Global Entry Processing

Start the process. The big hang up will be scheduling the interview. Our experience with Denver a few years ago is that they were booked out for several months so we just kept checking on the web site a couple times a day and caught a cancellation. Once you do the interview it is my understanding that you can use the system even though you have not receive official notice of approval. So if you can get the interview completed prior to leaving you should be OK.

Can you drive to another location for your interview? A smaller airport?
By the time I got home from my interview at my local airport, the approval was in my online account.

If you get approved for the interview, they are doing those interviews on your return from your first foreign trip when you go through passport check with no reservation required. And you still clear through faster than if you don't have GE It is not all airports, but many do this now. Check with the Global Entry web page for details.

When I applied for mine late last year, the waiting time at DEN for an interview was over 6 months. Luckily I was traveling regularly and got an interview at Calgary airport within about 2 months.

I just processed my wife's application (last week) and I am hoping that she can do her interview in early January at Toronto airport since we are transiting through there on the way back from S America/Caribbean. Unfortunately, there are no other interview locations in CO (I checked earlier this week).

Here is the latest from about a month ago on doing the interview on arrival
The program is currently available at nine new locations including Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW), Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP), Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), San Diego International Airport (SAN), Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), and Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), and will launch later this week at Denver International Airport (DEN) and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL).

Robert, it depends on two things after you complete the application: 1. How soon you are able to make an appointment to be interviewed. This is determined by how long it takes them to verify the info you provide in the application and the availability of interviewers to speak with you. In many parts of the US, the wait can be over 6 months. 2. How soon after the interview it can be processed for you so you have a GE known traveler number. This part should take no more than 2-4 weeks.

Have you submitted your application yet?

It's definitely possible. As Frank said, start the application now. Once your cleared to make an appointment, check the appointment schedule as often as you can (hourly, even) to move up your appointment and you will likely score an earlier one. It worked for me last year: I applied on December 20, got cleared on the 27th, and the earliest appointment at each center in Boston was in March. But a couple days later I moved it up to late January, then to January 6. Good luck - let us know how it goes!

I logged in last night and checked on my wife's application and she already rec'd the conditional approval - pretty fast since it has only been 4 days since I applied.

The bad news - the earliest interview appointment at DEN showed as June 4, 2018 - though there can be cancellations that may allow you to move up.

Your best bet is to apply ASAP and do the interview on arrival back from Europe - assuming you are flying into one of the places that handles the interview on arrival. My wife will do hers a month from now as we have an overnight layover in Toronto and we will do our entry back into the US there.

Thanks for all of the great advice - very helpful. Will press ahead with my application and see how it goes.

The bad news - the earliest interview appointment at DEN showed as
June 4, 2018 - though there can be cancellations that may allow you to
move up.

Arnold, have your wife check several times per day for at least 5-10 minutes each time of clicking "update". That's how I got my appointment moved up from a 3 month wait to a 4 day wait. People are ALWAYS cancelling and rescheduling. Those who want sooner appointments are ALWAYS LOOKING FOR CANCELLATIONS. If she does this, she will get an appointment sooner than June 4. Good luck.

“..... have your wife check several times a day for at least 5-10 minutes”

Excuse Me? What if his wife is busy with her employment and has no time to check several times a day?

No worries - see the rest of my message. Based on my reading she can bypass the whole 'scheduling an appt'

Rather than make a long trip out to the airport, we are planning on getting it when we pass through Toronto airport on our way back from N South America (Guyana, Suriname,...) and the Caribbean (Martinique, St. Lucia).

Since I used UA miles, the only option for me was the Air Canada flight from St. Lucia to Toronto, an overnight there and a continuation the next day to Denver. Will try out the new procedure to get it done on "Arrival"

Will you use Global Entry enough to make it worthwhile? If it's just one trip, I'd go with Mobile Passport. it's not at every airport, but it's at Denver and most of the big ports of entry. Download the app at home. On your way home file your electronic customs declaration from the plane (up to four hours ahead of landing) or right when you hit the ground. The immigration booths for Mobile Passport are usually near Global Entry so head that way and ask.

I've used it several times (at Baltimore, Boston and Dulles) and there has been no waiting at all, then they sent me through the Global Entry line with my bag, so saved time there too. Dulles was different my last time. It seemed like you were out of customs and immigration before you picked up your bags (I guess unless they send you to secondary inspection).

It's so easy, I can't see any reason to use Global Entry anymore (sacrilege for me, I used to be the CBP spokesman for the program) unless you travel often enough to an airport without Mobile Passport to need it.

Brad, thanks for the information regarding Mobile Passport - I was not aware of that program before but it looks like it might fit the bill for our one big overseas trip per year since our primary ports of re-entry will likely be LAX, SFO or DEN.
I found the website describing the program and directions for downloading the App - almost seems too good to be true. Am I missing something or is it as straightforward as it seems?

Excuse Me? What if his wife is busy with her employment and has no
time to check several times a day?

Excuse you? SERIOUSLY? Thank you for the laughter especially on this wintry day in NYC! :-)

We were raised by the following adage from my mother (one of many): "If you want something done, give it to a busy person."

How right she was.

I offered the advice about checking a few times per day because working 40+ hours per week plus traveling weekly to present at trade shows and on client sites throughout the US and Canada, I did this myself and it worked. A 3 month wait turned into a mere 4 day wait.

There is ALWAYS a way to find time if you want to move up your GE appointment.

My Global Entry interview was scheduled for months after I applied. When my husband applied months after I did and received a much earlier interview date, I started checking the website and almost immediately found an interview date less than a week away.

Ignore Norma.

And the site can be checked 24/7, so it doesn't need to be during one's workday. As I noted above, this worked out for me, too. The CBP agent who did my interview was glad I kept checking because "people cancel all the time".

Yes, Robert, it is that easy.
Before you leave Download the app. Follow the directions. Enter your passport info into the app. Usually you can scan your passport. Take a picture of your face. (This is usually the hardest part). Set a password for the app.

When you are returning. ( I usually do this on plane in airplane mode)
Access the app.
Put in your password. Chose the travelers. You can have more than one in your app.
Fill in the travel information.
Arrival airport and airline.
Answer the 5 CBP Inspection Questions

I then minimize this.

When I land I turn off airport mode, return to the app and Press Submit.

Your screen should pop up with a scannable QR code in the app.(This is good for 4 hours)

When in the terminal, look for the Mobile Passport Signs. If there are none, continue like normal to Passport Lines, there is usually someone there to direct people. Tell them Mobile Passport and they will direct you to the passport station. Usually with no waiting.

They will ask you to scan the code and send you on your way. Keep that app open as they will need to see the QR code at Customs.

My sister has Global Entry and she usually ends up at the same window as I do, sometimes before but most often after I get through.
It is like Global Entry, but it is free. And you don't have to fill in those customs forms on the plane.

You can try it at home, picking a dummy airport and flight and fill in your customs information to see how long it takes. Maybe 1 minute.
Make sure your phone is charged.

Yes, Mobile Passport works great, at least the two times I've used it at JFK. The most recent time, I was done even faster than the Global Entry people!

Just have your passport ready; you need to show it for both the immigration step and the customs step, in addition to the app.

My biggest issue with Mobile Passport, to date, has been getting a good photo of my passport without any light reflecting, that seems to take me nearly a minute each time. It used to be you had to file within 30 minutes before going through customs and immigration, now they've expanded that to four hours. It gives you a bigger window to get it entered if you have WiFi on the plane.

You may be able to walk in to an enrollment center after you get your conditional approval. I live overseas and was home on vacation, and called the office closest to where I was staying. They also had a wait time of at least a couple of months, and I was only home for two weeks. They said that I was welcome to come by and they'd work me in on a walk-in basis. I had to wait a little over an hour, since they attended to people with appointments first, and there were a couple of other walk ins ahead of me, but they did work me in that day. So, it may be worth giving the office closest to you a call to see if they can do a walk in before you leave (provided you have some time to sit and wait).

Posting an update.

My wife took care of the Interview at Toronto airport using the arrivals process. Easy - took about 20 minutes since there were some issues with one of the machines. And avoided a long trip to the Denver airport in the month of June.

Anyone been through the renewal process?
I have a question....
The website states Global Entry membership can be renewed 90 days preceding your Global Entry membership expiry date. Does that mean you start the process 90 days before your expiration date? That seems like a short window if you have an issue with the interview schedule.

There is no interview with renewal. I am up in May and my reading is you just send your money.

I renewed about 6 months ago and did not have to go for an interview. You update the form that you originally filled out online. It took a week or two to get the renewal. They sent me a new card with the same photo. There was some sort of online activation process after I got the card.

Here is what I now see on the Trusted Traveler site after figuring out how to renew - which you can begin the process one year before your card expires.

"Please remember to revisit our website for your application status updates. Notification of when you may schedule an interview appointment (if one is needed) will only be posted here."

Thanks all for the PM's to point me in the right direction! That's what I like about this traveling community!