TWA884

A recent post discussing Global Entry approval with a record of a nine years old DUI arrest was moved to the following thread:
TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator

be_happy

Today I was denied for Global Entry due to being ticketed for unlawful possession of marijuana in 2007 in New York State.

When I went to my interview yesterday, the officer asked me about it and told me to contact the locality that the offense occurred in to request a copy of the disposition and email it to them. He seemed to think since it was a 'minor' offense, approval would not be a problem and that they just needed to get the disposition on file.

Today I received the denial notification and I am feeling pretty down about it. I am hoping I will be able to speak with a supervisor about the matter. It makes me sad that a mistake I made 10 years ago in my youth is effecting me to this day.

Has anyone had a similar denial and/or appeal for marijuana possession?

1KChinito

Welcome to FT. You may try ombudsman.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ferrerid=22732

stant

Howdy,

I applied for GE and just got the notice of conditional approval. I was worried because there might be a criminal record issue preventing me from getting GE. Is a denial for such matters done after the interview or after the application is taken?

The issue with my past was a matter where charges were dropped when I was a juvenile after a pre-trial intervention program. I have already disclosed this on my application. I have some international travel coming up and it would be handy to have GE sooner than later as the next appointment time at my local center is months from now. Is it worth going out of my way to speed the application process?

TIA

TWA884

Sometimes the denial is after the interview. It will help if you bring to the interview certified court documents showing the dismissal.

The following thread has a lot of information relevant to your situation:
TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator

TWA884

A recent post discussing "conditional approval" after appealing a denial to the ombudsman was moved to the following thread:
TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator

enofile

It seems I am on the SSSS list and turned down for Glibal Entry due to something my wife did in 1991. We were flying from Toronto to the USA, and she forgot to list certain clothes she bought on the custom form. As a result, we were compelled to pay a fine. Since we were traveling as a family, my name was on the custom form. Now, I am unable to get Global Entry and I am on TSA's SSSS list. It is a horrible thing, and I am avoiding all travel outside of the United States. Interestingly, my wife can travel anywhere with no problem. My "special" designation will remain with me forever. There is no redress, and my congressman is helpless because the incident is documented.

747FC

Wow...26 years ago and still a black mark.

Questions to help the community understand the scenario:

What were those "certain clothes" and what was the valuation? Kind of hard to imagine a random scarf or blouse drawing attention, but three $5000 scarves or blouses might do it.

Did you too "forget" to list the clothes? Hard to imagine CPB having much sympathy for a complicit party.

Can you describe the 1991 incident in the CPB offices? Were the two of you immediately contrite or were there tall tales involved?

BigFlyer

Wait - you are on the SSSS list for a customs violation? So every time you fly you get an SSSS on your boarding pass? While I could see how your "offense" could bar Global Entry, I don't see why you would get SSSS.

Often1

This is fairly extraordinary as many people with much more serious offenses than described see their "flag" disappear after a few years. While it is always possible that there is nothing more to this story, it seems as though there must have been additional details which do matter.

Those could include any statements made to what would have been INS or Customs at the time and any false statements or denials as well. The value and the nature of the items will matter too.

MSPeconomist

Were the clothes for wife's own use or were they being imported for the purpose of selling them?

hayzel7773

I had a bag of instant noodles confiscated from me back in '14 but was never fined. On my GE app, I said "yes" to customs violation and explained about the instant noodle incident. However, I later saw that you could be denied if you had any customs violation of any kind. Does this mean that I don't qualify for GE?

Randyk47

Most probably. Considering people have been denied or revoked for something as simple as an apple it seems they have a policy of no tolerance.

GUWonder

A clothing item import giving rise to a customs fine is not routinely grounds for being on the SSSS-causing blacklists.

If the person is always getting SSSS flags when flying on US carriers even domestically, then my bet is that whatever caused the blacklisting on flights is what needs to be fixed before having a chance to get approved for GE membership. And even if removed from the SSSS-causing blacklists, the customs violation may be routine grounds for GE denial/revocation.

The person should use DHS TRIP and other means to try to get off the blacklists causing SSSS hits and then consider what to do with regards to GE. While people on the ESL do manage to acquire/retain GE membership, those on the more permanent SSSS producing watchlist are very commonly rejected for GE membership due to that blacklisting.

If you declared the noodles so as to see if they should be surrendered/confiscated or not, most commonly that isn’t considered a customs violation. And if no customs report or fine were submitted using your name in affiliation with the noodles, then most commonly that shouldn’t be a bar to meeting GE membership standards.

I’ve declared and surrendered lots of food at customs in the US, and it’s never been a US customs violation as far as I can recall. And it’s not been all that rare for me to buy US oranges in the US, cross into Canada and then a few minutes later having to declare them to CBP and have the US-bought oranges tossed due to citrus fruit importation guidelines. Not a strike against my GE membership.

kilarney

There is no "most commonly" about it. If you declare, you will not have a violation resulting in loss of Global Entry privileges. You can never go wrong with over-declaring when in doubt.