Prescreening border controls




Hong Kongedit

West Kowloon railway stationedit

A component of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link, West Kowloon Station will contain a “Mainland Port Area”, essentially enabling passengers and goods to clear mainland Chinese immigration on Hong Kong soil.

Shenzhen Bay Control Pointedit

The Shenzhen Bay Control Point is a Hong Kong immigration facility co-located with mainland Chinese facilities at Shenzhen Bay Port. It is located in the Chinese mainland on land leased from the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province. It essentially enables travellers to clear both mainland and Hong Kong border controls in one place, thus eliminating any need for border control on the Hong Kong side of the Shenzhen Bay Bridge.

Singapore and Malaysiaedit

Woodlands Train Checkpointedit

For cross-border rail passengers, Singaporean exit and Malaysian entry preclearance border controls are co-located at the Woodlands Train Checkpoint in Singapore, whilst Malaysian exit controls are located separately at Johor Bahru Sentral railway station in Malaysia.

Johor Bahru – Singapore Rapid Transitedit

The upcoming Rapid Transit System (RTS) connecting Singapore and Johor Bahru will feature border control preclearance both on the Singaporean side and on the Malaysian side. This will enable passengers arriving in Singapore from Malaysia or vice versa to proceed straight to their connecting transport, since the RTS will link to both the Singapore MRT system (Thomson-East Coast MRT Line) and Johor Bahru Sentral. Unlike the preclearance systems adopted by the United States and Hong Kong, but similar to the United Kingdom’s juxtaposed controls, this system will mitigate arrival border controls on both sides of the border.

Malaysia and Thailandedit

The Padang Besar railway station in Padang Besar, Malaysia has co-located border control facilities for both Malaysia and Thailand, although the station is wholly located inside Malaysian territory (albeit just 200 metres south of the Malaysia-Thailand border). The facilities for each country operate from separate counters inside the railway station building at the platform level. Passengers entering Thailand clear Malaysian and Thai border formalities here in Malaysian territory before boarding their State Railway of Thailand trains which then cross the actual borderline several minutes after departing the station. Passengers from Thailand entering Malaysia are also processed here, using the same counters as there are no separate counters for processing entries and exits for either country.

United Kingdomedit

Ferryedit

French entry border control for ferries between Dover and Calais or Dunkerque take place at the Port of Dover, whilst French exit and British entry border control takes place at Calais and Dunkerque.

Railedit

Border control for rail travel between the United Kingdom and the Schengen Area features significant prescreening. This includes customs and immigration prescreening on both sides of the Eurotunnel, and immigration-only prescreening for the Eurostar between the United Kingdom and stations located in Belgium and France. Eurostar and Eurotunnel passengers departing from the Schengen area go through both French or Belgian exit border control and British entry border controls before departures, while passengers departing from the United Kingdom undergo French border controls on British soil.

The following juxtaposed rail border controls are currently in operation:

In Belgium
  • Brussel-Zuid/Bruxelles-Midi
In France
  • Bourg-St-Maurice
  • Calais-Fréthun
  • Coquelles
  • Lille-Europe
  • Moûtiers
  • Paris-Nord
In the UK
  • Ashford International
  • Cheriton
  • Ebbsfleet International
  • St Pancras International

  • Entry stamp into the Schengen Area issued by the French Border Police at St Pancras International station. ('LFT' stands for 'Liaison fixe transmanche' (literally: cross-Channel fixed link))

  • Exit stamp from the Schengen Area issued by the French Border Police at Paris Gare du Nord station. ('LFT' stands for 'Liaison fixe transmanche' (literally: cross-Channel fixed link))

  • British entry stamp issued by the UK Border Force at Paris Gare du Nord station.

United Statesedit

The U.S. government operates border preclearance facilities at a number of ports and airports in foreign territory. They are staffed and operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. Travelers pass through U.S. Immigration and Customs, Public Health, and Agriculture inspections before boarding their aircraft, ship, or train. This process is intended to streamline border procedures, reduce congestion at ports of entry, and facilitate travel between the preclearance location and U.S. airports unequipped to handle international travellers.

These facilities are present at the majority of major Canadian airports, as well as selected airports in Bermuda, Aruba, the Bahamas, Abu Dhabi and Ireland. Facilities located in Canada accept NEXUS cards and United States Passport cards (land/sea entry only) in lieu of passports. A preclearance facility is currently being planned at Dubai International Airport

Citizens of the Bahamas who enter America through either of the two preclearance facilities in that country enjoy an exemption from the general requirement to hold a visa as long as they can sufficiently prove that they do not have a significant criminal record in either the Bahamas or America. All Bahamians applying for admission at a port-of-entry other than the pre-clearance facilities located in Nassau or Freeport International airports are required to be in possession of a valid visa.

Preclearance facilities are also operated at Pacific Central Station, the Port of Vancouver, and the Port of Victoria in British Columbia, and there are plans to open one at Montreal Central Station in Quebec.

  • The interior of the U.S. preclearance departures at Montréal.

  • Shannon Airport preclearance

  • Stamps in a United States passport, one from Canada Border Services Agency (right) and the other from U.S. Customs (left), both issued at Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport

Informal prescreeningedit

In some cases countries can introduce controls that functions as border controls but aren't border controls legally and don't need to be performed by government agencies. Normally they are performed and organised by private companies, based on a law that they have to check that passengers don't travel into a specific country if they aren't allowed to. Such controls can take effect in one country based on the law of another country without any formalised border control prescreening agreement in force. Even if they aren't border controls they function as such. The most prominent example is airlines which check passports and visa before passengers are allowed to board the aircraft. Also for some passenger boats such check are performed before boarding.

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