On Sat, 03 Apr 2004 16:43:30 GMT, Cyrus Afzali
wrote:

On Sat, 03 Apr 2004 15:08:54 GMT, "Pete"
wrote:

...and even with that, it's still going to be faster than most customs
checks in 99% of the countries in the world.

When I arrive at JFK, I often wait 10-30 minutes in line, and I am a
USA citizen. The other lines are worse, and this is without the finger-
printing and photographing. I contrast that to countries like Finland,
Sweden, Austria, and Switzerland, where I breeze by passport control
hardly slowing down. I am sure this is the same for Denmark, Norway,
Iceland, and many other European countries. Your 99% must exclude
Europe, right?

If the country in question is part of the US-VISIT program, or
whatever it's called, the queues are often much shorter and the
screening is done before departure from the country you visited. I
just returned from Ireland a few weeks ago and all screening was done
in Shannon. The only thing done here was the agricultural
questionnaire.


Ireland is one of the very few exceptions in having pre-clearance, has
been for years. That doesn't help other Europeans, Australians, New
Zealanders, etc.
--==++AJC++==--