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-   -   India joins US Global Entry programme. (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/india/1850454-india-joins-us-global-entry-programme.html)

GUWonder Jan 10, 2018 7:10 pm


Originally Posted by oliver2002 (Post 29258341)
The PASS ID which is your KTN is issued with the approval letter after the CBP interview.

My PASSID/KTN was issued before the CBP “interview”, as I had the number in the conditional approval letter which I took with me for the CBP “interview”.

sandymadis Jan 11, 2018 8:01 pm


Originally Posted by EasternPedlar (Post 29261877)
I'm afraid the same happened in my case. The status message reverted to the earlier one. Mine is an early August application, hopefully it will come through in 2018!

Same here. My application status on PSK got changed back to "GEP Verification Process has been initiated on your application. Once inputs from all the concerned Government Authorities are received, the Report will be shared with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). No queries would be entertained in relation to your GEP application status at the Passport Offices and PSP Call Centre. You may contact CBP for further updates on the processing of your GEP application." form "under review at RPO".

Not sure what this means. Maybe the application has been picked up for further verification by other authorities like Ministry of Finance. Seeing people getting approvals, I hope this is a good sign. Just being optimistic. :)

fishbowl27 Jan 13, 2018 7:35 am


Originally Posted by Stivelio (Post 29269168)
They just asked my passport and no questions were asked. I successfully used my passport for first global entry yesterday :)

Did anyone receive their Global Entry card after the interview? Or do we have to use the passport? I am asking from a perspective of using the card for domestic TSA security (due to the REAL ID stuff going on).

scuffbucket Jan 13, 2018 8:24 am

Thank you, and Yes - I am on H1B. I did carry the I-797 - but I was not asked for it. I placed it on the table, the officer saw it, but did not ask for it.

Congrats!!! Are you H1? If yes, did you carry I-797?[/QUOTE]

scuffbucket Jan 13, 2018 8:29 am

I asked for a card. I was declined stating that the policy only allows cards for US citizens and permanent residents. We have to have our passport for using the GE kiosks.

As for domestic travel, I used my KTN immediately thereafter for a trip from St. Louis to Chicago, and it did automatically give me TSA Pre.

My presumption is that if you are a resident of one of those non-compliant states, you will need to use your passport after REAL ID deadlines pass. A Global Entry card only provides you with TSA Pre - not a form of identity with TSA.


Originally Posted by fishbowl27 (Post 29287667)
Did anyone receive their Global Entry card after the interview? Or do we have to use the passport? I am asking from a perspective of using the card for domestic TSA security (due to the REAL ID stuff going on).


anirudh666 Jan 13, 2018 3:48 pm


Originally Posted by scuffbucket (Post 29287796)
I asked for a card. I was declined stating that the policy only allows cards for US citizens and permanent residents. We have to have our passport for using the GE kiosks.

As for domestic travel, I used my KTN immediately thereafter for a trip from St. Louis to Chicago, and it did automatically give me TSA Pre.

My presumption is that if you are a resident of one of those non-compliant states, you will need to use your passport after REAL ID deadlines pass. A Global Entry card only provides you with TSA Pre - not a form of identity with TSA.


Deadline for States to issue a RealID-compliant driver license has been extended to October 1, 2020.

I live in Michigan, one of the 3 states that was taking more time to comply with RealID, and I was recently issued a RealID-compliant driver license.

It has a white star inside a gold circle on the top right.

sherkhan Jan 16, 2018 1:56 pm

How long?
 

Originally Posted by scuffbucket (Post 29287783)
Thank you, and Yes - I am on H1B. I did carry the I-797 - but I was not asked for it. I placed it on the table, the officer saw it, but did not ask for it.

If I may ask, when had you applied for the GEP in India? And how long did the whole process take from the time you submitted your application at the PSK to when you got conditional approval? Thanks!

Keyser Jan 24, 2018 1:43 am

so i hate to be the bearer of bad news but here is some more information i got yesterday....at a function last night i had a half hour conversation with the ias officer in the home ministry responsible for global entry applications for indian citizens....here are a few points from the conversation:

  • they were not informed in june 2017 that an announcement was going to be made to open up global entry for indian citizens....
  • when the announcement was made they were given a weeks time to comply with the requirements....
  • when the requirements were put into place it was initially just a police verification for indian residents....the rest of the background checks were to be done by the us authorities....
  • about a week after applications started coming in the pmo added a few requirements like full background verification to be done in india & every indian citizen, regardless of where they were living would be required to go through the police verification process....
  • shortly after the pmo introduced some added requirements which then included approvals from the finance ministry (enforcement directorate) & the home ministry (intelligence bureau, central bureau of investigation & research and analysis wing) before the application was sent back to the us for final approval....
  • the external affairs ministry sent in a report to the pmo requesting no police verification for people living outside india as many of them had no address in india anymore....
  • the pmo agreed to relax some requirements for indian citizens living abroad but still insisted on the police verification & approval from the finance ministry....
  • so far from the 5k+ applications they have received, the finance ministry has cleared over 75% of them so that completes the verification process for those living outside of india....
  • as far as the home ministry is concerned, not even a single application has been approved since they are right now debating which agencies they need to get clearance from....the pmo has said clearance should come from all 3, ib, cbi & raw....the home ministry recommends that only clearances from ib & raw would suffice for global entry & there is no need for the cbi to get involved....
  • the home ministry has recommended this to the pmo & the pmo has called a meeting in mid march to discuss this....

i asked him while they were waiting for the meeting with the pmo, would it not be a good idea to start getting the approvals from the other 2 agencies....this way if the prime minister insisted on the approval from the 3rd agency they atleast 2/3rd of the work would have already been done....he just shrugged his shoulders & said no one would be able to take that call since the pm has said all 3 approvals are needed so they will either send the applications to all 3 at the same time or to none at all till this is clarified....i asked him how long he thinks this whole process would take & he was confident it would be done at some point towards the end of the year....

so i guess we still have a long way to go....

AB3DC Jan 24, 2018 2:10 am


Originally Posted by Keyser (Post 29332291)
so i hate to be the bearer of bad news but here is some more information i got yesterday....at a function last night i had a half hour conversation with the ias officer in the home ministry responsible for global entry applications for indian citizens....here are a few points from the conversation:
  • they were not informed in june 2017 that an announcement was going to be made to open up global entry for indian citizens....
  • when the announcement was made they were given a weeks time to comply with the requirements....
  • when the requirements were put into place it was initially just a police verification for indian residents....the rest of the background checks were to be done by the us authorities....
  • about a week after applications started coming in the pmo added a few requirements like full background verification to be done in india & every indian citizen, regardless of where they were living would be required to go through the police verification process....
  • shortly after the pmo introduced some added requirements which then included approvals from the finance ministry (enforcement directorate) & the home ministry (intelligence bureau, central bureau of investigation & research and analysis wing) before the application was sent back to the us for final approval....
  • the external affairs ministry sent in a report to the pmo requesting no police verification for people living outside india as many of them had no address in india anymore....
  • the pmo agreed to relax some requirements for indian citizens living abroad but still insisted on the police verification & approval from the finance ministry....
  • so far from the 5k+ applications they have received, the finance ministry has cleared over 75% of them so that completes the verification process for those living outside of india....
  • as far as the home ministry is concerned, not even a single application has been approved since they are right now debating which agencies they need to get clearance from....the pmo has said clearance should come from all 3, ib, cbi & raw....the home ministry recommends that only clearances from ib & raw would suffice for global entry & there is no need for the cbi to get involved....
  • the home ministry has recommended this to the pmo & the pmo has called a meeting in mid march to discuss this....

i asked him while they were waiting for the meeting with the pmo, would it not be a good idea to start getting the approvals from the other 2 agencies....this way if the prime minister insisted on the approval from the 3rd agency they atleast 2/3rd of the work would have already been done....he just shrugged his shoulders & said no one would be able to take that call since the pm has said all 3 approvals are needed so they will either send the applications to all 3 at the same time or to none at all till this is clarified....i asked him how long he thinks this whole process would take & he was confident it would be done at some point towards the end of the year....

so i guess we still have a long way to go....

Thank you for the update, Keyser. If I'm reading this right:
If you are Indian citizen living abroad then, you need only police verification and finance ministry clearance.
If you are Indian citizen living in India then, you need police certification, finance ministry clearance, IB, CBI and RAW clearance. A meeting is set in March to recommend to PMO to remove the requirement for CBI clearance.

AB3DC Jan 24, 2018 2:11 am


Originally Posted by Keyser (Post 29332291)
so i hate to be the bearer of bad news but here is some more information i got yesterday....at a function last night i had a half hour conversation with the ias officer in the home ministry responsible for global entry applications for indian citizens....here are a few points from the conversation:
  • they were not informed in june 2017 that an announcement was going to be made to open up global entry for indian citizens....
  • when the announcement was made they were given a weeks time to comply with the requirements....
  • when the requirements were put into place it was initially just a police verification for indian residents....the rest of the background checks were to be done by the us authorities....
  • about a week after applications started coming in the pmo added a few requirements like full background verification to be done in india & every indian citizen, regardless of where they were living would be required to go through the police verification process....
  • shortly after the pmo introduced some added requirements which then included approvals from the finance ministry (enforcement directorate) & the home ministry (intelligence bureau, central bureau of investigation & research and analysis wing) before the application was sent back to the us for final approval....
  • the external affairs ministry sent in a report to the pmo requesting no police verification for people living outside india as many of them had no address in india anymore....
  • the pmo agreed to relax some requirements for indian citizens living abroad but still insisted on the police verification & approval from the finance ministry....
  • so far from the 5k+ applications they have received, the finance ministry has cleared over 75% of them so that completes the verification process for those living outside of india....
  • as far as the home ministry is concerned, not even a single application has been approved since they are right now debating which agencies they need to get clearance from....the pmo has said clearance should come from all 3, ib, cbi & raw....the home ministry recommends that only clearances from ib & raw would suffice for global entry & there is no need for the cbi to get involved....
  • the home ministry has recommended this to the pmo & the pmo has called a meeting in mid march to discuss this....

i asked him while they were waiting for the meeting with the pmo, would it not be a good idea to start getting the approvals from the other 2 agencies....this way if the prime minister insisted on the approval from the 3rd agency they atleast 2/3rd of the work would have already been done....he just shrugged his shoulders & said no one would be able to take that call since the pm has said all 3 approvals are needed so they will either send the applications to all 3 at the same time or to none at all till this is clarified....i asked him how long he thinks this whole process would take & he was confident it would be done at some point towards the end of the year....

so i guess we still have a long way to go....

Thank you for the update, Keyser. If I'm reading this right:
If you are Indian citizen living abroad then, you need only police verification and finance ministry clearance.
If you are Indian citizen living in India then, you need police certification, finance ministry clearance, IB, CBI and RAW clearance. A meeting is set in March to recommend to PMO to remove the requirement for CBI clearance.

AB3DC Jan 24, 2018 2:16 am


Originally Posted by scuffbucket (Post 29276445)
I went to the scheduled interview today. It was a breeze. I went at the appointment time, the officer asked for my passport, checked for my visa, asked for my drivers license, entered some info, asked me how long I've been working for this company. I said 10 years. He then said I will receive a notification when it's approved. Within 20 minutes, I received an email that my application for Global Entry was approved.

Congrats. When did you apply? Can you please post your timeline?
Nevermind. I found your timeline on post #101

AB3DC Jan 24, 2018 2:17 am

Thank you for the update, Keyser.

If I'm reading this right:
If you are Indian citizen living abroad then, you need only police verification and finance ministry clearance.
If you are Indian citizen living in India then, you need police certification, finance ministry clearance, IB, CBI and RAW clearance. A meeting is set in March to recommend to PMO to remove the requirement for CBI clearance.

oliver2002 Jan 24, 2018 2:44 am

Why they are making such a drama about the verification process? In Germany all the Federal police does is check your data in the Justice Ministry database to see if you have any prior convictions or if there are any current warrants in your name. Why the US govt wants the Indians to be cleared by the ED and intelligence services is beyond logic.

GUWonder Jan 24, 2018 2:44 am


Originally Posted by Keyser (Post 29332291)
so i hate to be the bearer of bad news but here is some more information i got yesterday....at a function last night i had a half hour conversation with the ias officer in the home ministry responsible for global entry applications for indian citizens....here are a few points from the conversation:
  • they were not informed in june 2017 that an announcement was going to be made to open up global entry for indian citizens....
  • when the announcement was made they were given a weeks time to comply with the requirements....
  • when the requirements were put into place it was initially just a police verification for indian residents....the rest of the background checks were to be done by the us authorities....
  • about a week after applications started coming in the pmo added a few requirements like full background verification to be done in india & every indian citizen, regardless of where they were living would be required to go through the police verification process....
  • shortly after the pmo introduced some added requirements which then included approvals from the finance ministry (enforcement directorate) & the home ministry (intelligence bureau, central bureau of investigation & research and analysis wing) before the application was sent back to the us for final approval....
  • the external affairs ministry sent in a report to the pmo requesting no police verification for people living outside india as many of them had no address in india anymore....
  • the pmo agreed to relax some requirements for indian citizens living abroad but still insisted on the police verification & approval from the finance ministry....
  • so far from the 5k+ applications they have received, the finance ministry has cleared over 75% of them so that completes the verification process for those living outside of india....
  • as far as the home ministry is concerned, not even a single application has been approved since they are right now debating which agencies they need to get clearance from....the pmo has said clearance should come from all 3, ib, cbi & raw....the home ministry recommends that only clearances from ib & raw would suffice for global entry & there is no need for the cbi to get involved....
  • the home ministry has recommended this to the pmo & the pmo has called a meeting in mid march to discuss this....

i asked him while they were waiting for the meeting with the pmo, would it not be a good idea to start getting the approvals from the other 2 agencies....this way if the prime minister insisted on the approval from the 3rd agency they atleast 2/3rd of the work would have already been done....he just shrugged his shoulders & said no one would be able to take that call since the pm has said all 3 approvals are needed so they will either send the applications to all 3 at the same time or to none at all till this is clarified....i asked him how long he thinks this whole process would take & he was confident it would be done at some point towards the end of the year....

so i guess we still have a long way to go....

That aligns with what I had been told too. I am not sure if this is a case of some Indian "security" bureaucracies not wanting to clear anyone until the other Indian "security" bureaucracies are jointly on the line for any "mistake", but it wouldn't be the first time this kind of "all-in or none-in" approach is undertaken by parts of the Indian government. The US Government didn't better define the Indian process for Indian citizens resident only in India, even as the USG knew full well what it wanted for this GE-for-Indians show to get on the road. The outcome of this rushed launch and poorly implemented plan is that the vast majority of Indian citizens resident in India who have applied are still waiting for GE final approval way longer than should have been the case.

Keyser Jan 24, 2018 2:49 am


Originally Posted by oliver2002 (Post 29332439)
Why the US govt wants the Indians to be cleared by the ED and intelligence services is beyond logic.

they don't....this in an indian requirement....the ias officer wasn't even sure why this was being done since he said the us would rely on their own due diligence & not just what the indian government sends them....


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