Lucanesque

Crap I've got to queue up to get in to America to be interviewed to queue up less in future... shame London is no longer an option.

jms_uk

I was quite lucky on Saturday at DFW - F class [first out], APC kiosk, hand luggage - from the plane to the departures [for the connecting flight] in less than 10 minutes.

Amarone

Very helpful information in your various posts - thanks for sharing.

I'm travelling but have my CBP interview on Monday. I'm interested in what sort of paperwork, in addition to passport and driving licence, I'll be asked to produce.

What were you asked for?

Lucanesque

That's very good going!

So, does anyone know whether London is coming back, or were they only doing interviews over here for the beta?

Simon Schus

I took exactly what was asked for in the conditional approval notification that you can view when you log into your account on the GOES website.

The request was:
"- A valid passport. If you travel using more than one passport, please bring them to the interview so that the information can be added to your file. This provides you with the ability to use either passport at the Global Entry kiosk;
- A permanent resident card (if applicable);
- Documents providing evidence of residency. Examples are: driver's license (if the address is current), mortgage statement, rental payment statement, utility bill, etc."

For me, I decided to take along the following:

- A few mobile phones bills and bank statements which show my permanent UK address (I printed all of these myself because I get them all electronically).
- My UK drivers license card which shows my permanent UK address. I also took the paper counterpart which isn’t used any more but I thought I’d take it just for completeness.
- My UK passport.
- I do not have a permanent residence card for the US so I did not have this to take along.

The CBP agent only looked at my UK drivers license card and my passport, and was comfortable that both of those fulfilled the purposes of what I had been asked to bring. Notably, the mobile phone and bank statements were not looked at but I had them anyway just in case - it made me feel more comfortable having as I tend to get anxious by these formal sorts of things.

As an aside,, the drivers license was a nice opportunity for a chat - we had a nice chat about how the date order differs between the UK and the US (i.e. dd/mm/yyyy vs mm/dd/yyyy). Very pleasant experience.

I imagine that if you have any questions about the enrolment then you could probably just phone up whichever enrolment centre you are going to using the telephone numbers on the website (http://www.cbp.gov/global-entry/enrollment-centers). I imagine that the enrolment centres are often quite busy though so alternatively (and probably better) you could try phoning up the GOES Helpdesk number first as they were able to help with one of my enquiries (number available here: https://goes-app.cbp.dhs.gov/common/goes_support.html). Most of the information provided on their website and the conditional approval notification is fairly self-explanatory though and I'd doubt there is too much reason to call them.

I have no idea how anybody else’s experiences compare to mine and wouldn't want to assume that they are identical. It was a pleasant, professional, formal experience and one which I'm putting my partner through now!

Simon

techie

2 things:

a) Just got this via email:

"Since your application was conditionally approved, as of December 10 our system does not register the scheduling of an interview to finalize your enrollment.

To prevent your application from being cancelled, please schedule an interview immediately. Most enrollment centers have appointments available up to 4 months. To schedule an interview, access your GOES account, click on the "Schedule Interview" button and select an enrollment center and date for your interview. You can always reschedule your interview up to 24 hours prior to the already scheduled appointment. If you need to cancel an appointment within 24 hours, please contact the enrollment center to be rescheduled."

b) Can the mods not merge this and http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/usa/1...bal-entry.html thread? I am surprised it has not been done already...

Amarone

Thanks again!

Like you I can get a bit anxious about dealing with CBP but am reassured now as I've got most of the additional items to hand so hopefully there won't be any issues.

I must say I've been very impressed at the speed of both the UK and US authorities - I only emailed Border Force on 23 November and got conditional approval if that's what its called from GOES on 3 December. I appreciate I was lucky that there was plenty of available interview times at Miami when I was next there.

Simon Schus

Oh I forgot. I also took along a HMRC tax letter addressed to me. I didn't need it because the drivers license card and passport sufficed. However, I took it along as I thought that it was useful to confirm the company that pays me as well as my legal address. The HMRC letter had just happened to arrive the same day that I was leaving for the airport and so I just popped it in my bag, otherwise I wouldn't have taken it - if it hadn't have arrived, to go hunting through my files for it would have been massively over-the-top given the rest of the documentation that I had.

atmorris

I would say make a note of what the requirements are for your particular Enrolment Centre requires as for PHL, they needed the letter with the provisional acceptance notification, but only then required UK Passport and Driving license.

But as per Simons experience, the CBP where very professional and confirmed everything that GE gives. I was very impressed with the whole process.

atmorris

I have a feeling that CBP like people to be in the US for these interviews, as GE has been available to Germans, Dutch, Qatari and South Korean citizens for a while and there are no enrolment centres in those locations either (There is one in Qatar open for about 2hrs twice a week).

techie Agree with you about merging of the threads, as its getting confusing.

techie

a) Then it beggars belief as to what is the point of having to an enrolment centre in USA's Singapore embassy...

b) I PM'd a mod, but it has not happened yet. If the threads are still separate in the morning, I will PM someone else.

atmorris

But can you book an appointment in Singapore? You have to remember Singapore is a financial hub, so it could be that a company such as Citi arranged it with CBP, in the same way they did in the UK..

techie

Yes, I can. Mileage run with Qatar + Global Entry interview trip anyone?

Hobbes01

This is just an automated message that appears to be going out every so often to make sure you remember that you still have to schedule an interview. One you receive your conditional approval you have 30 days in which you must schedule your interview or your conditional approval will be cancelled and you will have to start the application process from the beginning, including paying again. You can schedule the interview for any available date/location and move it as often as you like as long as you get something on the calendar within 30 days of your conditional approval.

techie

I have scheduled mine, since the "immediate" part suggested that it is pretty imperative that I do so. There are a couple bits that leave a bitter taste in the mouth:
a) Dutch, German, UK and Korean citizens have no CBP enrolment centres in their own country in order to attend interviews before arriving to the US. It almost defeats the point of GE if you have to get in line with the rest of the cattle in order to attend an interview that takes away that pain.

b) A wildly inconsistent schedule of CBP enrolment centre opening hours in airports and resultant availability of interview slots. Look at Miami: opening hours are 0800-2200 even on Satudays and Sundays and lots of appointment slots are available even tomorrow. Now look at Charlotte: only Monday-Friday 0830-1530 and there is no available slot until early March(!). This is ridiculous.

Welcome to America, we hope you enjoy your stay