Global Entry

Some people schedule their appointments upon their return to the U.S. I don’t know if you have explored that option, but you might want to consider it.

I read that one might be able to do that on arrival, but 1.) we would like to have it for arrival, and 2.) no idea how to schedule that, and 3.) as we are planning to go to Italy in October we might not be within the one year window for getting the interview.

Thanks -

george

In order to interview upon return, you just tell the agent that you would like to interview for Global Entry. They will direct you to a new room and about 10 minutes later the interview is done. You don't make appointments for this, you just show up at passport control upon return.

The original application was made in July, so if we do this on arrival then that would mean paying another $100 and hoping that things get approved in time. I'm thinking that there must be some way that one can actually get an appointment, I just cannot figure out how to do it when there is no way to schedule an interview.

When you interview on arrival, you're not paying again. Your wife applied, was conditionally approved (I assume) and now the last step is the interview. If you have time when you return to the country from an international destination, you can go through passport control, then join the line for "Interview Upon Arrival", no need for an appointment to do the interview that way.

However, there's an app for interview appointments, if you're not going anywhere international soon: https://appointmentscanner.com/ It scans for cancellations at your chosen airports and alerts you, so you can hop on one of the now-available appointments. I was just about to buy it when I checked ATL appointments randomly for my interview, and snagged one ten days out (it's tomorrow). Have heard anecdotally that lots and lots of folks have had success using appointment scanner.

I believe they release interviews in blocks and they get booked fast so you need to check the website every day. Have you looked at other locations ... Dulles or Wilmington, DE. I had my interview at Wilmington because I couldn't find an available appointment at Philadelphia. It’s not actually at the airport, but in an office complex across the street (with free parking!).

Having no options to schedule the interview is pretty crazy making! While attempting to schedule an interview earlier than our return flight from Paris, I looked at EWR (Newark); JFK, LaGuardia and Philadelphia International Airports. Can you try to schedule at airports near Linthicum (BWI Airport)? Otherwise, keep trying daily as people reschedule. Good luck!

"When you interview on arrival, you're not paying again."

I believe that one has one year to get the interview - my assumption is that after that year a new application is required, which would be another $100. If we could get an interview for three months from now then that would be okay, but it is not possible.

"I believe they release interviews in blocks and they get booked fast so you need to check the website every day. Have you looked at other locations ... Dulles or Wilmington, DE."

I think that you are right - when I first tried to get an interview I ran into the same problem, but then was able to grab a date when I checked back. After I finished signing up for the appointment I went to get one for my wife but they were all gone.

I think that Dulles is a possibility, though since it is on the other side of the D.C. beltway that means at least a three hour drive, longer if rush hour traffic is involved. We may not have a choice, however.

"https://appointmentscanner.com/"

I don't know - $29 in the hopes that something opens up within a month, otherwise it's another $29 for the same hopes for another month? Perhaps that is what people are doing.

"you need to complete an interview within 730 days of conditional approval." from https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1378?language=en_US

If Philadelphia International Airport is "near" you, they have appointments available from March 26-30. It looks as though it is @ 1 hour and 40 minutes from Linthicum (BWI Airport) but I have no idea how far from you.

Ah, they must have changed things - did not know. Perhaps we'll just wait until October and try to get the interview when we get back. Thanks.

We are about 45 minutes from BWI the other way, so Philadelphia would be a trek. I'll have to ask my wife if we want to travel to Dulles or do it after our return flight in October, now that I know that the window has been extended.

kayla.p. has provided information that gives you breathing room. Fwiw, my husband and I also had to wait until our return from Paris to have our interview as we could not get an appointment before. It was fast and easy PLUS, it not only was our interview but also immigration screening, so you won't need to go through that.

When we made appointments we were unable to get them together and were actually months apart. We both went to mine. We had to derive to La from Santa Barbara. I asked the check in person if hubby could come in with me and was told no. Once I got to the interviewer I told him about the drive and could my husband get his with me. He said yes! It’s worth a try.

Oops! Never mind. I see you already have your GE.

I guess if we plan to get this done when we get back from Italy in October that we need to hope that the office that does it will be open when we arrive. It would be unfortunate to wait nine months only to find the office closed.

I was conditionally approved for Global Entry in November of 2022 but there are never any open interview times anywhere anymore. I recently completed my interview on arrival in December 2023 (do not have to schedule it ahead). Do not wait in regular passport control line; tell someone directing traffic that you have GE and your wife needs to do her "interview on arrival." Just follow the directions on the Global Entry page and search for your airport online to see where to go. Took about 15 min of waiting and 3 minutes or less of talking to an agent. Got my GE card in the mail 10 days later. Good luck.

OP, I think there might be some confusion about the interview site or maybe I'm the one confused. If we had been able to have our GE interview before our return flight, we would have had it in a building other than the airport. However, having the interview after a flight, the interview is done at the airport. There was no office--the interview site looked just like the stations that are for Immigration screening. There should be signs directing you to GE. If not, ask someone. That was our experience, at least.

A family member got GE recently. Originally booked an appointment 6 months out in Miami, about 500 miles from home, but the only thing available anywhere in the broader area. Kept monitoring the GE website, multiple times daily. Ended up with an appointment over Christmas holiday time in Atlanta, "only" 300 miles from home. Worked out as they were free to drive 300 miles and spend an overnight. No airports closer to "home" showed any availability during the 4 months or so my family member monitored the situation.

The interview time slot my family member grabbed opened up with several other time slots Atlanta at a seemingly random time of day and random date. Not like they released everything on a Monday at 9 AM, no rhyme or reason we could ascertain as consumers. All the posted times were gone within a couple hours. As we approached the scheduled time, there were a few more random openings in the general scheduled timeframe, presumably because of cancelations.

Good luck - I think that and persistence is what it takes.

A 600 mile round trip with an overnight stay seems rather extreme to me. All one has to do is have the GE interview instead of going through Passport Control after the return flight. You exchange one interview for another with no extra time expended. Please don't overthink this or go to extremes.

Like I indicated above, I didn't have to use appointment scanner, but on the various travel message boards on which I sometimes hang out (reddit, Points Guy and Thrifty Travel Facebook groups, etc,) many users of the app indicated that they quickly received multiple text alerts of appointments opening up due to cancellations, especially if they set up alerts for more than one airport. You have to be ready to log in and grab one of those appointments, but if you don't get that one, more will come along. I can't imagine you would need to pay for the app for more than one month.

Also, as someone else pointed out, you don't have to go to a special office in the airport to do your interview upon arrival. In every airport I've seen it, it's usually just another lane like the regular passport officers are sitting in, and it should be labeled "Global Entry Interview on Arrival" or similar. If you arrive very early or very late, it might not be staffed. Or if you have a connecting flight, your layover might not allow an interview - I wanted to do my interview when I flew into EWR last month, but there were six or seven people already in the interview line, and I only had a little more than two hours before my next flight.

" If you arrive very early or very late, it might not be staffed."

Yeah, that's my concern, waiting nine months then arriving when the office is closed.

There used to be unlimited appointments at the Reagan building in DC, will check. For my own GE I checked every few hours and got an immediate spot in a few days.

Edit: It says full through Jan 31, appointments for February will open up.

Couple years ago I was in the same position. No interviews at the local airport (Portland) for over 365 days. After a couple months of looking I started looking at other airports. San Fransisco had some & Phoenix had a bunch. So I booked a flight (on miles) to phoenix, watched some baseball & on my return to PHX I went to my appointment.

Just a thought but I had the same problem so I just walked into the SFO Global Entry office & waited about 20 minutes for an interview. No appointment. Go early in the day perhaps to BWI and see if that works?

BWI has an appointment at 2:20 today. Check early in the morning for last minute cancellations.

Just checked and it says:
Appointments full thru:
February 29, 2024

The cancellations fill fast, you have to keep checking. The openings won't stay open more than 20 minutes.

I just saw an opening for tomorrow at BWI, but when I clicked on it to find out the time it was already taken. So at least 2 openings today or tomorrow have shown up from cancellations.

Shortcut to the scheduler for easy checking You will have to login in if you see something open.

"Shortcut to the scheduler for easy checking You will have to login in if you see something open."

Thanks for the link, I have been exiting my side of the computer, logging into my wife's side, logging into the website, then looking.

This reminds me of what I went through to get my first two Covid shots.

george

^^^^^ YES!!! Getting a GE interview appointment and getting a covid shot early on were pretty much the same for my relative. Constantly checking websites!

Best of luck!!

I was finally able to get an interview by checking every day and being extremely available.

They finally opened up a number of slots and my wife was able to get her interview. Amusingly, for some reason they had problems getting her finger prints and told her to come back in a few days and try again, but another officer said that everything would be okay. She received her card a few days ago.

george

Glad that you were able to get her an appointment and that she now has her card !

Thanks for coming back to let us know.

Happy travels !