US seeking to enter negotiations to expand air pre-clearance operations in nine foreign countries

Department of Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson announced (29-May-2015) the United States intends to enter into negotiations to expand air pre-clearance operations to ten new foreign airports, located in nine separate countries: Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom. If negotiations are successful, pre-clearance could be completed before departure from these foreign airports rather than upon arrival in the US. Secretary Johnson said, "Pre-clearance is a win-win for the traveling public. It provides aviation and homeland security and it reduces wait times upon arrival at the busiest US airports". The 10 airports identified for possible pre-clearance locations include Brussels Airport, Punta Cana International Airport, Tokyo Narita Airport, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Oslo Airport, Madrid Barajas Airport, Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Istanbul Ataturk Airport, London Heathrow Airport and Manchester Airport. US Travel Association president Roger Dow welcomed the development stating, "Evolving policies such as these are a big reason why we surpassed a record 74 million international visitors to the US last year, and are well on pace to reach 100 million visitors annually by 2021. With overseas visitors spending an average of USD4300 per person, per trip, that's just good economic sense" (The Dallas Morning News, 29-May-2015) [more - original PR] [more - original PR A4A]