My Global Entry Application and Approval

[TPKeller]

Seeing a few questions about Global Entry over the past several months, I thought I'd add the story about my own application.
 

A bit of a disclaimer, I have been a "known" person to the US Government for my entire adult life.  That fact may very well have been a contributing factor to parts of my time line, but not all of it.
 

I filled out and submitted the on-line application mid-afternoon on Friday, November 25th.
 

Much to my surprise, about 30 hours later, late Saturday night, November 26th, I got an e-mail informing me that my application status had changed, and sure enough, I was "conditionally approved," and was advised to start looking for an appointment for the interview.
 

During the interview, they examine your proof of citizenship (usually a passport) and residence (usually a driver's license) and collect your photograph and fingerprints.
 

A couple days later (December 1st) they did also send an e-mail saying that in-person interviews were hard to find, so I might want to consider the "Enrollment On Arrival (EOA)" program, which allows you to complete the final enrollment process upon your first international arrival into the US.  But that is only available at certain airports.  The list of airports they provide is pretty long, 62, but still, you're sort of in limbo until you get that final interview.
 

[Side note: It is uncertain to me whether you are allowed to use PreCheck upon your conditional approval for Global Entry, or whether that will not work until after your interview and your enrollment is complete.  That would be one more reason not to wait until your first international arrival.  Perhaps someone might know the answer to that question:  Can you use PreCheck for domestic flights after you have received your conditional approval for Global Entry, but before your final interview?]
 

They aren't kidding.  In-person interviews can be really hard to find.  Their web page allows you to select States you want to look in.  Many of the interview sites just outright say nothing is available.  I saw some sites with the first interview available being mid to late 2023!
 

There is a twitter account that appears to somehow automatically check for newly available open appointments.  I did watch this for a while, and it did at least make me feel better than you can get a closer appointment if you are willing to make the effort to find one.  There are ways to search for keywords within a specific Twitter feed, which can help you narrow your search down to a particular state or city.  I'm not sure how quickly after a Tweet announces an open slot they get scooped up, but I wouldn't want to wait too long if you see one.
 

https://twitter.com/GlobalEntryNow
 

I believe there may also be a paid service that will notify you based on your search criteria, but I did not use that.
 

In my case, I got real lucky!  I was browsing the appointment site, and clicked on a city about 60 miles away.  Lo and behold (it is Christmas time, after all) there was an appointment available the following Friday, December 2nd, just after lunch!  Never have I clicked on something so fast in my life!
 

So my appointment was set.  I arrived exactly on time, the person in front of me was just finishing up, so I walked up to the kiosk (very similar set up to a standard customs entry station) and the guy looked at my passport and driver's license, snapped my picture, and took my prints on the electronic print reader.  He asked me about the foreign travel I had indicated on my initial application.  Then he handed me a little booklet about the program, and I was DONE!  In and out in EIGHT minutes.
 

Before I had arrived back home from the trip, I had received an e-mail informing me that my application status had changed again, which was for the final approval!
 

The guy said I could use my PreCheck number right away, and the Global Entry itself was tied to my passport number.  They will be mailing a Global Entry ID card within 10 days, but you really don't need it for anything.
 

So my entire process from application to final approval was 7 days.  Unbelievable.
 

I think I probably used a good portion of my annual dose of "good luck" in this process.  As I mentioned at the beginning, I'm pretty sure my "known status" to the government probably speeded up my conditional approval.  But finding the interview appointment was just diligence and luck, which can happen to anyone.
 

I hope this has been helpful!
 

Theron

 

[klfrodo]

Congratulations.

I've had my GE for a few years now. I'm not sure what the future holds though. Lately, whenever I arrive back, I find that with GE, I get through Immigrations much much faster, however I'm still waiting with my fellow 250 passengers for my luggage. I used to just breeze thru Customs, but lately they still stop and ask questions.

Also, with the industry moving to facial recognition, I'm not sure GE will hold any value.

 

As a side note, I do have Pre-Check with the GE. I also pay for Clear. Just this past Saturday, the pre-check lines in SEA had a 30-minute back-up. I was able to bypass all of those passengers by using Clear.  (Then again maybe I shouldn't share that information. Pre-Check used to be a great little secret until everyone, and their brother started applying. Pre-Check almost holds no advantage anymore.)

[njhorseman]

2 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

 

As a side note, I do have Pre-Check with the GE.

Everyone with GE has TSA PreCheck . The OP's question was whether he could use TSA PreCheck when he only had conditional approval for GE, not final approval.

[klfrodo]

31 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Everyone with GE has TSA PreCheck . The OP's question was whether he could use TSA PreCheck when he only had conditional approval for GE, not final approval.

Thank you for that clarification nj. Your input provided valuable insight.

[TPKeller]

1 hour ago, klfrodo said:

Just this past Saturday, the pre-check lines in SEA had a 30-minute back-up. ...  Pre-Check almost holds no advantage anymore.

 

I guess that depends on how long the regular lines were backed up!  🙂

 

Theron

[ger_77]

You were lucky you found somewhere only 60 miles from where you live.  When we applied for our Nexus cards, the nearest place for an interview that was available was 800 miles round trip and of course included an overnight stay.  They didn't have iris scan machines available, so a couple of weeks later we had to go 650 miles round trip in the other direction to get that done.   We did that trip in 1 day.   Now we've got our cards and don't have to worry, but it was a pain trying to get an interview and iris scan anywhere close to where we are.

[navybankerteacher]

When we had to renew our GE, I was able to do it on line but my wife was advised an interview was necessary.  Appointments in reasonable time frames were unavailable, so we decided to wing it when driving near Hartford:   we did a "walk in" at Bradley Int'l , and were in and out in 20 minutes.  I guess we just happened to be lucky and hit a time when the appoinment holder was late.

Edited December 12, 2022 by navybankerteacher

[TPKeller]

One last follow-up, my ID card came in the US Mail on Monday, December 12th, or 10 days after the final approval.

Unfortunately, the USPS put it in the wrong mailbox!  I only knew it was "missing" thanks to the USPS Informed Delivery service, which I highly recommend if it is available in your area.

My next door neighbor finally checked his mail box a few days later (he doesn't always check his mailbox every day!) and completed the delivery, much to my relief!

Theron

[Zach1213]

On 12/12/2022 at 1:08 PM, klfrodo said:

I've had my GE for a few years now. I'm not sure what the future holds though. Lately, whenever I arrive back, I find that with GE, I get through Immigrations much much faster, however I'm still waiting with my fellow 250 passengers for my luggage. I used to just breeze thru Customs, but lately they still stop and ask questions.

 

 

I haven't personally noticed many delays in customs recently, so I hope it's your your bad luck 🙂 This was as recently as last week at DFW when I basically blew through customs. As far as bags go, there's no priority on your luggage for GE, so you're still going to get stuck at the carousel with our without it. 

[14Terry]

DW and I applied for GE in August, had our interview in early December and used it (TSA pre-check) for the first time while on our current trip to Japan. We love it! 🙂