Originally Posted by
televisor
This. The US restricts GE to certain nationalities because those countries are willing to provide equivalent background checks.
At that point you need to complain to your own country if the process is too onerous. The UK process is incredibly fast, but I assume that's because they keep a ton of data on their citizens which other EU countries might not?
The one notable exception being Permanent Residents of the US. (Which seems slightly illogical given you can become a PR without being in the country, or can gain PR status within a year of being in the US if you have the appropriate Visa and employer/family.)
The UK mandates less registration by all of its citizens than most of the EU/Schengen countries.
The Dutch and American governments have bilateral arrangements when it comes to US citizens using FLUX and Dutch citizens using GE. In the cases of Dutch and US citizens using GE and FLUX, it is my understanding (although maybe I'm now wrong about this), that prospective users of the faster track entry systems must be approved into their own country's program before having a chance of getting reciprocal rights in the other country's program.