Hi Collective Wisdom:

On Saturday, 20 February, 2010, NRT-ORD about 4:30PM. Tried out GE for the first time using my greencard. System told me that I was not a GE member. CBP agent was right there and did my entry by "hand" (I had filled out my blue card on the plane as a back up). Had some time to kill so I went to the CBP office in T5 after rechecking my bags. Very nice officer on duty. He told me that the GE folks do not work on Saturdays but he was willing to see what he could do. He handed my greencard and Canadian passport over to another nice officer. I had printouts of both my NEXUS and GE acceptance letters and my NEXUS card with me but they didn't want/need to deal with them. Waited about ten minutes and the second officer came back with my greencard (with a spiffy little sticker attached) and my passport.

Turns out that during my NEXUS YYZ interview (before I applied via GOES for my GE), that the YYZ CBP officer did not "register" my greencard into the system. Got my NEXUS card in early Jan and then did the online "upgrade" to GE with almost instant acceptance. Nice ORD officer said she had registered my greencard and that I should be good to go in the future.

Have a FRA trip in early March. Will report back on how the "fixed" greencard works when I get back.

Haven't used my NEXUS yet (trip to YUL in March). Will also report if things break again after my YUL trip.

Cheers and safe travels all,
DocD