the room where US Citizens tend to go when not getting a cross through their photograph after using the APC kiosks? (there tends to be queues at that desk).

In addition, I am presuming that EI don't take Known Traveller Numbers from flight from the US back to DUB/SNN? (I'm thinking about the TSA pre-check benefit that comes with Global Entry)

Thanks all.

Simon

ROKNA

Setup in Dublin is exactly the same as US, only difference is you are shown your luggage on a screen with the CBP official, so you don't interact with a second officer after picking up luggage like you do in the US.

After the Global Entry there is a dedicated lane with an officer waiting. Same situation for the APC lane.

TSA Pre is not offered by EI (Air Canada is the only non US airline in the program currently)

Priority security lane will be offered to business class/gold circle members where available e.g. SFO

Simon Schus

Thanks for your help Rokna. I appreciate it. If anybody else has any experiences with this using GE at Dublin pre clearance then please feel free to post.

For clarity, you mention that Global Entry has "a dedicated lane with an officer waiting". I've got four follow-up questions though for anybody's thoughts. I can be nervous flying sometimes so I like to know what to expect beforehand:

1) I've previously seen a CBP officer manning what I thought was a crew lane, after the GE kiosks and on the far left of the hall (when facing towards the US border). I'm guessing that is the GE lane?

2) Is the GE experience in DUB about the same speed as in the US, or is it slower? Roughly how long should I expect the process to take from walking towards the GE kiosk after the bag scanning check?

3) Is the desk for the dedicated GE officer also used for the standard immigration line when there are no passengers using GE? If so, does one simply going that standard immigration line or is there some form of priority in place?

4) What types of questions does one usually get asked when going to the dedicated GE officer? I'm a UK Citizen. I'm travelling HBO so I'm not expecting the photographs of my suitcase on the screen. However, I'm unsure if I'll get the same questioning (i.e. purpose of entry) as I would get if I was entering without GE.

Thanks again all, hopefully not too laborious but I thought you'd be the ones to ask

Simon.

UAPremExecflyer

You are way over-thinking this!
A couple of your questions are frankly verging on the ridiculous.
1. Yes
2. I've never had to wait longer than one person
3. It depends (and why does it matter any way?)
4. The same question(s) you would be asked in the US.

Simon Schus

Hi there,

Thanks for your reply. I'm sorry it came across as overthinking and veering towards ridiculous- that wasn't my intention.

Partially, the reason I asked about speed is that I have had to wait up to 45 minutes before when going through pre-clearance at DUB, particularly during peak travel periods (e.g. just before Christmas; just around July 4th, etc). One of the main benefits of Global Entry is expedited entry through the border so I thought it was reasonable to find out if that was really the case in DUB. I wanted to ensure that this was the case as I have read a few reviews from the past 18 months which suggest that the GE experience in DUB is quite a bit slower than GE entry at other US entry points. If GE only shaves off a few minutes off a 30 minute wait at DUB (vs. say JFK, MIA, BOS, EWR where it could shave 20 to 30 minutes off of that wait) then at least I want to be prepared rather than go in with different and unrealistic expectations. [I admit that this doesn't take into account the time saved at the other end when effectively arriving as a domestic flight, but that hasn't got anything to do with GE].

Many people get annoyed or irritated when they are faced with something unexpected and semi-negative, particularly when they have paid a little more and gone through background security checks to minimise that. In addition to helping me relax when flying on my monthly trip to/from the States, I also thought it might be useful for people who are planning similar trips to know the pros/cons of GE at preclearance based on other's experiences particularly given a few reviews saying it was not as expedited as other ports of entry. With very little to the contrary about the speed of GE, I thought it'd be only fair to check it out given that it is more common for negative experiences to be actively shared than positive experiences.

Sorry again for the ridiculous nature of my questions, they weren't intended as such and were a genuine request for information. I can appreciate that they might come across as ridiculous though. Your responses were useful and thank you again.

Simon.

sdix

Went thru DUB last Sunday (DUB-SFO) GE machines were out of order but went down that lane anyway. Airport was quiet and getting thru from curb to gate was fast. I'm not sure why there's a secondary baggage XRay yet they don't check the PAX.

Mauimom

Husband and I traveled CDG-DUB-IAD in October and used Global Entry in DUB for the "pre-clearance." This was the first time we'd used it there, and I was worried because we had a short connection time after arriving in DUB from Paris. [EI's flight was INCREDIBLY late arriving in DUB, but they got us on their connecting flight.]

Procedure was quite easy, similar to what we'd encountered at IAD a few months before. Agents are organized and give you directions. The fact that you get to speak English and not French helps as well.

I agree with UAPremExecflyer: you're over-thinking this. It's really not a problem.

I should add, though, that my daughter, who's a graduate student in Dublin and flies frequently DUB-IAD, hates the pre-clearance program, but she has to endure the "regular" one, not GE. Maybe that's the situation for the people who are telling you how bad DUB is.

manda99

I went through DUB pre-clearance with Global Entry on July 12 and was the only person in the line. Scanned passport, walked up to agent who showed me a picture of my checked baggage and asked if it was mine. She asked me what I do for a living (?). Then I walked through and was done.

Simon Schus

Thank you manda99, Mauimom and sdix for your responses. I appreciate them.

I have travelled before using the regular preclearance lane in DUB so I'm used to the experience (which is often very good and very quick apart from during heavy and peak travel periods). It is my first time in DUB since being approved GE. The reviews I had read were specifically of the GE experience (they were on Yelp, blog websites).

Did any of your travel on non-US passports? e.g. I'm travelling on a UK passport.

Simon.

sdix

UK Passport

NWIFlyer

Whilst admittedly I haven't been through pre-clearance in DUB specifically, in my experience all the pre-clearance stations I've encountered operate in a very similar way - whether they're in Canada or Ireland.

The principal difference compared to a US entry point is that the immigration officer also processes the customs declaration - so instead of handing your GE machine receipt to a customs officer, you see an immigration officer instead before you leave the hall. This is always done either at a priority line or you effectively queue jump to the next free officer, so it will never be more than a handful of minutes.

The officer will most likely not ask you any questions other than that which a US-based customs officer would.

The only place I've really had anything different was YYZ, fairly soon after the UK joined the trial scheme, when the officer really didn't know what to do with a UK passport holder on GE, so asked me a couple of questions and then checked with me whether or not my passport should also be stamped! Given it was my first time using GE, I decided it would be better to let him make that determination, and consequently I have one extra stamp in my passport as he erred on the side of caution. By now, every officer will be fully briefed on how to process foreign passport holders so you won't have that issue.

There really is, honestly, nothing whatsoever to be concerned about - as others have said, you don't need to over-think this. GE is supposed to help you, not create more stress!

tuff

We will be flying from DUB to the States at Christmas and have Global Entry. Where is the lounge compared to the Global Entry section. Which order do we have to them in? Many thanks.

UAPremExecflyer

The EI lounge is before US pre-clearance. Exit the lounge and walk/escalator to complete US immigration formalities.

ROKNA

First advise is ignore the USP time on the boarding card

The lounge staff will call the flight at a time which should have you at the gate before boarding starts.

irishguy28

sorry for hijacking this thread - it didn't seem worth starting a new thread.

The Indo reports that US CBP processed its millionth passenger of the year at DUB this morning (on a Delta, rather than EI flight!). It also notes that there were 2.1 million transatlantic passengers last year and that figure is expected to be surpassed in 2015.

So, that means that only about half of transatlantic passengers pass through US CBP. Now, even discounting the few Canadian flights, and the ET flight to LAX - that doesn't seem right. I thought all EI (and DL, AA, UA) flights to the US pre-cleared?

Am I wrong?

The DAA website even says: "Passengers on all US bound flights clear immigration, customs and agriculture inspections at Dublin Airport.