The United States has asked the Netherlands for permission to set up border controls on Dutch territory to speed up immigration procedures in the US itself, justice minister Ard van der Steur has told parliament.

The US currently has pre-clearance facilities in 15 different countries including Canada, Ireland and the UAE and wants to expand this into other European airports, Van der Steur said.

Pre-clearance will allow people travelling to the US to enter without going through passport checks and to transfer to internal flights more easily.

Van de Steur said officials are now looking into the consequences of allowing foreign powers to carry out passport checks on Dutch soil. The Netherlands has also asked the European Commission for its position, he said.