TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Going to try our new Global Entry system this Oct.

Hope it saves me some time through customs.
Anyone have experience?

Yes, it works really well. Will save you time through both Immigration and Customs.

Great. Over the years we have missed too many connections in CLT. :-)

We used it GE for the first time in PHL on
8/5/16. My wife and i both used the same Kiosk. We were through in under 5 Minutes. Waiting for our bags,took somewhat longer. The PreCheck privileges are a definite plus.
GE is definitely worth it. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Regards,

Dave

Shhhh! Quit telling everyone! If everyone knows, it won't be as fast! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Be aware that you will still have to wait an eternity for your checked bags in CLT. If you travel with carry-on only, it's incredibly fast.

True on the checked bags. What a pain.

The longest we have EVER waited for bags...our own STL airport. I swear to God....they have on person to take the bags off of every plane.

So every place else feels fast to us...lol CLT included.

We used GE for the first time July 30 at JFK. Was great and as mentioned the TSApre is an added bonus.

What's the difference between Global Entry and TSA PreCheck? We just applied for TSA PreCheck....

Global Entry speeds up the process for US Passport holders when clearing Immigration & Customs when returning to the US from a foreign country.

TSA PreCheck allows you to use the "TSA PreCheck" line at when flying on participating airlines when clearing the TSA Security Checkpoints at certain US Airports prior to boarding the aircraft for your flight.

They are 2 entirely different things.

15 more and you would have them both. To late now.

Actually, Global Entry is not just for US Passport holders. Citizens from the United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Panama, South Korea, and Mexico can apply for Global Entry.

Canadian citizens can sign up for Nexus, which gives up expedited Immigration and Customs clearance into Canada through Nexus kiosk and also the US through Global Entry kiosk. Americans can also sign up for Nexus. The difference is you will have to go through 2 interviews. 1 for US and 1 for Canada. You will still get Pre-Check with either program. The big benefit of Nexus over Global Entry is cost. Global Entry cost $100 for 5 years, where Nexus only cost $50 for 5 years. If you live along the Nothern Border, you might want to consider joining Nexus over Global Entry.

We used it for the first time in June coming back into CLT. Quick and easy, there were no lines at the special GOES kiosks, just scan your passport and fingerprints and away you go.

If you come back into CLT in the evening, the regular lines can be very long, hopefully that's a thing of the past for us now.

Probably a dumb question...but how do you sign up for either Global Entry or PreCheck?

Google and you will find government websites where you can apply and pay your fee. You then wait for approval (3 weeks or so as I recall). Then you will need to go to a location to be fingerprinted and photoed (probably not a word). Depending upon your location, it can be difficult to find an opening for your interview that isn't a month or two out.

I think our approval was received within 3-4 days of the initial application. The hard part for us was scheduling our interviews. JFK is the closest location but one of our least favorite drives so we decided to schedule our interview in Rhode Island to be followed by a day at the beach. Unfortunately, when I called them they informed me they were scheduling appointments for January at that time. Really?? Since that's not a great time for a beach day, we gave up and scheduled at JFK at our convenience.

And let me add, our GE interviews were perhaps the first totally well managed experience we've ever had at JFK or with any government office or agency. Plenty of parking; very easy to locate the US Border Patrol office once there; an easy sign-in with plenty of seating and not only were they running on time, but they were ahead of schedule. The staff was beyond pleasant and when all was said and done, by the time we got home the same afternoon, our approvals were awaiting us in our email in-boxes. The actual card came a week to the day later which, all in all, is pretty darned efficient for anything government. We sent our passport renewals in the same day and are still waiting but it's only been nine days so far, so no complaints. At least, not yet!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

It is all about the available appointments. RI is booking May, 2017, Portland, OR is Dec/Jan, Tucson is wide open, Boston is April, 2017. I think we'll schedule when we go back to AZ. I got a VERY helpful C&I officer on the phone & he looked up the availability at a bunch of locations for me.

Pat,
Dont forget to log into you GOES account when you get your new passports and make the appropriate changes. They stressed that at our GE interview. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Regards,

Dave

TY for the reminder and I've made myself a note to remind myself. If I don't write it down these days, it usually doesn't happen. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

I am a little confused about the fee, everyone says the fee is $85 for 5 years. I went to the website and it says there is a $100 non refundable application fee. Is this in addition to the $85? Also, we live 5 hours from Denver, how can we schedule 2 interviews in advance.

the $85 fee is for TSA-PRE...good for 5 years.
the $100 fee is for Global Entry....

Thank you, so you need both? We seem to always get TSA Pre check, but I don't know why. We do fly AA quite a bit.

Our preferred carrier is AA and we, too, always seem to get TSA Precheck. For a while I thought it was because we were AA FFs but we took our granddaughter with us this past April and she also got the Precheck approval. First class tix maybe? Who knows!

We recently applied on line and completed the GOES interviews. You schedule your interview on line (or by phone?) at a date that is convenient to you after you've received your preliminary approval notice. We had to drive into JFK to do the interviews so I sure do hope it's worth having made the effort.

They mentioned that the GOES card doesn't guarantee Precheck approval 100% but it's pretty darned close. And even with Precheck there's always the chance you'll get pulled for a random screening as happened to me last April. I wouldn't get the Precheck if I was getting GOES - why spend the extra money? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

So the cost would be $370 for us?

If you have Global Entry you automatically have TSA Pre Check

If you didn't already apply for Precheck, GOES is $100.00 per person and they accept credit cards. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Some credit cards (Amex Platinum is one) will rebate at least one Global Entry fee if it is charged to their card. Check for terms and conditions.

Just so people who aren't familiar don't get confused. GOES is the Global Online Enrollment System. It is used to sign up for Global Entry, Flux, Sentri, Nexus, and Fast. Each program has a different cost.

I just signed up, quite a lengthy process. I printed the application, now we just wait? I hope it's $200 well spent.

It won't be wasted as long as you pass the vetting.

we paid $100 a piece for global entry for 5 years. we applied...it took us 2 months to get the interview....which consisted of a picture and finger printing and a few questions. 2 weeks later...we received our cards. We go to Canada in a couple of weeks...we will use them for the first time. Then we go to Jamaica in November and SXM in April. We will see if it was worth it....I think it will be.

It is definitely worth it!

If sail2wind's 'vetting' is anything like ours, getting through it shouldn't be a big deal. Most of the questions were asking us to confirm names, ages and birth dates and then, of course, smile for the camera and do the fingerprints. If we were there ten minutes that's stretching it and some of that time was spent in joking about my email address. By the time we got home our notification of acceptance was already in my inbox.

I think in the long run this was probably a waste of money on our parts but after a computer glitch in reading my passport in April and an hour and a half in a long line of people with much bigger issues than mine, I decided it was time. We'll see...... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Not to change the original subject but still somewhat on point, Pat we just received our new Passports last week and updated them with GE right online. It was pain free. As you said, rather efficient for a Government Run Entity.

The "Vetting" is done before the interview and that is what the $100 dollars covers. If you don't pass the vetting there is no interview or refund.

I'm confused about updating your passport with GOES number online. Where do you do this? I've looked at my GOES account information, which includes my passport number. What else needs to be done?

I hope it's not "EXTREME VETTING" <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

Should not be to bad as long as you've never had any boarder crossing custom infractions, felonies, outstanding warrants or DWI's. Interview is only for making sure the body matches the application, fingerprinting and picture.

it was a Trump joke <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />