Global Entry vs Automated Passport Control Kiosks at YVR

Good evening all,

We're returning to the US from YVR this summer, post-cruise. We will have luggage to check in. I'm kicking around the idea of whether to spend the $ on GE for the 3 of us travelers (we can't do NEXUS--not enough time, and we're not anywhere near any interview locations). My credit card will reimburse 1 GE application fee. APC is fee-free.

I'm not enticed by the GE Pre-check perk, because we already get pre-check. How are the APC lines at YVR? Our flight will be at 8:45am on July 2nd. If we do Global Entry, I'd opt for the interview on arrival option that morning, which is available at YVR.

We may (hopefully) do some more international travel during the next few years. Looking forward to your thoughts on my choices! Thanks!

What is your question ?

Does YVR have Global Entry?

Does YVR have Global Entry?

Yes they do.

Good evening all' date='

 

We're returning to the US from YVR this summer, post-cruise. We will have luggage to check in. I'm kicking around the idea of whether to spend the $ on GE for the 3 of us travelers (we can't do NEXUS--not enough time, and we're not anywhere near any interview locations). My credit card will reimburse 1 GE application fee. APC is fee-free.

 

I'm not enticed by the GE Pre-check perk, because we already get pre-check. How are the APC lines at YVR? Our flight will be at 8:45am on July 2nd. If we do Global Entry, I'd opt for the interview on arrival option that morning, which is available at YVR.

 

We may (hopefully) do some more international travel during the next few years. Looking forward to your thoughts on my choices! Thanks![/quote']

If I'm understanding you right, you want to APPLY for GE and use YVR as your interview location? It's just confusing, because you can do your NEXUS interview at YVR as well... in fact ANY Canadian site that allows a GE interview can do NEXUS too, since they both require US CBP staff (and the only place you find those in Canada is side-by-side with CBSA staff, who do the other half of the NEXUS interview).

 

 

Sounds like you already have TSA Pre - which is useless here, at both pier and airport. GE (and NEXUS) get you the benefit of short security lines as the pier and at the airport (NB: only NEXUS get short lines entering Canada, but they both work heading to the US) but TSA Pre is only accepted by the TSA - and we fortunately don't have any truck with them up here!

 

I have no idea what your comparison to Automated Passport Kiosks is about either - all US/Canadian citizens can use them with their regular passports, there's no application process of any kind required, so it's not remotely relevant as an alternative to GE, TSA Pre, NEXUS or anything else. The only connection is that both NEXUS and GE also use kiosks at YVR - but different, dedicated ones from the regular APKs - to process you.

 

If you're actually asking what is the difference in queue time between using GE/NEXUS and not, the answer is "usually a few minutes, sometimes many minutes, very rarely it's actually slower because more Trusted Travelers are present than Regular Joes - in which case you'll plainly see that and can choose to use the normal kiosks instead of the NEXUS lanes."

We can use Global Entry at Canada Place?

YVR has automated kiosks that people without NEXUS or Global Entry use. They are actually quite fast. The lines to get to them are a bit longer that the trusted traveler lines.

Having NEXUS or Global Entry you might save any where from 2 minutes to 20 minutes depending on time of day and how busy things are.

If you total the amount of time to complete the application forms, book an appointment, show up for the appointment etc. your probably taking a good two hours of investment in getting this thing. It is only worth it if you fly regularly in and out of the US multiple times over the year. If your not crossing the US boarder at least every other month not certain it is worth it.

We can use Global Entry at Canada Place?

Yes indeedily-doodily. They've been in place for 2 seasons now.

If you total the amount of time to complete the application forms, book an appointment, show up for the appointment etc. your probably taking a good two hours of investment in getting this thing. It is only worth it if you fly regularly in and out of the US multiple times over the year. If your not crossing the US boarder at least every other month not certain it is worth it.

That's some seriously bad math em-sk; remember that both GE and NEXUS also include TSA Pre benefits and last for five years - even saving only 24 minutes per year in time queuing makes any TT card a break-even proposition if we assume your 2 hour investment is accurate. While we're still vaguely civilized this side of the border, even domestic flights down south involve shoes off, bags opened, liquids removed into their special bag etc. for Regular Joes which Trusted Travelers can skip. Even one return domestic flight a year inside the US can easily recoup the time spent getting a TT card between shorter security queues and less clothing removal/bag opening.

Even if we had spent 2 hours getting our NEXUS, which we did not (being close enough to walk to the interview and fit it into a regular day it was maybe 30minutes total for us including the interview) we would have recouped that time within the first year in our case. We've experienced multiple border crossings on land - at least a couple of times per year - where the wait for Regular Joes was an hour plus and we spent <10 minutes to cross, and while we usually see one time per year when the Regular Joe crossing is actually less busy than the NEXUS lane on average we save 15-20 minutes per land crossing and 10-15mins when flying.

Then there are the unexpected little added extras like having another wallet-sized official government ID that is valid in both US and Canada for ALL occasions we need to prove our identity, citizenship, or age. It's actually been more useful to us than our driving license in the US, since aside from in WA state a BC driving license is unfamiliar to most Americans - given the layout used, we find that even when you point out that date of birth is in the little hologram field that needs the card moved back & forth to read it wastes at least 30 seconds every time we try to buy a bottle of wine in a store in the US (Target's great, but when you look well over 40 it's frustrating that they still need a government ID to sell you booze!) NEXUS cards have a plainly-printed DoB and a US gov't logo and get confirmed with a glance.

Hello and thank you all for your input! I wasn't clear enough: Yes, I am weighing the pros and cons of spending $200 for my family to get GE, versus just using the APC kiosks which have no application process or fee, with respect to saving time re-entering the US. I did see that NEXUS interviews can be done at YVR, but the problem there is that they don't offer "interview on arrival" like the GE application does. We'll only be in Vancouver on Sunday July 1st (disembark day, and Canada Day--woohoo!!!), up until the morning of July 2nd (Federal holiday due to Canada Day being on a Sunday) when we fly back to EWR on the 8:45am flight. So not a big window there for interviews for NEXUS, whereas it looks like GE allows us to select the morning of our flight for interviews.

We may travel internationally about once per year, depending on funds and family voting on where to go for the next vacation (maybe Norwegian Fjords in 2019, for example).

Am I correct the Mobile Passport isn't available at YVR?

On another note, we do have TSA pre-check for domestic or US originating flights due to active military status. Am I correct in my interpretation of this website that we may be eligible for expedited security in YVR because of active military status as well? https://www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca/en/trusted-travellers And how about when disembarking Canada Place?

Hello and thank you all for your input! I wasn't clear enough: Yes' date=' I am weighing the pros and cons of spending $200 for my family to get GE, versus just using the APC kiosks which have no application process or fee, with respect to saving time re-entering the US. I did see that NEXUS interviews can be done at YVR, but the problem there is that they don't offer "interview on arrival" like the GE application does. We'll only be in Vancouver on Sunday July 1st (disembark day, and Canada Day--woohoo!!!), up until the morning of July 2nd (Federal holiday due to Canada Day being on a Sunday) when we fly back to EWR on the 8:45am flight. So not a big window there for interviews for NEXUS, whereas it looks like GE allows us to select the morning of our flight for interviews.

 

We may travel internationally about once per year, depending on funds and family voting on where to go for the next vacation (maybe Norwegian Fjords in 2019, for example).

 

Am I correct the Mobile Passport isn't available at YVR?

 

On another note, we do have TSA pre-check for domestic or US originating flights due to active military status. Am I correct in my interpretation of this website that we may be eligible for expedited security in YVR because of active military status as well? https://www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca/en/trusted-travellers And how about when disembarking Canada Place?[/quote']

That's a lot clearer, thanks. Yes, US Military with ID cards do get to use the short queue for Security in Canadian airports - but of course they cannot use the NEXUS/GE kiosks for immigration as they only recognize those specific cards. No CATSA at the pier, so no Military benefit - only NEXUS/GE when boarding and no security to worry about when disembarking.

 

 

No idea about US Mobile Passport at YVR - having NEXUS it would be time wasted rather than saved for us unless we could somehow correctly guess when the normal queues were going to be faster in advance... but there is an equivalent Canadian app, so whatever tech is required may indeed be in place at YVR for US-bound flyers to use theirs. I'd reach out to CBP for the definitive answer, as how they run things is now in theory almost identical to in the US after recent legal changes to allow them to detain & search people instead of having to ask the Canadians to do it for them among other tweaks.

Thanks martincath for answering another one of my questions :)

I've decided to go ahead and go for GE. Just got an update on my United Explorer card, saying that beginning June 1 they will reimburse one GE application fee every 4 years. My Sapphire Reserve card already does this, so that brings my cost for the 3 of us down to $100 for GE. I think that's worth it!