Originally Posted by
TWA884
Each and every previous time that the deadline to complete the enrollment interview was extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trusted Traveler Program benefits of members who applied for renewal before their current membership expired were extended to match the new deadline to complete the enrollment process. That was true when the deadline was extended to a year and later to eighteen months.
Here is the relevant language from the
CBP national media release dated July 1, 2020, announcing the 18 months extension:The CBP has not been good keeping their website and, in some cases, email communications to reflect the up to date benefit extensions. Some pages on the CBP site still incorrectly show that the extension is valid for only six months or a year. Other CBP web pages were eventually updated to reflect the length of the benefit extension which matches the revised deadline to complete the enrollment interview, most recently with the extension of eighteen months.
Based upon the history of the benefits being extended in the past year to match the extended deadlines to complete the enrollment process, I am absolutely certain that the benefits extension is currently up to 18 months, pending the final approval of renewal applications, and am confident that in actuality it is two years.
It does appears there's no quality control on information being put out by CBP's and TTP site. Let's assume the July 2020 press release of 18 months is still in effect until otherwise.
As an example, an applicant's current TTP expires JAN 31,2021, their "pre-expiration renewal window" starts JAN 31, 2020 (1 year prior).
If they renew at the start of the "pre-expiration renewal window" on JAN 31, 2020 and obtain conditional approval 1 day after, their application will be active until FEB 1, 2022 for interview. An 12 or 18 month grace period on the current membership will provide benefits covering the conditionally approved period.
On the other hand, if they renew near the tail end of the "pre-expiration renewal window" (eg JAN 1, 2021) and obtain conditional approval 1 day after, then the application will be active until JAN 2,
2023 for interview. An 12 or 18 month grace period on the current membership will provide benefits only up to JAN 31, 2022 or JULY 31, 2022. This will leave a gap in benefit as the renewal application is valid until 2023 but membership grace period ended 6 to 12 months ago.
Under current published guidance, renew as early as possible. While 1 business day decision on conditional approval is possible as per data points, there are also various data points pointing to extended processing times just to get conditional approval.