About 4 to 10 miles out on the center line of the runway in use.
You then self vector yourself onto what ever approach you want to use.
If you have a FMC onboard its a couple of inputs and it will sort it all out for you.
But even flying an old heap you can do it with the application of the 1/60 rule and a bit of wag (wild arsed guess) Basically you just use the DME along with either a NDB or VOR on the field to position yourself where you want.
After a few goes its not uncommon to be able to hit the distance +- 0.1DME everytime with out the aid of a gps or ramming through the localiser etc etc. If now traffic around it allows the ATCO to contiunue eating there curry/ watching telly and the crew to manage there own profile so its a win win situation