I applied online for my wife in July 2017 as well. We are in India now and when my wife took an appointment and went to passport office in India they told her that they cannot find anything with the ID reference we used in the application. I think there was some change in ID sometime after July 2017. Are we supposed to use the ID that we see on the CBP site as memberid for background check application in India?

Stupid question. I could not find an answer in the 38 pages of this thread or on the internet.

If you are a U.S. Citizen with GES, do you get accelerated clearance through India Immigration upon arrival in, let's say, Mumbai?

Apologies if this question has been asked already.

no....having global entry has no bearing on immigration in india....

Nope, India got access to GE even though they don't have anything similar in India itself. Not even plans for it :D!

Actually they do have plans for it.... Really long term plans for it, it seems. As the original 2013 joint statement that first said India and the US would work towards allowing Indian citizens access to Global Entry, said the benefit would eventually be reciprocal as the US helped India develop its own trusted traveler program. All the agreements the US has with other countries has similar language, which is why US Global Entry members can apply for membership in the trusted traveler programs of South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, et al, and program members who are citizens of those countries can apply for Global Entry.

Does anyone have experience with H1B renewal and Global Entry. I had a new I-797 in September and entered US on old visa(expiring december 2019) and new I-797. I chose to skip GE and see an officer. I asked to be refered to GE enrollment center and after lot of confusion, they updated by GE with new I-797 details

Now I am in India and got a neww visa stamp. Wondering if I should use GE on arrrival or once again see an officer and ask them to update my GE with new visa

I believe you will have to visit an enrollment center (or try the enrollment on arrival method) to update your visa details on your global entry profile. If you look at your GE account online, it lists the visa details under Membership Information. The GE website also says that you are supposed to visit an enrollment center if your visa or underlying petition changes.

Quick update - I landed last night and used the GE kiosk as there was a 1 hour+ wait otherwise. The kiosk didn't ask for any scan. It took my pic and found my details and the dates were correct as per my latest petition. Once I was out, I then stopped by the GE enrollment desk to update my visa for future just to be safe as there was no wait there.

That's Global Entry 2.0:

Yup - had read about it before. I was surprised it worked even when I had not updated my visa with GE (the old stamp was cancelled).

i just updated my new details online & didn't have to stop by the enrollment desk....ge worked fine, just like it did before....

If i'm not mistaken, you have a B1/B2 visa correct? When I logged into ttp/ge - there was no way to update visa or H1B petition details. Only passport can be updated.

they probably have your new details in the system somehow....i guess it doesn't matter as long as it works....

You mentioned earlier about updating GE with new I-797. Did you do before departing US at an enrollment center? Visa can't be updated (at least for H1B) online, only passport can be.

I've similar situation for my wife. She will get new stamp done for a new petition on a new passport (passport has been updated on GE already). I was wondering if we can just use EOA to new visa updated. But, if just updating I-797 at center works for GE then I'd rather do now to skip extra work on arrival. EWR is just few minutes away.

Here is my timeline
1) New I-797 received in Sep 2019 valid till 2023. Visa stamp and old I- 797 was valid till Feb 2020

2) I traveled abroad in Oct 2019 and on my return at JFK I went to the regular line as I was sure that GE Kiosk would give me an incorrect I94. I got a new I-94 till Oct 2022(3 years which is the max they can give) and after immigration and before baggage claim there was a separate desk to update Global Entry.

3) I traveled abroad again in Nov/Dec and this time got a new stamp. I was going to use normal line at EWR(terminal B) but it was super long - so I risked with GE and it gave me the correct I-94 date. It was the new facial recognition machine, so I didn't have to scan my visa/passport. Once I got my receipt, I went to the first counter which was dedicated for anyone with GE issues/updates. Agent asked me for PASS ID/Know Traveler number as he could not look it up by passport number and updated the record.


At EWR(terminal B) there is a separate counter where you can update I-797 and visa on arrival. I would avoid an extra trip to EWR.

Thank you, much appreciated. Looks like the updating latest I-797 in Oct did the trick. But, everything gets linked to passport anyway so it's possible systems already had latest info. Anyway, I'd rather not to do anything now. We will be traveling via JFK this time and we always have to see officer after the kiosk scan due to kids (there is an office just next to kiosk). Kids don't get biometric done till age of 5 so it needs to be approved by officer. I guess we will use the opportunity to get her visa/I-797 updated as well.

I did inquire with CBP but they gave standard vanilla answer that we have to visit center to get this update which we can't do till she has the visa. Will post how it goes.

It was confusing at JFK-T7. When I asked the primary inspector that I want to go to EOA he just sent me to secondary inspection. There I sat for a while and finally the secondary agent called the the agent who processed me to ask why I was refereed as he could find no issue/notes. Secondary inspection agent apologized and then took he to a cubicle where another agent updated my I-797(at first he told me it can be done online as he has never done it and I told him it wasn't possible - he was friendly and said lets try)

I've only been through T4 after having GE 2yrs ago. It has been pretty smooth always. I think it's mostly Indian national who will have visa dependent GE. Most of the participants of other countries will have ESTA linked so mostly passport dependent. It will take sometime before updates becomes smoother for us.

Hopefully, a simple visa issuance automatically gets linked to GE through passport as it's all connected anyway.

I've already had this discussion with him. Sort of a Global Entry type system for India. He said there were no plans in place for something like that.

Unfortunate! It would allow Immigration officials to focus their limited manpower/resources on customers they don't know or have many details on, would allow for more automation (could not be preferred in India as it is in the west) and use facial recognition, etc. Hopefully whenever DigiYatra comes up and is more commonplace, it'll eventually extend to immigration.

Hopefully at some point in the future. As more countries adopt similar programs, India will soon follow.

Way back when the US offered GE to foreigners the precondition was that the reciprocating country had to offer a similar fast track to their citizens. It would be interesting what India promised back then...

Precisely. I seem to recall that when the US first announced India would join GE back in an Obama/Singh joint declaration in October 2013, that there was talk of the US assisting India in setting up such a system. Unfortunately I couldn't find that exact wording now, so perhaps it was just in my imagination that India had agreed to set up its own system. India's participation in the GE program is still hampered by India's insistence on doing another check before someone is approved on India's side for GE (500 rupees for a 13 agency check that can take months if not years--far more stringent than the simple police verification needed to emigrate to the US).

Hello,
I got approved for GE in 2018 and have been using it for the past 5 years with no problems. My GE is up for renewal this year and is valid until March 2024.

1) Has any Indian citizen on a visa renewed GE?
2) Do they do background verification again in India and/or USA?
3) How long did it take?

Please share your experience.

No clue what the process would be for Indian citizens. I got my approval in July 2018 so am up for renewal this year as well. Planning on starting the renewal process in May & will hope for the best.

If I remember correctly, the approvals for Indian citizens started coming in around June-July in 2018 so I don't think anyone has reached the renewal stage yet.

I came across this post in reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalEntry...le_on_h1b_visa)

Apparently, when you initiate renewal, we have to redo GEP verification again. God knows how long that'll take. If it's true, renewal is going to be a pain!

On the bright side, my membership is good till May 2024 so when I renew in May this year I will have a year before it expires. Hopefully the Indian government will be quicker with the renewal process. However its quite likely they will make this as painful as possible.

As long as you apply for renewal prior to the current expiration date, you will continue to receive all Global Entry benefits, even after the original expiration date, for up to two years pending the final approval of your renewal application. There is more detailed information in the Global Entry Renewal Information and Processing Timelines thread in the Trusted Travelers forum.

If either the Indian or US government takes more than a year to process, is there an extended "grace" period upto 2 years because of delayed processing due to COVID?

please keep us posted on any developments you may have.

Good to know.

Please continue the discussion in the TT forum: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trus...ens-india.html

Regards Oliver2002
Co-Mod India forum