Tips

CBP reveals the worst hours to cross the Tijuana-San Diego ports of entry

Find out the crossing hours they recommend to avoid long waiting times

By Sonia Zavala2024-01-20T17:09:00+00:00

It is not a surprise that there are long lines at Tijuana's ports of entry, with the number of people increasing at the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, not to mention that unpredictable conditions such as accidents can cause waiting times to increase. That's why we will show you some tips shared by border agents to decrease waiting times.

These are the hours that CBP agents recommend not to cross the Tijuana-San Diego ports of entry

In an exclusive interview with Wilson Portocarrero, Chief of Communications of CBP, we spoke about the waiting times at Tijuana-San Diego ports of entry, considering it is one of the busiest borders in the world.

Regarding this issue, Portocarrero issued a series of recommendations for people who regularly cross the border or want to decrease waiting times.

First, he recommended avoiding peak hours at the ports of entry. These are:

Monday to Friday from 4 AM to 9 PM

Saturday and Sunday from 12 PM to 8 PM

Among other actions that could help to speed up your border crossing is to request and pay for I-94 permits through the CBP One app (for those who need to travel beyond 25 miles from the border) which allows you to only need to pick up this document when crossing.

In addition, he recommends getting into the right lane. For example, if you have a visa with an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip you can use the Ready Lane. If your visa doesn't have this chip, you must use the All Traffic Lane. In order to identify the lanes, it is important to keep an eye on signs and screens located in the border crossing area.

Among the advice shared, he also said that one should prepare the necessary documents before reaching the gate so they can be shown to the border agent. Portocarrero highlighted that these actions can help to speed up border crossing for everyone.