Has anyone had a Global Entry approval interview at an airport when leaving the U.S.

[CheapIrish]

This is an off-the-wall question, but here goes:

 

Will be going on a cruise later this year and have completed the on-line Global Entry application and received conditional approval. I don’t live near an airport that has scheduled, in-person final interviews. I know I can complete the in-person process upon re-entry to the U.S. at an approved port of entry. 
 

When I leave the country for the cruise I have a six-hour layover in one of those U.S. airports. I’m wondering if I can look up the CBP place there and put that waiting time to good use. Has anyone done this before?

 

Thanks in advance for your response. 
 

patrick

Edited March 16, 2023 by CheapIrish

[CruiserBruce]

Probably better asked on the Cruise Air board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/77-cruise-air/

 

There have been some discussions about it there.

 

The interview is very short, and usually on time if not early starting, both our initial and renewal interviews started ahead of schedule, as we were there early. Yes, absolutely try to schedule it for your departure day. Otherwise it is reported to be pretty easy to have it done as you arrive back in the US.

[SbbquilterUT]

Your challenge will be they will mail your card to your home so you will not have it that day.  There are airports you can have the interview as you re-enter the US which will speed you through the process.  I have not entered the US since last summer and there the GE machine was all facial recognition so no card was required.

[CruiserBruce]

29 minutes ago, SbbquilterUT said:

Your challenge will be they will mail your card to your home so you will not have it that day.  There are airports you can have the interview as you re-enter the US which will speed you through the process.  I have not entered the US since last summer and there the GE machine was all facial recognition so no card was required.

The card is not used for air travel, except as ID for TSA. You use your passport for air travel.

[markpark]

It is worth a shot.  DW and I did process upon re-entry at Calgary (YYC) by arriving 3.5 hours before flight because we have no international airport nearby.  It was smooth and fairly quick.  They did tell us if we had been an hour later that we would not have been able to do process upon re-entry because the employees would have been too busy.

[logan25]

After receiving the conditional approval several years ago, I scheduled a face-to-face interview at the Miami airport office.  I don’t live near any CBP interview site either.  It was more convenient to shuttle back to the airport (from the hotel) for the interview appointment and then head to the port for my cruise.  No problems encountered.

Edited March 22, 2023 by logan25

[GeezerCouple]

On 3/16/2023 at 2:23 PM, CheapIrish said:

...

When I leave the country for the cruise I have a six-hour layover in one of those U.S. airports. I’m wondering if I can look up the CBP place there and put that waiting time to good use. Has anyone done this before?

 

Thanks in advance for your response. 
 

patrick

 

We didn't do this.

However, when we went for our appointment at our local major airport, we had waited for a very long time.  This was early in the process, so lots of people were signing up.  (This was not air-side; it was the public area of the airport.)

 

We showed up, and at the end of a short hallway, there was a solid wood door, with a modest label on it, and no instructions.  There were several benches in the hallway, so we just sat down.  No one else showed up, leaving or to wait.  After a while, we wondered whether we were supposed to knock on the door, or just try to walk in...?  But given how hard it had been to get appointments, we weren't even sure we were in the right place.  We expected to see others queueing up, too.

 

About the time we decided, "Maybe we *should* knock on the door!", someone opened the door, looked at us, and said our names.  In we went.

 

While there, during a bit of chit chat time (it was only us and several agents!?), we asked if we could have "just shown up" some weeks or months earlier, given the difficulty getting appointments and the lack of other applicants.  They said that would have been fine, but there would be no guarantee they'd have time for walk-ups.  That was when we mentioned there were no instructions about whether to walk in, or knock on the door, etc., and they seemed to be surprised by the suggestion to put a note up, either way. (!)

 

So if you are *there* anyway, I'd give it a try, as long as not succeeding wouldn't be a serious problem.

 

GC

[Hlitner]

You can certainly try to schedule an appointment that would work during your layover.  It you get approved; your Passport will be linked to the Global Entry System.  Assuming that the approval happens while you are out of the country (you should get an e-mail about the change of your status) than you could use the Global Entry kiosk upon your return.  You do not need the card or your Global Entry number to use the GEOS Kiosk as it is simply triggered with facial ID.  In fact, although the GEOS card is a nice government ID, it has little use.  In all the years we have had the card, only once (at the Port of Miami) did a port security person ask to see our card before allowing us to enter the shorter Global Entry line.  Of course the card does display your Global Entry number which is also used for TSA Precheck (you use the Global Entry number as your known traveler number when you book airline reservations).

 

On one ocassion, while waiting for our own interview at PHL, we noticed that they did allow "walk ins" at the interview office.  But I am not sure if this is still the case.

 

Hank

[Maybac234]

I thought I would share this, hope some of you finds it useful.

If you run into a situation where interview at arrival doesn't work because the location is too busy. There's a valuable tool/website you can use called ttptracker.com which not many people are aware of. Me and my wife needed an interview in preparation for our mini vacation and that's what I used. The site turned out to be a great way to snag a global entry appointment and works for nexus and sentri too. If you don’t mind staying glued to your computer, it’s totally free. But if you wanna get quicker updates through your phone, you can sign up for their SMS option which is still cheaper than these other sites that exist out there. I believe the site supports every single enrollment centers/locations and even automatically adds brand new locations.
 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Maybac234