i think something is going wrong there. A renewal shouldn’t be taking that long to either approve outright or approve subject to interview. May be worth contacting cbp.

This month CBP took some conditionally-approved renewal members who had long been in the “extended” validity period — awaiting an “interview” to get final approval for the renewal applications — and moved them to final approval status even without the “interview” for the renewal applications. Not sure what criteria was being used to switch their status without the “interview”, but they happen to be above 65 years of age and have flown into airports with GE enrollment on arrival; and they have never done the EOA thing. [FWIW, the woman who was surprised by this and the first to ask me about it was one of the first American women on a domestic flight hit by a no-fly list confusion with a male NFL listee in the fall of 2001.] The new GE cards have already started coming in via mail on the accounts.

Who's "they"? My wife and I also just received full approval of our GE renewals - had been conditionally approved for several months and I'd essentially given up on finding an appointment. We tried EOA in Miami in July which was a complete cluster so we just left the holding pen. We're definitely younger than 65 FWIW. Now if only they'd approve our two year old! What are they going to ask him in an interview, anyway?

Is the two-year-old a GE renewal applicant? For very young children, whether it’s a renewal or initial application, the CBP ask the parents more than they ask the children (if they even ask the children anything).

Thanks. Any idea on who to contact?

Live-in-person interview at SEA-TAC last Monday. Interview took less time than my commute to/from the airport! Notified of approval within 48 hours.

The hardcopy will likely arrive in the mail after my flight this flight. Will my Precheck number stay the same and be eligible to use for a trip this week, even if there's a 6-month gap between the former card's expiration and the recent approval of the new card? (Yes, I applied a few days before the the former card's expiration.)

Circling back on this suggestion

GE Conditional Approval worked interview worked fine @ YVR preclearance

Had some problems earlier in the week entering Canada -- recognized the the passport and then went tilt. Try multiple machines. Had to do a manual paper form
Then on exit the GE machines could not detect my face, again multiple machines. Used by expires GE card. After "entering" the US, when down to Booth 21 to do interview. Again another minor issue (was beginning to think there was a problem with my data) but once the interview started took 10? minutes. Got email approval while in the ML lounge awaiting departure.

Thanks for the suggestion, after zero help at my normal arrival airport SFO -- EOA is still only mornings, appointments nearly non-existing, I now good til 2027.

Just got my GE renewed, 3 days after applying (just got my new passport also). No interview required. Just approved via notification email. (In fairness, I suspect part of this is because I am a very trusted traveler. I used to be at DOJ and had a security clearance with a very comprehensive background check.) However, email doesn't say anything about whether they are sending a new GE ID card, with the new expiration date. Anyone know the answer on that?

You should get a new card in about a week or so. Don't forget to activate it.

Wife’s expired last year. She realized when she had a couple of work trips with no TSA.

Applied before we went on an international trip (so that she could do GE on Arrival since there is no other avenue to do GE interviews at RDU). Thankfully it was conditionally approved and then fully approved with no interview (this amounted to her 5 year renewal although closer to 6 years because of the expiration and delay in renewing).

She applied maybe 5 days before we left for our trip and they processed it fast enough that she got the approval 2 days before departure so we had no issues with the PreCheck for our outbound (other than an insanely understaffed RDU TSA PreCheck lane) and no issues for her using GE on the return.

This in contrast to me (posted up thread) — I had gotten a no interview at my 5 year renewal but for my 10 year renewal (I’ve had GE since it was rolled out) I ended up needing to do GE on Arrival at IAD to avoid having to work an interview into a work trip to Chicago later in the year

Came here looking for others experience.. Mine was close to exceptional and completely unexpected.

Renewal was up in June 2023. I submitted on 11/14/22 about 10 days ago. When I went through all the renewal screens, it had a CURRENT passport for me, but it had INCORRECT expiry dates. I thought maybe this was one of those funky challenge tests, will the applicant correct it or not? I corrected it, put it out 3 years with the proper dates.

completed renewal application, paid with AMEX (for credit) and figured i'd wait. There was status steps that concerned me. "Interview Scheduled".. Interview Pending, Post Interview, On-line interview, etc.. I was concerned that this RENEWAL process, and certainly with the correction to the passport was going to take MONTHS and require an IN PERSON interview, etc.

TWO DAYS later, status had changed, and when I checked online it showed APPROVED and ACTIVE till 2028. WOW, I did not expect that.

AND, TWO DAYS after the status changed online, I received a NEW CARD in the mail. Just regular post (first class of course but NOT priority) with a new card with all future validity accurate.

TWO DAYS after that, the AMEX charge showed a $100 credit.

Whats wrong with this process? Nothing apparently.

Renewed earlier this month at JFK GE center. Everything was pretty smooth, including interview availability. GE expires this month but I knew I had additional grace period. Applied in late August.

I brought only my US passport to the interview.

Officer asked me if I had gone to all of the countries I had listed in the app within last 5 years (52 to be exact, and almost all prior to March 2020). I thought about saying, "no, I just wanted to have a little fun with you guys on my app", but actually responded with, "Yes". He then asked me what were the purposes of going to all of these countries. "Sightseeing" without any hesitation. A few years ago, I was at CPH passport control, and told the officer I was traveling for work (a week of work training at our company's headquarter). Set off a bunch of alarms - e.g. looking for my work visa, until I provided additional context.

Don't answer anything which could provoke further questioning.

Among some of the above who sort of inexplicably went from conditionally-approved on their renewal applications to final approval with GE cards received very shortly thereafter this month, there were some situations where the other conditional-approved renewal member — spouse — living together didn’t end up with their conditionally-approved status adjusting in the same way (at least not yet).

Final approval as a US citizen resident in the US, you’ll get a card in very short order without needing to do anything. It will have the new expiration date for your GE membership.

I’m pretty sure my background checks didn’t make a difference with approval speed as much as with whom my applications happened to land.

DP: Yes, adding the new GE # as KTN grants PreCheck, even before GE card activation.

How long does it usually take from the zoom interview to getting the full approval? I had my zoom interview earlier today but still not yet approved - just shows that the interview is still scheduled. Thank you.