What has to be filed before a private flight arrives in the United States?
Two things, and they are separate. The eAPIS manifest lists everyone on board and is filed before the aircraft moves, inbound and outbound. Landing Rights is the arrival airport's permission to receive an international flight, requested in advance and tied to a specific flight, date and time. A designated port of entry usually does not need individual Landing Rights approval; a Landing Rights airport always does.
Key takeaways
- eAPIS and Landing Rights are two separate filings
- Landing Rights is granted by the individual port, so lead time varies
- Manifest details must match travel documents exactly
- Crew changes after filing mean the manifest is refiled, not amended in the air
Two filings people treat as one
eAPIS is the manifest. It tells CBP who is on board, in which aircraft, arriving where and when, and it is filed before the aircraft moves in each direction.
Landing Rights is permission. It is the arrival airport agreeing to receive an international flight, granted per flight rather than standing. Filing a perfect manifest into an airport that has not agreed to receive you does not get you cleared.
Choosing the arrival airport
The closest airport to the delivery point is not always the right one. A designated port of entry can normally take international arrivals without individual approval, while a Landing Rights airport has to say yes to each one, and both have hours and staffing that decide whether your ETA works.
We check that against the alternates too, because a diversion into an airport with no clearance capability is a problem you would rather have solved on the ground.
Why ferry flights get refused
Almost every refusal or delay we see traces back to one of these.
- The request went in too late for the port to respond
- Manifest details do not match the travel documents exactly
- A crew change after filing was never reflected in the manifest
- A mechanic or observer joined the leg and was left off
- The ETA slipped outside the approved window without notice
How we handle it on a movement
On a flight we are running, the Landing Rights request, the eAPIS manifest and any customs entry are prepared as one package by the same desk that owns the flight plan. When the roster or the ETA changes, the filings change with them, which is the whole point of not splitting this work across three parties.
Common questions
Last reviewed September 9, 2026 by the Super Universal operations desk.