U.S. seeking to enter negotiations to expand air preclearance operations in nine foreign countries

29-May-2015 Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson announced today the United States intends to enter into negotiations to expand air preclearance operations to ten new foreign airports, located in nine separate countries: Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom. If negotiations are successful, preclearance - where each traveler undergoes immigration, customs, and agriculture inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) before boarding a direct flight to the United States- could be completed before departure from these foreign airports rather than upon arrival in the U.S. Expanding the preclearance program is both a security imperative - enabling CBP to stop potential threats before they arrive on US soil - as well as a strong economic opportunity.