Do you have Global entry and how long did it take to get conditional approval?

I had been putting off applying, but since I have a spate of work and pleasure travel abroad coming, I applied March 7 and I'm still waiting for conditional approval.

My wife applied the same day and was conditionally approved on March 15.

I do have a lot more international travel than my wife, and she's older and female.  Maybe that's why her's was so fast.

Anyone else have any experience?   I'm about week 8 so far.

 

 

 

Just asked my parents who have it.  My mom says 2-3 weeks.  No more than 4. 

8 weeks is a long time... I'd check up on that...

I have Global Entry. It probably took about 6 weeks for me to get it. I haven't used it Internationally but it also the same a Pre Check which is nice. The Newark Pre Check line is horrible but I recently flew to New Orleans and the Pre Check line was fast, also you don't need to take off your shoes or take your laptop out of your bag. 

Just now, Krdshrk said:

Just asked my parents who have it.  My mom says 2-3 weeks.  No more than 4. 

8 weeks is a long time... I'd check up on that...

I guess I can call the center.   If you google it, the time is listed as 11 weeks but then I read everyone getting conditionally approved in just a few weeks.

 

Just now, Malsua said:

I guess I can call the center.   If you google it, the time is listed as 11 weeks but then I read everyone getting conditionally approved in just a few weeks.

 

It may be longer now - they got theirs a couple years ago.

Don’t have it now, but considering it now that my TSA precheck is about to expire. 

My main problem with TSA Precheck has always been that about 40% of the time it seems to vanish from my ticketing, and I’m back in the long line anyway.   Is Global Entry any more consistent?

10 minutes ago, 10X said:

Don’t have it now, but considering it now that my TSA precheck is about to expire. 

My main problem with TSA Precheck has always been that about 40% of the time it seems to vanish from my ticketing, and I’m back in the long line anyway.   Is Global Entry any more consistent?

Mostly it's Newark being shitty - I've seen the PreCheck line pretty much disappear at Newark several times... or be just as long as the regular line.

I’ve seen that too, but often I’ll enter my pre-check number when making my reservation, but when printing or downloading my boarding pass, it had vanished.  And there is no talking your way into the precheck line if your boarding pass doesn’t say you should be there. 

I have it and the big wait for me was making the appointment for my wife and I to go to terminal B for the face to face. After that it was only 1 week.

Pre-check is great as is bypassing the long long line at customs coming back in to the US. 

Got Global Entry years ago for precheck.   Took about a month? Keep in mind they are still catching up with renewals from government shutdown... I am still waiting for my renewal.

Since I do a fair amount of both domestic and foreign travel, I decided about four years ago to apply for participation in both TSA Pre and Global Entry programs.  At that time, after filling out your personal information and submitting the completed applications online, the TSA Pre interview was conducted at a TSA Pre storefront in downtown Newark and the interview for Global Gateway was in Terminal B at Newark Inter'l. Airport.  

In a similar vein to having the E-ZPass electronic toll payment device, participating in either of these programs makes a lot of sense to save time.  Having had both of these has, for the most part, reduced my waiting time in the lines for the security checks with metal detectors at U.S. airports.  Yet with each passing year, with more and more people applying for and obtaining either TSA Pre or Global Entry, those lines seem to be growing to the point that many times it is as long, if not even longer than the regular security lines.  I find that upon returning to the U.S. from a foreign country, (flying into JFK, EWR, LAX or Dulles), that the Global Entry lines are much shorter and hence faster, leading to the electronic passport scanner/reader kiosks, that really does speed up the customs review process.

Global Entry recommends that their participants who plan to renew their membership, do so at least 6 months prior to the expiration date, just to take into account any back log and the usual vacation seasonal surge in applications.  I renewed my GE in March and it took my just over 3 weeks to receive my new updated card.

AVB-AMG

I have global entry and it's been great.  Flying back into country is a breeze.  Leaving is still hit or miss, based on your airline having your entry number in your profile and the quality of the tsa agent(s) at the pre-check line.  I've had times at Newark where I leave everything in my back, don't take anything off and the next week I had to take everything out and take shoes and belt off.  Still worth it though, especially if you travel with kids.  

I do travel for business internationally and I expect to do a number of trips to Europe and central America over the next 18 months.

Most of the guys I travel with are already Global Entry but I only did one trip to Honduras about a year ago, so I never bothered.

We all got back from San Pedro Sula in Miami, they went off with GE and were already done with lunch before I got out of customs.

It didn't matter really as our flight to Newark was delayed nearly 12 hours.  We ended up flying into JFK instead after about 8 hours.

Here's a tip for anyone connecting through to Central America.   Miami ALWAYS has delays flying into NYC area, Houston often has delays, Atlanta rarely has delays.   Plan accordingly.

 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, AVB-AMG said:

Since I do a fair amount of both domestic and foreign travel, I decided about four years ago to apply for participation in both TSA Pre and Global Entry programs.  

I had the impression Global Entry worked like TSA PreCheck for domestic flights, and added the (often) fast-track experience to international flights, hence no need to have both, if you have Global Entry.

Was I misinformed?   I've only got experience with TSA PreCheck.

22 hours ago, 10X said:

I had the impression Global Entry worked like TSA PreCheck for domestic flights, and added the (often) fast-track experience to international flights, hence no need to have both, if you have Global Entry.

Was I misinformed?   I've only got experience with TSA PreCheck.

@10X:

You are correct.  Global Entry includes all of the benefits of TSA PreCheck, while TSA PreCheck is just for domestic air travel.  As a clarification TSA PreCheck speeds passengers through the required security physical screening process, while Global Entry speeds passengers through U.S. Border Control and Customs on flights arriving into the U.S. from foreign countries.

FYI, one is only eligible to apply for TSA PreCheck if you are a U.S. citizen, national or resident, yet there is no age restriction.  Almost all U.S. airlines participate in this program, as do many major foreign carriers.

For Global Entry, one may apply if you are a U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident, or are a citizen of the United Kingdom, Germany, India, Panama, Columbia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland or Mexico. Some of these countries my require a visa.  Canadian citizens and residents are also eligible for Global Entry benefits through membership in the NEXUS partnership program.  The Netherlands has an arrangement for its citizens to enjoy the benefits of Global Entry, via its trusted traveler program called “FLUX”. Anyone under the age of 18 must have parental or legal guardian consent to participate.

Your application to either program will most likely be denied if you've got a criminal record or provide false or incomplete information on your application.  Also, if you are currently being investigated by any local, state, or federal agency or have pending criminal charge(s) or have violated customs, immigration, or agricultural laws in any country, you will probably be denied as well.

Four years ago when I applied for and was approved for both programs, I did not fully understand all of this.  At that time, I mistakenly thought that one was just for domestic travel and the other was for foreign travel.  So, today, if one does both domestic AND foreign air travel, then Global Entry is really the one program to apply for and maintain, IMHO.

AVB-AMG

I did it over 6 years ago so to my business travel and the side benefit of pre-check is the best.  I’m waiting for clear to hit some of the airports and terminals I frequent before applying for that. 

On 4/30/2019 at 1:05 PM, Rob0115 said:

I did it over 6 years ago so to my business travel and the side benefit of pre-check is the best.  I’m waiting for clear to hit some of the airports and terminals I frequent before applying for that. 

@Rob0115:

I had heard about CLEAR not too long ago and your post prompted my to investigate it further.  Based on my airport travel destinations, I signed up for membership today in the CLEAR biometric identification program.  Hopefully it will make my transit through these airports even faster and less of a hassle.  I will finalize my enrollment at LAX when I arrive there early next week.  This program takes the next step of the security intent, along with expediting the processing hassle of both the TSA PreCheck and Global Entry programs, which I appreciate.

AVB-AMG

It's evidently taking them a while to read through all your posts here. 

4 hours ago, gleninjersey said:

It's evidently taking them a while to read through all your posts here. 

@gleninjersey:

God help them....

AVB-AMG

From the Op's Subject i thought this was about Gropey Migrants.

I got my global entry back in 2016.  Took 30 days exactly.  I did mine through Philly though so not sure if where you go through effects the wait time, wouldn't surprise me if it did. 

Definitely recommend a follow up if you haven't yet.  But once you have it, it's sweet.  I've only used the international twice and both times I've literally almost walked right thru customs. 

The last time I was on a biz trip coming back from Canada with a coworker.  I was through customs in <5 mins and sitting at the gate before he finally showed up 20+ mins later. 

Mostly used this for the included a pre-check and that's been awesome too.

@AVB-AMG the few folks I know with experience with clear really like it.  A big time saver.  At this point most of my travel points don’t have it.  I hope that changes soon.