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I just flew from Dublin airport to JFK, and pre-cleared customs in Dublin. However, I was never given the opportunity to declare anything, and I never filled out an entry card.

If I had, for instance, been carrying more than $10,000 in cash, when should I have declared it?

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  • There are two stages to preclearance AFAIK: security and then customs and immigration. The latter is the opportunity to declare anything you are responsible for declaring (no different to if you go through customs upon landing in the US instead).
    – Traveller
    Commented Jul 6 at 6:37
  • @Traveller: in the US it's first immigration and then customs. These used to be two distinctly different steps but a few years ago that has sort of merged. Use of customs forms seems to be very inconsistent. On a recent flight to the US they handed out customs forms to all passengers with clear instructions to NOT fill them out (????).
    – Hilmar
    Commented Jul 6 at 6:59
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    @Traveller in the US, after passport inspection there's the baggage hall where the CBP folks sit and there's another opportunity for them to stop the travelers, and for the travelers to declare stuff. That doesn't exist at the per-clearance sites
    – littleadv
    Commented Jul 6 at 7:19
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    "I was never given the opportunity to declare anything": did the passport inspector not ask?
    – phoog
    Commented Jul 6 at 9:15
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    @NateEldredge I checked in for my flight and checked my bag, proceeded to normal security, made my way to the pre-clearance area, went through a second security check, and then presented my passport to an official at a desk who said nothing to me but “ok” after checking it. Then i proceeded to the gate and boarded. I don’t have Global Entry.
    – MemoryWrangler
    Commented Jul 7 at 5:17

2 Answers 2

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You should have talked to at least one CBP officer when going through inspection. Then.

CBP is the US Customs and Border Protection agency - these folks are responsible for both the passport and immigration checks, and the customs checks, all at once (in many other countries these are separate agencies and separate functions).

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    What's a CBP officer? And what's inspection?
    – matt freake
    Commented Jul 6 at 6:54
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    @mattfreake: CBP is Customs and Border Patrol. That's the person who checks your passport and asks yo a few questions. Inspection is the process of looking at your passport.
    – Hilmar
    Commented Jul 6 at 7:00
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Trip report: Yesterday I went through pre-clearance in Toronto (YYZ) with Global Entry. The person checking passport specifically asked: "do you have anything to declare: food, vegetables, fruits?". There was no other customs interaction either in Toronto or in the US.

So I guess the answer is "You declare it to the person checking your passport". They are probably supposed to specifically ask you, but they don't always do.

Caveat: this process seems to change regularly and may not be consistently applied everywhere. If you are actually planning to declare something its probably best to be proactive about it and declare to any US officer you interact with. If it's the wrong one to declare to, they will simply tell you so and provide guidance of what to do next.

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