golfmad

Don't say I'm not good to you

I checked LAX and SFO for you. LAX currently has availability every week day in May and June but nothing from July onwards. SFO has very limited availability and only from June 20th to June 30th including weekends.

Kohryu

Thank you for looking this up for me! This is very helpful information. It seems to me like LAX may be the better choice, assuming I still aim for around May. (which I'd prefer really, as I'd rather visit in Spring before the heat of Summer kicks in) LAX is typically where I fly in to anyway before going off to MRY, so I'm somewhat familiar with the airport's layout. I've actually not even been to SFO before.
Thanks again, you've been a great help.

Hobbes01 - That's also another good point. I think I will try to do so at some point next month, rather than further down the line. Thanks for your input.

Leaping_Deere

After the interview when does it kick in exactly? I'll explain myself

I have my interview at ORD next Tuesday. One of the main reasons I went for the global entry is TSA pre check. Most of my trips to the US involve 4+ internal flights and I'd do anything to minimise time with the TSA.

After the interview I have a flight the same evening down to Louisville and then flights on to Miami back up to DC before going back to Chicago.

Will I be able to use the pre check straight away or does it kick in after X amount of time?

Anyone with first hand experience?

KARFA

I doubt it takes effect that quickly. I had a flight a few hours after I got approved and the AA check in agent tried to enter it but it was too soon after.

G-CIVC

5 days. But trust me, the wait is well worth it. Thank god for pre check. It feels like (close to) nothing compared to regular screening.

KARFA

This reminds me, I had a dream last night that I suddenly realised I had been to Syria a few years ago and that this was going to be a massive problem since I have lots of trips to the US this year so I could no longer use my ESTA/VWP. That's not weird is it?

Edit: btw never been to Syria for the record!

MADPhil

It's clearly suspicious that you would dream it though!

Zzzap

Another data point for anybody considering an application:

UK Border Force application submitted: 22-JAN, 10:55
GOES access code received: 22-JAN, 21:00
GE application submitted: 22-JAN, 22:00
Conditional approval: 28-JAN, 21:00

Interview scheduling
This is where it got a little frustrating. My first US trip at the moment is to SFO via JFK at the end of May.
As others have noted here and elsewhere availability at SFO in the near future is as rare as hens' teeth. I'd delayed putting in my GE application and thought "well 3 months in advance should be fine." I was wrong. SFO is booked up until end of June / start of July and unlike other centres it doesn't appear to get many reschedules or cancellations.

So I resigned myself to scheduling the interview in my 3 hour layover in JFK on the outbound. However, there was no availability that far ahead at JFK. Cue much periodic checking of the GOES site over the past week, working on the presumption that availability is released at the start of the month. Nothing happened 1st through 4th February, but voila! on the 5th availability opened up. So my advice for anybody looking for availability at JFK 2-4 months out is to keep an eye on the interview calendar around the 5th of each month.

Leaping_Deere

I had my interview this Tuesday. I got approved for an interview 18 days ago and they had plenty of space in Chicago on most days. However if anyone is planning on having there interview in ORD. Make sure you get an appointment before 3:30. The shift changes at 4pm and it takes them over an hour to get back to full speed. I booked a 5pm interview and didn't get seen until 5:35pm. In the end I had to rush to get to T3 to get my flight to SDF.

Some people turned up 1hr 30min late and were basically seen too straight away. So it appears you don't worry about being late at ORD and it can actually work in your favour.

The interviewer was very interested in why I had been to UAE, Oman and Bolivia but not any other countries but didn't really give a third degree. They asked me to name a few companies I work with over in the US as well and wrote them down.

The TSA pre check didn't work that night (although the woman said it should) When I went to the check in desk, they number came up as valid on the system but didn't print on the boarding pass. However three days later it did. If anyone does a few internal flights it's worth it alone. It's saved me bags of time on this trip alone.

Overall it's been painless and worth it

allenkeys

I had my interview at ORD last week and can concur with your findings. I arrived early to make sure I didn't miss the appointment. Very frustrating when your interview is delayed because those arriving well after their appointed time were seen first!

Lucanesque

Used my GE for the first time last week... on a busy flight with a full immigration hall, arrived at JFK T7, stuck to the left coming down from the plane and went past everyone else queueing up the ramp. Only two others using GE terminals, was through within about 2 minutes *AWESOME*!!

Also used TSA Pre for an internal flight, also saved me loads of time and hassle.

Even if I was only going to do one trip to the States a year then the £20 a year would be well worth it.

One thing I'd advise others looking for appointments is to keep checking. T'other half registered in December, we wanted an appointment in Vegas, nothing... kept checking and today there're now loads when we're there in a few weeks - win

jms_uk

Nice to hear that - I will be using it for the first time next week, also at JFK, albeit T8.

Simon Schus

I had my scheduled GE appointment back in November in JFK. However, I thought I'd let you know my partner's experience with a walk-in appointment. My partner applied and passed the pre-approval stage of GE in December and the first appointment in Boston was in April. At the time, this appointment was five months away but we took it as it was the first available. I checked almost daily for a closer appointment and nothing was ever shown on GOES before her April appointment. I think the nearest appointments are showing up for July at the moment, last time I checked it for her a few weeks ago. I even phoned up GE to see if she could just drop-in on a random day, but nobody ever got back to me after leaving a voicemail or two on the GE telephone line in Boston. This is understandable as Boston is a busy airport for it’s size and GE is a privilege rather than a right. Nonetheless, we happened to be going through Boston a couple of weeks ago and I decided we should just turn up to the GE centre to see if they could have a walk-in. There was nobody sitting outside, and we weren’t even clear if the enrolment centre was open. Nonetheless, we just waited for 5 minutes and eventually somebody came out and asked if we had an appointment. We said no but asked if my partner could interview anyway as we had her passport and the pre-approval letter. We were told that it would be fine given that a lot of people have missed their appointments that day and there was nobody waiting. Whilst my partner interviewed, I waited outside and a few other people turned up - some with appointments and some without appointments. The next person without an appointment was told that they could not be seen as everybody else there had an appointment - he was unlucky as if he had turned up 10 minutes earlier then he might have been okay! We were lucky to get a walk-in appointment and all went through fine. Two happy Global Entry users.

As an aside, I’ve used GE four times since December (twice in Dublin, once in Boston, and once in JFK T7 where it saved me probably about 30 to 40 minutes queuing up after arriving in an hour or two late). The experience has made travelling to the US so much nicer! A CBP agent in Dublin stapled my GE receipt to my passport which means I now have a staple and receipt stamped to one of my passport pages but otherwise that is fine; they also stamped my passport using the standard VWP stamp but that doesn't bother me I think it is always nice to get a new stamp every so often. It has been such a joy having GE, particularly when travelling with hand baggage only - I can off the plane and out into a taxi or shuttle bus to a hotel in less than 3 minutes! I love it! It also makes me feel a little bit better about being tipsy upon landing

One thing that makes me chuckle though is that the GE photograph that the kiosks take of me rarely actually has me in. Several times, I take my glasses off (as habit from the domestic UK connections conformance) and the photograph that the kiosk prints has me with my hands in front of my face mid-movement. For some reason, it still approves me apart from once when I had to take the photograph again and then it approved me.

Either way, a genuinely useful and worthwhile program that I shall be treating with absolute respect for the time and anxiety it saves me going through the border each time. The TSA precheck benefit is nice too in the terminals where it is available (currently not available in Boston Terminal E at the moment although I thought they were trialling it a year ago but it is gone again now).

Simon.

tfung

I went for the interview today and got approved... The guy congratulated me and sent me on my way... I saw that for US citizens, they get a card or something in the mail and a sticker in the passport? For UK citizens, do they mail you the card overseas?

MADPhil

There is, or was, no passport sticker. I don't think that they mail a card overseas. It is only useful for crossing land borders and re-entry from a cruise so it would be of very limited value to someone resident overseas.