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Plans to set up US immigration pre-clearance facilities at airports in India are a “non-starter”, the civil aviation ministry said.
Air India had requested the ministry to facilitate the setting up of US pre-clearance at Mumbai and Delhi airports. This would enable passengers on US flights to complete immigration formalities in India, reducing the waiting time to enter the US on arrival there. Air India had moved the proposal as Etihad Airways’ hub of Abu Dhabi had started a pre-clearance facility last year.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said in a written response to the Lok Sabha on Monday: “A standing inter-ministerial group was constituted under the chairmanship of secretary, ministry of civil aviation, for this purpose and the views of the ministry of external affairs obtained in the matter. However, the implications of such a measure/facility have been found to be far-reaching and therefore put in non-starter category.”.
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Text messages to civil aviation secretary officials seeking clarification did not yield any response.
The US government had said in June it had no immediate plans to set up pre-clearance facilities in India. The US Customs and Border Protection department had said it was working on a proposal to set up facilities at 10 foreign airports — including London, Amsterdam and Tokyo.
“The only plans right now are to negotiate with the nine foreign countries where the 10 identified airports are located,” a US Customs and Border Protection department spokesperson had said in an email response.
