Flying Into Dulles a Nightmare? No More, Thanks to New App

Good news, Dulles international travelers: a new app will greatly speed up customs processing at the airport.

Washington Dulles International Airport now accepts the Mobile Passport App at its Customs and Border Protection facilities, which allows eligible passengers to save their profiles securely on their smartphones and proceed directly to dedicated lanes once they get to Dulles for expedited processing by CBP, according to a Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority statement.

The app is free and is authorized for citizens traveling with a U.S. passport or a Canadian passport with B1 or B2 visa status.

The app was developed for U.S. airports in partnership with CBP to help provide an option beyond filling out paper forms and waiting in line to speak to a CBP official.

"At Dulles International, we never stop looking for ways to make the journey easier and more enjoyable for our travelers," Chris Browne, vice president and airport manager, said in the statement. "Together with our partners at Customs and Border Protection, we are proud to introduce the Mobile Passport app as the latest innovation to make international arrivals an even smoother process."

Before your trip, you will need to download the app and create a profile using information from your passport. If you're entering information for a family, all the info can be entered on one device. Once passengers arrive, they open the app and answer a few questions, and then submit those responses once on the ground. Passengers then head to a dedicated lane marked "Mobile Passport Control" where a CBP-generated code is scanned from the phone. The code will be shown one more time after baggage claim in order to exit.

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