Xyzzy

Likely nobody will ever bother t mention any of the countries even if you do get selected for an interview.

cheltzel

Except if you've forgotten a couple on the application.

Xyzzy

I keep a running tally for this and similar purposes. therwise it's a near impossible task coming up with the list.

dhuey

On the question of whether to include countries as “visited” when you only changed planes at an international airport and didn’t clear immigration, I get the idea of erring on the side of caution. But if you do that, shouldn’t you also include countries in which you flew through their airspace?

ksingh0311

you didn't really "visit" those countries. So in my application I only mentioned the destination country..

dhuey

Yeah, that was my take as well. I didn't include Taiwan or Denmark for that reason. "Visit" to me connotes something more than being in a nation's sovereign territory.

BelmontRef

I would mostly concur but as I noticed you mentioned Denmark, I absolutely would include any Schengen country where you entered or left the Schengen area since that’s the country stamped in your passport. My only “visit” to the Netherlands was connecting at Schipol but that’s where I entered and two weeks later left the Schengen area so included it as a country visited.

dhuey

Yes, that makes sense. If you land, say, in Frankfurt, go through immigration, and then catch a flight to Italy, you crossed the German national border and visited Germany. You were free to head into town and get a brat or pretzel before your connecting flight. Same idea if you had flown into Frankfurt from Italy for a connecting flight back the the USA.

ksingh0311

Agreed - in this case you cleared immigration, left the airport, so in effect you visited the country, even if for a few hours. What I was saying is; if you were simply transiting through without actually ever leaving the airport immigration, that doesn't need to be listed.

Nexpoman

For US citizens, there is a very easy way to keep track of all the countries you've visited for your next Global Entry interview. The best part is that there's no way to lose this information.

The State Department has a website called 'STEP', which stands for S mart T raveler E nrollment P rogram: https://step.state.gov/STEP/

It's intended as an easy way to let US diplomatic missions know where and when you'll be outside of the US, in case of...whatever. If you take two or three minutes (it really is that quick) to register every time you go to another country, then you will have a complete list of all the countries you've been to for your next Global Entry renewal. Unless you choose to delete any trips abroad from your own State Department account, then the records of all of your travels abroad are there for you to view. I've been doing this for eight years, and all my trips are still listed there in my account.

This isn't what the website was designed for, but it works well all the same for remembering where you've been when it's time to renew your GE. Plus, if anything does happen (e.g., family emergency), then the nearest US embassy or consulate will know where and how to contact you. In case you're worried about privacy issues, well, surely you can't be serious . They already know very well where you've gone and where you've been, and it's almost certainly of no interest to anyone else, anyhow.

I do not know if green card holders can use the service; my guess is no, unfortunately (if any green card holders do successfully register for the program, please let us know in the comments). Right then, stay well, everyone!

cheltzel

I track countries where my transit had someone scan my passport. I assume that this information is stored in a database accessible by CBP.

dhuey

Well, I don't know that's any easier than simply looking at the stamps in your passport. The only caveat with the stamps is where you cross a national border without getting a stamp, such as from one Schengen nation to another.

That aside, I used STEP when I visited Lebanon several years ago. I think it's useful to be registered on STEP when visiting a not-so-stable country. The American embassy will at least know you're there and probably try to help you in a crisis.

TomMM

I just keep my flight itinerary emails.

lastcallfordeparture

An Excel sheet would do the same job.