Anyone know where the expansion of US preclearance sites stands?
 

I'd think the new Admin would love to be able to stop people at the origin airport, but haven't heard anything about a rollout schedule.

It takes two to tango, unless the counterparty is coerced. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a massive CBP Preclearance expansion to show up for countries where it wasn't discussed and nearly finalized under the previous US Admin. The lobbying/vote bank against US CBP Preclearance expansion in potential host countries has only gotten larger this year compared to last.

I can't see MEX -- previously identified by DHS -- voluntarily doing it under the current dynamics.

Belgium signs US Pre-clearance agreements from Brussels Airport
 

Great news! You don't have go through customs in US anymore. From now on, you can go through US Pre-Clearance in Brussels. Save time!

https://www.aviation24.be/airports/b...-with-the-usa/

Not great news for me as a relatively routine user of BRU over the years.

I hope that a CBP Preclearance set-up never physically manifests at BRU or any other Schengen airport that I transit or originate at on trips to the US.

I hope that we get a whole lot of opposition to CBP PreClearance in both houses of the Belgian federal parliament.

I hope that the Brussels Airport's shareholders/managers oppose this tooth and nail as not being good for the airport operation's business.

CBP Preclearance at BRU won't save me time; it would likely cost me time at times.

I honestly can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not. But if not, why would this not be beneficial to you and travelers like you?

As a frequent BRU transit passenger, this is good news. I wonder where they are going to place this Preclearence facility. Perhaps at the end of concourse B, just like the Concourse T? If so, it will be a long walk.
I also wonder how do they treat transit passengers. Are they going to do something like Canadian preclearance facility where we wait until CBP check our luggage through x-rays?
I also wonder if they are going to create separate lounges for the US section of the concourse after the preclearence.

I am serious. Just like I was in this thread:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chec...clearance.html

For the very same reasons that I dislike the idea of this for ARN/Sweden, I dislike this for BRU/Belgium too.

This coming to BRU would make BRU an even worse airport for me to go to the US than it has been for years (including even this year before mid-March).

Well, if the history of ARN is to become a precedence, we probably will not see CBP at BRU for a long long time.

Wrong. You will see CBP at BRU real soon. Once they start construction their own Pre-Clearance facility.

Pre-clearance might be neutral or positive for non-US citizens under some circumstances but for US citizens it's just a way for CBP to make demands they would not be able to make on US soil where a citizen has an absolute right of entry. I'm a US citizen and have had to answer questions from CBP in DUB about my employment as a condition of being allowed to enter the pre-clearance area and board my flight. (Refusal = secondary = "oops you missed your flight, guess you'll have to come back tomorrow and answer our questions. This was made explicit by the CBP agent the first time I used DUB preclearance.)

On the ground in the US, I have never been asked similar questions - and the worst that could happen if I refused to answer questions other than about my identity and accompanying possessions (on the basis that it's not germane to my admissibility as a citizen and as a matter of principal) would be secondary inspection and release.

That said, DUB pre-clearance is a lot faster than some US entry points at some times of day. If the BRU facility can combine Schengen exit and US entry into a single flow it might be a real timesaver but if this is designed more for transfer from SN's African destinations then it's probably going to end up more like AUH than DUB.

The US still unable to handle its own immigration procedures on US soil effectively - sad.

(The Belgians should ask in return a Schengen clearance post at JFK - same "advantage" to travellers as the US Preclearance posts )

terrier, US DHS/CBP's paranoia about EUropeans flying out of BRU (and other European airports) using ESTAs/US VWP is the big driver for the US CBP Preclearance push into Europe. African passport users using stickered in US visas in African passports are a different issue, although you can bet that CBP prefers more FRT/biometric technology matching being done in advance of travel to the US for all passengers including those coming from Africa.

AMS? Didn't happen, and that is even as the USG played up the incident with the failed underwear bomber. CPH? Much the same kind of story of a hard sell not going anywhere real soon.

Let's see if the UK/LHR goes anywhere with the US. If the Anglophone birds of a feather aren't able to stick together to fly together on this for US CBP, then why should the EU/BRU fly the US way on this kind of thing?

What do you consider "real soon"? Have you checked out the dynamics applicable in the Belgian federal parliament? Without Belgian parliamentary clearance for this kind of physical facility at BRU, there is zero chance of the facility happening anytime real soon. Have you checked out what the airport (owner) thinks about this? Their finances are more stretched now than even usual, and the airport retailers have issues too. Have you checked out SN's financial position? SN doens't have deep pockets even at the best of times, and it's not like LH is going to be able to come to its rescue as easily as in years past.

Given the decline in TATL travel demand, the increased costs that come from putting in and operating a CBP Pre-clearance facility will be hitting the remaining flights and passengers harder as someone has to pay up for this kind of facility. The US doesn't want to pay the premium for such specialized arrangements, nor do I as a routine BRU user on trips to the US.

It's long overdue for the US to fix the immigration/customs processing at US airports of entry instead of trying to drive up higher costs for immigration/customs processing onto foreign soil by way of trying to push out the US borders.

CBP Preclearance sales drives by the US Government? They have been going on for years here in Europe. How many Schengen area CBP Preclearance facilities for common carrier flight passengers are there after all these years of the hard selling? Zero. And now with the massive depression in the air passenger service market for EU/EEA-US flights is a good time to do this kind of thing? A good thing for whom at this time?

What would be great is if airports in Europe were set up to process GE. With GE, I am largely indifferent to pre-clearance.

I don't see why there should be a special setup for a subset of a subset of pax

I suppose I'm not suggesting that it be implemented, only that if preclearance is adopted, then it should come with a GE service as well, otherwise preclearance actually adds a huge amount of time to those eligible under GE.