Hi,

I applied for Global Entry and was conditionally approved. I went to the interview today (I did it at one of the land ports of entry instead of an airport because the port of entry is closer to where I live than the airport) and had a really scary experience. Wondering if anyone else has had this and can offer some advice. I thought I would post here since Flyertalk is where I learned about this. I am literally so scared after this, but feel helpless.

I have been working in Europe as a freelance journalist but recently quit my job and came home to live with my parents for a while to take a break and recover while studying for the GREs and applying to grad school with a target start date of next fall. In the meantime, I will be traveling around and doing some freelance work.

I didn't realize that being unemployed would be such a red flag, but apparently it is. I was just trying to be honest on the application. The agent who interviewed me first told me I should have brought along bank account statements (I didn't realize this was necessary and it doesn't say this on GOES) and when I told him I had a German bank account and could show him the money online he said it didn't matter and it had to be American. He called in a supervisor. The supervisor immediately asked me how I supported myself. I tried to explain the whole European background but he kept interrupting me, and then he poked his finger at me "don't lie to me, stop being evasive, just tell me the truth." I swear to God I wasn't trying to be evasive, but I couldn't explain it with just one word. I was extremely scared at this point and thought they would arrest me and I was finally able to explain that I was living with my parents. Then they said they were worried I could be recruited by drug cartels to smuggle in drugs. They then told me I was being rejected and to leave immediately. They said I could reapply later but I have to be employed and to bring all my bank account details.

I have the equivalent of 8,000 dollars in my bank account, but apparently that is too little. In retrospect, I understand their concern, but I swear I did not think this would even be an issue. I guess I am too naive.

I understand being rejected and to some extent it makes sense to me. But why do those guys need to talk to me like this? I don't understand. I was raised to respect police and have never committed a crime in my life, but I felt like I was treated like I was some sort of hard core drug smuggler. It left me feeling humiliated and afraid I am on some CBP blacklist now (I specifically asked them this, however, and they told me that I am not on a blacklist).

Welcome to FT!

I am sorry to learn about your unpleasant GlobalEntry interview. But I have to say that it sounds rather suspicious, and I would have made the same call as the officers who interviewed you (albeit without being intimidating about it). GlobalEntry is designed to be a program for low-risk, frequent international travelers who seek trusted traveler status to facilitate their many entries to the United States each year.

I'm sure you would agree that you do not fit the profile of the typical traveler who would be applying for GE. As an unemployed freelancer, who is not yet in grad school, and is living with his parents (presumably rent-free), you have very little way of supporting the kind of extensive international travel lifestyle that makes the GlobalEntry membership worth the application fee.

It seems suspicious that you, with very little in the bank and no definitive plans for full-time employment, would be signing up for this kind of program. Remember that if CBP were to approve you for the program, the government would be granting you status as a trusted traveler. At this point, you simply do not have a sufficiently trustworthy profile, in the opinion of the officers who conducted the interview.

I would not be surprised if there were crime bosses out there who hired squeaky clean young unemployed men off the street, got them cleared as trusted travelers, and then put them to work in the smuggling business. It's a sad state of affairs, but I'm sure it happens. You are in the unfortunate position of being in a higher risk category for that kind of thing.

Given your lack of employment, your residential situation, your extensive overseas history/connections (especially financial), and other factors that you disclosed in your application and interview, the officers made the right call, IMHO. CBP wants to sign up good ol' full-time American workers for this program--the kind of people who have absolutely no reason whatsoever to become involved in illegal activites, and who have a steady stream of honest income. Currently, you do not fit that profile.

Sorry this happened to you, hope you aren't too disturbed by it. Remember that when someone is hiding something, they will often yield under pressure, so therefore the officers are trained to apply pressure. The rest of us find this intimidating, but it is normal procedure for them.

I can see ESpen's point about you not fitting the profile of a "normal" GE applicant, but I am a bit concerned that this is a valid grounds for denial. I think it's very dangerous that individual officers have the discretion to deny someone for any reason they see fit. There is a list of reasons for ineligibility on the GE website, and "unemployment" is not one of them. The last reason says "Cannot satisfy CBP of their low-risk status (e.g. CBP has intelligence that indicates that the applicant is not low risk; CBP cannot determine an applicant's criminal, residence or employment history)". However, it doesn't sound like they were unable to "determine" your employment history.

Does anyone know if GE applicants are entitled to due process?

I'm sorry you had such a negative experience; that sounds most unpleasant. Unemployment in and of itself isn't a bar (students can get it), so there must have been something about your story or demeanor that they found suspicious. It sounds that they weren't satisfied that you had means to support yourself which puts you into a higher risk category in their eyes. It also sounds like they honestly thought you were being evasive and acted like jerks in return.

ESpen36's analysis leaves out the minor detail that TSA is plugging GE as a way around being groped, so people who don't travel internationally are also applying now.

Due process for something like this can be satisfied by something as simple as an administrative appeal. I suppose a final agency order could be reviewed under the APA.

Excellent point. I wonder how TSA reconciles this point.




Yes, I belive the OP can appeal the denial to the CBP Ombudsman for reconsideration. It might take a while, and in the meantime, it would be good for the OP to enter grad school full time or obtain full-time employment.

This is an administrative action and the only recourse is an administrative appeal. Because GE is defined as a "privilege" the appeal options are limited.

CPB also knows that a person in the OPs situation is highly unlikely to retain counsel to appeal the decision should there be any cause of action to take it outside the agency.

I was under the impression that GOES would immediately change to a rejected or approved status but it still looks on the website as if I have just scheduled my interview but just not had it yet.

At the end of the interview one of the officers told me they wouldn't put any derogatory information in my rejection and I could reapply later. But I wonder if he just didn't fully process my application in order to prevent my from having an administrative denial on my record. I am still shaking after my experience yesterday...

Well, perhaps you could schedule another interview--at a different location--and bring american bank statements as well as hone your explanation.

If you are then told you have been rejected, you can explain you must have misunderstood what you were being told, and the lack of a formal rejection meant you assumed you were being given a chance to establish residency better.

My son's recent interview for GE supports your statement about the TSA and GE. My son has had no international travel in the last three years and is not employed (a full time grad student).

No issue whatsoever with GE.

The CBP officer performing the interview asked my son what airline he normally flies and had documentation on how to enter the PASSID for all the participating airlines.

That would be my thought also.

Yup, that's exactly what this looks like--smuggler.

I mean if I were a smuggler wouldn't the crime bosses have set me up with fake working papers or something? Why have someone go in claiming to be unemployed? This strategy would just seem a little bit too obvious/stupid to me. I guess in retrospect I understand how it might appear suspicious, but I am not a smuggler lol, nor do I have any desire to be. I just want to go to grad school and become a foreign service officer. My record is completely squeaky clean and I have never had any trouble with the cops.

Just the way I was spoken to left me very surprised and with a bad taste in my mouth towards CBP. I know I did absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever, but to have some guy aggressively interrogating me, just made me very afraid of those guys.

I also wonder if this might have been different at an airport. Maybe they are more paranoid on the Mexican border because they see smugglers every day??

Have you travelled since then? I wonder they put you on any list?? Let us know if you have to go through extra security phone calls/questions/etc before you board/check in and/or return to the US.

I have not traveled since then (the interview was literally yesterday). I actually asked the customs inspectors who interviewed me if I would be put on some sort of blacklist now and at the end they assured me that this will not happen, but who knows?

If I am put on a list, I will feel so helpless. I mean I literally did nothing wrong and I know I did nothing wrong and I have never been in trouble with the law at any point in my life. I couldn't believe representatives of my own government would talk to me so aggressively. I was literally almost speechless (maybe they viewed that as suspicious too). In retrospect, I understand why my application might have raised suspicions but I know I told 100 percent the truth and am guilty at most of naiveity. I wish I had never applied for Global Entry. This was such a terrible experience.

Sorry to hear that you were denied GE. The way they spoke to you is inexcusable. They are government thugs, plain & simple. I, too, was denied GE, without even having an interview, for an entirely different set of reasons. As one poster suggested, the appeals possibilities are limited. The only opportunity for appeal is if you can prove that the information they have is incorrect. If the information is correct, then there is nothing that can be done. You can't appeal for them to consider the information in a different manner.