Chicago ORD (Global Entry and Mobile Passport)
 

I arrived back into the US via ORD for the first time in a few years on Sunday via AMS on KLM Airlines. Are there separate customs lines for Mobile Passport and Global Entry?

We landed at gate 7 and I noticed new Global Entry kiosks had been set up before the US Citizens area when coming from that side of the terminal. I used those, but in order to exit I had to go past the US Citizens area to the the area where the Global Entry kiosks are between the US Citizens and Others area in the middle. It seems they should just group all the Global Entry kiosks together.

Has anyone used Mobile Passport when entering Chicago?

I cleared immigration fast, and went to pick up my luggage on belt 2. My friend who was traveling with me took a while to get through immigration (though he also has global entry, he was farther back in the plane). I had been waiting with our luggage for about 15 minutes when he finally came through. The customs line near our exit on the left side was super long and I thought there must be a separate exit for customs for global entry. Signage was not great. We weaved our way through people going to the right side to try to find a global entry exit. There was an exit that said APC or maybe Mobile Passport which I used, but my friend who also has global entry was then told to go all the way to the right side to exit. Is that where the global entry exit is? The signage is horrible. Do the global entry and mobile passport exits stay consistent? Where are they supposed to be located?

I have a related query (if you can answer the one above you can probably answer this!).

Visitors with visa waiver can now use the APC kiosks which is great , but on my last visit they said that if it was a new ESTA (even on the same passport) you had to use the regular line. No mention of this on the CBP or O'Hare websites does anyone know the real rule?

Thanks

That Esta rule sounds like crap. There are reports of people even using them successfully with new passports.

Thanks-suspected as much the agent who said it didn't sound too consistent but I don't like to mess with what I'm told in immigration queues ! ;)

When we went through Global Entry a couple weeks ago the arrangement had been changed from the past.

There are two banks of machines, one for each direction you approach from. After we used the machines there were barriers to split the crowd into three groups - US citizens on one side, others on the other, and an unmarked row in the middle. The attendant saw our receipts and sent us down the middle. We walked right straight through an unmanned immigration station and no one even glanced at us, went to customs where the person took our receipt and waved us through.

Which customs line did you go through for Global entry? Were there separate ones for Mobile Passport and Global Entry?

At ORD there's just two general customs lines after baggage claim. One more or less for each door. There is no special Global Entry OR Mobile Passport, but they move very quickly. I've never waited more than a couple minutes and usually buzz right throw. They're very good about siphoning off people into secondary inspection very quickly.

I guess there's now another for the quick "no checked bags" lane as week, but I haven't yet experiences that.

When I went through immigration/customs in early July at ORD, they did have a dedicated GE/Mobile Passport line open that was much shorter than the standard line. IIRC it was located near the center of the hall.

The line was indicated by overhead monitors, so they may open and close it based on demand and staffing.

You're talking about the last stop after baggage claim? I've never seen that line, so cool if it exists.

It does exist -- or at least it existed a few weeks back.

I've found MPC faster than GE at times.

New ESTA or new passport shouldn't be a problem. The real issue is whether or not the person has met certain prior entry use requirements to use the machines in conjunction with the ESTA/VWP.

Yep, signage is small, but it's there in the center of the hall near the secondary screening area. Beats the awkwardness of cutting to the front of the (usually very long) standard line.

It's there...on the opposite of Claim #5. To the left is Exit A (AA) on the right is Exit B (UA) Staffing levels by CBP will dictate when it's open. If it's not open, by all means just walk to the front of the line on either side that's open.

I arrived ORD yesterday at about 2:30 PM and immigration was CRAZY. Never seen lines like that before. In fact, I really thought for a moment that there had been some type of major security incident which caused immigration to get extremely tight.

Thank God for Global Entry, as I squeezed by hordes of people to get to the GE kiosks, then right out the Global Entry Customs Exit, correctly identified above at the end of baggage claim belt #5.