Renewal of Passport

Nancy is describing what I think it is. I just wanted to know what others had encountered when they renewed their passport.

What is it? Not sure what you are describing. I would assume some type of email acknowledgement of the processing. Your passport is mailed to you and is a hard item with many pages.

And it will have a chip in it. When I returned to O'Hare last Sunday, I found that they have automated passport readers that you put your open passport into. It scans it, asks you all of the customs form questions about what you are bringing in with you and whether you were in a rural area, then takes your picture and prints you a receipt. After claiming your bags, you give the receipt to the officer at the final passport check at the door .

What Nancy maybe describing is the Global Entry system which you have to sign up for. It does not come automatically with your passport. So I am still not sure what Jim's reference to Electronic Passport Statement is.

Global Entry requires a fee and some other documentation. You have to apply for it separately. I am talking about the process of coming back into the US through O'Hare with a regular passport. They didn't ask if your passport was chipped or not, but perhaps it wouldn't have worked if it was not. (I, too, am unsure what Jim means by Electronic Passport Statement.) This was the first time I have seen this setup, but it worked quite well and was fast. But it had nothing to do with passport renewal. All US passport holders were using it.

What Nancy encountered is a new automated process that is being piloted at ORD. You can read about it here Jim, the "electronic passport" to is just the passport that has the embedded chip. The same info that is printed on your passport and a digitized photo is encoded in the chip. I don't know what you mean by "electronic passport statement". Do you just mean that the website has a statement about the electronic passport? By the way, if you are registered for Global Entry (which is different from what Nancy described), you don't need a chip passport. My older passport does not have a chip. However, with Global Entry, they have already taken a photo of you, done a background check, and taken your fingerprints. You scan your passport and place your fingerprints on the reader to be ID'd to enter.

Thank you Frank, Laura and Nancy. I'm just applying for renewal and the verbage everyone can't seem to understand is the ORD system Laura spoke of. I do think I would or might be interested in the "global System" as well. Just wanted to see how common this was, it seemed new to me.

The Global Entry program isn't really worth the expense unless you travel internationally frequently. It also requires fingerprinting and other documents, and requires a separate application. I didn't see that it saved anyone much time, either. I didn't have really any wait anywhere, flying into London (two different airports), Barcelona, or Chicago.

"Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the United States."

I guess it is all a matter of perspective. I think Global Entry is best hundred dollars I spent on travel in a long time. It is ONLY good for reentry to the US. It is not intended for entry into foreign countries. During our May return through JFK, there had to be at least two hundred or more going through the immigration maze and two people in line for the Global Entry. Two minutes later I am walking past the immigration officer via a special line and handing my paper slip to customs and out the door. The other huge feature is auto enrollment in TSA Precheck. TSA Precheck allows you to go through a very light security check with TSA - shoes on, jacket on, belt in place, watch on, no body scan, computer stays in carry on along with your plastic bag. And you skip all of the lines going through the regular screen. Glad to pay $20/year for that convenience. Not all airports have a TSA Precheck gate but most major terminals do. But it is a pain in the butt to apply for, life history, interview with TSA, screening etc. But since we already have to have advance permission from the Federal Government to travel, might as well make it as easy as possible.

Ditto what Frank said. I enrolled in Global Entry after experiencing a couple of long lines coming into Dulles. I love that I can bypass the long line get through U.S. immigration in about 2 minutes. I'm hoping that the Global Entry might be reciprocated with other countries in the future. CBP recently announced that Global Entry members can use the expedited system to enter Australia.

I've seen the new pilot kiosks at the CBP preclearance here in Canada, though I think they're new and not at all airports with preclearance here yet. The idea is that you save time with the CBP agent because you have already entered most of the info they need and they can process you more quickly. In busy airports, where a customs officer might see a couple hundred people in a shift, shaving even 10 seconds off of each passenger can have a big cumulative effect. Global Entry is, indeed, great. I don't fly internationally a ton, but it's great to slip through customs quickly and not have to stress about making my connection, or even standing in long lines after a long flight when I'm beat.

Well, in my recent experience, I was through the whole immigration process in less than five minutes. No wait for a terminal, punch a few buttons and get my receipt, and that was that. Hopefully the automated kiosks will appear at other busy airports and speed the process, too. While people who travel frequently, or through airports that tend to run slowly at immigration, might see a benefit from Global Entry, for me it isn't worth it for my maybe once a year trips.

Interesting things here on this side of the pond, too. When I returned to Gatwick from Italy earlier in the year as a British Subject I was offered to be processed through Border Control by a machine instead of a human. I put my chipped passport onto the machine, took my glasses off and looked at a camera. 10 seconds later the green light came on, I picked up my passport, and was finished, walked through the green door. No extra cost.

We've been using biometric ID at passport control here in Israel for years. It takes about 2 minutes to sign up for it (free) at passport control at the airport. It is based on identifying your right hand. You get a plastic card with a magnetic strip (just like a credit card), swipe it through the machine, then place your hand on the machine. It's used entering and leaving Israel. No more long lines for me.

"Electronic Passport Statement" is a statement about electronic passports that is included with US passport applications. Elsewhere, the State Department says, "The U.S. Electronic Passport (e-passport) is the same as a regular passport with the addition of a small contactless integrated circuit (computer chip) embedded in the back cover. The chip securely stores the same data visually displayed on the photo page of the passport, and additionally includes a digital photograph. The inclusion of the digital photograph enables biometric comparison, through the use of facial recognition technology, at international borders. The U.S. e-passport also has a new look, incorporating additional anti-fraud and security features."

so does having a newer chip passport make your time shorter through customs if the airport has a reader? Is it a separate line than non chipped passports? I still have 2 years left on my passport and will be traveling in March to Europe. Just wondering if It would be worth it to go ahead and renew my passport?

As Nigel described, same process now in Oz with new passports with chip. Great innovation which has speeded up re-entry considerably.

Sondra, no, there is not a separate line for chipped passports. All airports have the chip readers but in the US, only Chicago has the automated readers for passenger use. There is no advantage to renewing your passport two years early.

Regarding the passports with a chip....the Immigration agent told our group of 4 as we re-entered in Seattle that they dont always work. He could not get 2 of the passports to scan and he said if they are too close to a magnet, like the magnetic clips on a woman's purse, they can get wiped out. Don't know if that is correct info, but it is what he told us.

I'm not sure why anyone would want to renew two years early...there's no benefit as already mentioned. Most countries have entry/exit rules that require your passport to be valid either 3 or 6 months beyond your travel dates. I suppose if you're traveling in Nov 2013 to a country with a 6 month provision and your passport expires in Aug 2014, you may just go ahead and renew a little early since it needs to be done anyway. But 2 years early? No.