golfmad

It's really hard to say. The current (increased) times were due to the partial US government shutdown. It would be reasonable to assume that these delays will reduce over time. Whether they will reduce with sufficient speed for you is difficult to predict. Why not have a go and see what happens?

Thrifty Scotsman

Is there a time limit on when you need to be interviewed in the US? ie, say I missed it for my December trip, next one wouldn't probably be until May next year, would that be an issue?

golfmad

Yes, I think there is a time limit. It was shown on my TTP account while I was in the 'Conditionally Approved' stage. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact number of days. I think it may have been 120 but I can't guarantee that. If anyone else reading this is in the 'Conditionally Approved' stage then should be able to confirm if they log in to their account.

TWA884

The renewal interview must be completed within a year of the conditional approval. This is a relatively new change.

RG1X

140+ days. Starting to think they don't like me for some reason.

jp-mco

It seems like the processing times have been getting longer recently. My family (2 x adults, 1 child, 1 infant) all applied in early March and achieved conditional approval under 95 days. That seems to be quite rare nowadays. We attempted to complete Enrollment on Arrival at Atlanta at the end of July but they wouldn't allow it as we arrived at 8:10PM and the office closed at 9:00PM. Thankfully I had anticipated this and had a backup appointment scheduled at Orlando about 2 weeks later (we were in the USA on holiday for 6 weeks). The interview process at Orlando took about 40 minutes and we were approved within the hour. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but given the current processing times I think it is highly unlikely that you will achieve conditional approval by 11 December.

peter h

The only possible hope might be that that the increased backlog in applications in late spring/early summer from people about to go on holiday might reduce as fewer applications come in at the moment. I wouldn't hold my breath, though.

It is astonishing - I applied in February when the delay could be up to 90 days. It edged down to around 70 days and now is almost double that! And there is still a small number of people who get conditional approval within a week of applying. I guess that these are all US citizens - I can't remember any UK people reporting this.

vintagepilot

Applied on 23 April, got conditional approval on 16 August - but with until August next year to complete enrolment on arrival in lieu of scheduling an appointment.

Only snag is that since the initial application, I have renewed my passport. I have applied for a new ESTA but do I need to do anything else with respect to the existing GE application?

TWA884

The passport information will be updated during your enrollment interview.

pacenotes

Question to the more knowledgeable among you,

I got approved the day after I flew back from New York and since I've had a trip to an airport with a closed interview area so it looks like I might not get to USA before my year is up, Do I have to start again once the year is up? If so I might take a quick flight over and back in the same day... (Yes I'm mad but its only 14 hours on a plane)

TWA884

Yes.

From the CBP Information Center FAQ's:

mediamonkey

In case it's useful to anyone, I applied at the end of Aug and am currently still waiting (43 days) and expect to probably be waiting for much longer still. I have an O1 US Visa which I thought might speed things up, but nope.

drscoop

RG1X - wondered if you were any nearer to conditional approval yet? I've just hit 130+ days and wondered how much longer I might be waiting so watching your own progress with interest...

MartinWol

15th April, 181 days today, still sat at pending. Is there anyway to contact anyone?

Sean4444

My Wife & myself 135 days today. Applied 2nd June 19. Not holding out much hope of having conditional approval before we travel to MCO on 22nd Nov.