TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Customs SXM to MIA

I know there was a thread earlier with the link to the article about pre-clearance at SXM for US bound flights by Carol with some confusion over pre check vs pre clearance (or whatever they are calling this higher level of screening) I am traveling to Anguilla via St. Maarten in May and have Global Entry. On my return, will I be going through customs at SXM as well as MIA or has this change at SXM begun where I will skip customs/immigration in Miami?Does anyone know how GE carriers are affected? Thanks for any more recent updated info on this.

GE is in the states at this time, and sometime in the future in SXM.

As far as I know nothing has changes as of now. Still need to go through customs in MIA.

SXM does not have pre clearance like Canada etc. GE certainly will allow you to speed through immigration and customs forms but when complete still have to flow through the final customs exit with everyone else.

Thanks! Figured nothing had probably changed yet..... with GE I would rather speed through MIA rather than having to get to SXM super early to deal with a new process where GE isn't initiated yet.

MIA has a separate GE exit after customs making it a lot quicker.

GE is great if you don't have any checked bags. We have it and when we passed thru MIA a few weeks ago we did get thru really fast but had to wait a half hour--at least--to get our bags. So it's kind of a hurry up and wait situation.

I finally convinced my wife to stop checking luggage when traveling to Caribbean after we had a bag disappear for a week at MiA. Swimsuits with dinner attire and that's it! Thanks for info though.

If you have only carryon, and have paper boarding passes for your MIA flight (must be paper, not electronic) then you can skip Immigration in SXM. There's a Transfer Information Desk just before the Immigration hall, and a small security checkpoint just past the desk. With carry-on only, passport and paper boarding pass in hand, use that checkpoint and go directly to your gate.

In my experience, no one "speeds through" MIA. GE is hugely helpful, but that baggage claim area is a disaster.

And half of the GE kiosks are out of order every time we return through MIA.

The past couple times we have come through Miami, without GE, we have been in our car driving away, in around an hour from when our plane landed. (We park at Miami Fast Park, which is HIGHLY recommended). I personally don't think an hour is bad. This coming trip, we will be connecting through Miami, instead of originating there, so who knows, it may be much worse. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

Thanks Bahston. Good info. I didn't know about the Transfer Information Desk. I will have give it a try

Mdsmurph, most people here only fly in and out of SXM, and are rarely In Transit, so they wouldn't be familiar with the Transfer Information Desk. You'll be In Transit from AXA and can take advantage of the not-so-well-known pre-Immigration security checkpoint. It seems to be mostly used by SBH passengers.

The key is having your boarding passes in hand before you arrive at SXM. I've always been able to get a hotel or a friend to print the passes for me. If you can't do that, I've heard of, but not seen or used, a kiosk near the Transfer Desk, which can be used to print boarding passes for some airlines. It's worth a look, or asking at the Transfer Desk, if you're unable to pre-print your boarding passes.