On Friday night 3/18/11 at 7:15 PM I landed from Mexico city and went to the global entry kiosk to clear customs. Instead on being waived through the CBP agend stopped me (& 5 others) telling us to wait in line. He told me he had to check our passport name against the name on the receipt GOES printed at the kiosk. Knowing it was fruitless to argue with a customer agent I asked for his supervisor who informed me "we have had several problems with people at the next checkpoint with irregularities so we are verifying everyone". ...? I said (in a calm voice) so you ar punishing the people that enrolled and the kiosk verifys our identity because someone bypassed the entire screening process? He had no answer. I called CBP in Atlanta today and still have no response. Did anyone else have similar experiences?

First of all, there is no such thing as a GOES kiosk or receipt. You mean the GlobalEntry kiosk which generated the receipt. (GOES is simply the name of the web-based application system used for GlobalEntry and several other trusted traveler programs.)

Secondly, this process of checking passport against the kiosk receipt has been well documented over in the TS&S forum. It has been reported happening with increasing frequency at places such as DFW, ORD, and JFK. The explanation I received when I inquired was that some people were picking up discarded receipts off the floor upstairs and were trying to sneak through customs without being properly inspected. So, now they are checking every receipt against the passport to be sure it was issued to that particular individual.

Notice the posting were in March and May ...

When I was entering back in May, the officer just took my receipt did not check passport.

When I was entering back a couple of weeks ago, the officer was checking passport against receipt.

Both entries were JFK (different terminal).

Btw, does anyone know whether or not an interview is required for request the new GE card via GOES (I am an existing GE member)? Also, will requesting the new card in any way affect my normal use of the kiosk e.g. will they suspend my membership until they have processed the card request? The below message is posted in my GOES which prompted me to ask these questions:

Your application for the Trusted Traveler program is now pending review. PLEASE REMEMBER TO REVISIT OUR WEB SITE FOR YOUR APPLICATION STATUS UPDATES. Your application status and notification of when you may schedule an interview appointment will be posted to your online GOES account. CBP recommends you periodically login to your GOES account at https://goes-app.cbp.dhs.gov for account updates. If your application status is not updated within eight weeks, please contact the CBP Ombudsman at [email protected]

No you do not need an interview. When you are conditionally approved, do nothing, and the card will arrive at your house at some point, maybe 7-10 days. There is no need to bother scheduling an interview.

Thanks.

I guess the normal usage of kisok will not be affected, right?

If you are referring to the card, then yes, there is no effect of the kiosk. The card's only use is at land borders.

Also wondering ... I alsouse my right hand fingers for the scan, can you also use your left hand?

This statement, if read by someone new to the program, could be very problematic. Need to point out that it's only applying to someone who was already enrolled and is wondering about the new card....

Regarding the fingerprint thing -- when you registered and had your interview, only 1 hand's fingerprints were taken. How could you use the other hand at the kiosk? Your two hands are different.

I just interview for Nexus yesterday, which they also added Global Entry too now under the new program. They did fingerprint both hands

If I remember right, I have both hands fingerprinted.

I am sorry if it is ambiguous, but I would hope that any person reading this thread would see my whole post, which includes a quote of a prior post, asking specifically about a card for an existing member.

Did the officer who took your prints tell you which hand scanned more cleanly? My officer told me that most people leave superior prints from their right hand, leading to an increased chance of kiosk recognition. I would recommend using the right hand unless that is impossible.

apologies -- just was reading your response for the first time and saw that it could be confusing to someone looking quickly for a beginner's answer, just wanted to clarify!

A funny thing happened to a friend who went for their Nexus/GE interview last Friday - her fingerprints would not scan. They finally decided that her fingerprint "swirls" were so bad, & faint, that they put a fingerprint waiver in her file. I accused her of being CIA, NSA, or a hit lady (a la La Femme Nikita), except that she's a 65 year old retired elementary school teacher, about 5' 1", 120 lbs. and claims to have never shot a gun!

If true, that's an interesting factoid. I would have assumed most people had better prints on left hand because they use it less (90% are right handed).

Anyway, another reason to try to use the right hand is the machine is set up with the scanner for prints on the right, so it will be easier not to move over, or cross your hand over (with an awkward angle).

Just a good cover.