I have heard that it's possible to activate outside of the 30 days and the activation wil work. Try it!

I activated my nexus card after six months of being issued and I never had any problems so far using it.

"Activation" is simply an anti-fraud measure. The card is mailed to the address which has been verified and the cardholder then needs access to the GOES website to "activate". No different than calling a toll-free # to activate a CC.

If for some reason, you have a problem, call the issuing GE center and they can reset.

Thanks again to the posters on this thread who saved me from pulling my hair out trying to find the activation link!

Thanks! I found the answer I needed here and nowhere else. Of course I logged in before looking for the link, just like the other times I did something on the website. Thanks CBP; I hope to gain back some of the time I lost looking for this link when I re-enter the country next time.

came here to hear from someone else's recent experience - i got my cards a few weeks ago but there's absolutely nowhere that says "activate membership card" and no way to actually contact anyone...

The activation link is available only on the GOES homepage. It disappears as soon as you log-in to your GOES account.

ah yes! thanks so much!

Thanks for posting this! I was searching for the "Activate" link inside my GOES account as well and didn't find it. I called GOES support, was told there was a >30 min wait to talk to someone so I hung up and searched the web and found this post!

There are reports that for some pax using the GE Card at TSA check points as ID, it was NOT accepted.
I just renewed my GE after nearly 5 years; I got my first GE card in the mail. Looking at it carefully, on the last line on the obverse side, "USA" is noted as the issuing country. But nowhere does it state the issuing agency.
On the reverse side there is an American flag with SENTRI.
Nowhere else is there any association with the card and the USA.:confused:

[You could probably:D get a more "official" looking card from "id shops" found in most major cities.]:D

Since the roll-out of Pre-Check, I've had zero issue using my GE card as ID.

Ironically, my GE photo, taken with a webcam-type device, is a highly distorted image due to the officer's hand movement when holding the camera. It is very funny that in such an important ID, that more care was not taken to make sure the image was first-class. :confused:

For mine, the CBP officer told me to look left, so I did. Barely a moment later, she said, "Ok, done." My reaction was, "Wait, what? What's done? My picture? Can I see it?" She said no, it looks fine, so I trusted her. When I received the card, I found that I looked like a dopey moron (moreso than usual, anyway) and the picture looked like it had a little fisheye effect.

A few weeks ago, a TSA employee called a supervisor b/c she thought the picture did not look like me, that "the nose looks funny" in particular. Jerk.

Ditto for my GE card picture.:td:
Since I'm going to use my DL and/or (real:)) PP as my form of ID...if they had my (long deceased) DOG's picture on the card it would make little difference to me.:D

On my GE card, the picture was taken from far enough away that my face could literally be covered by a pencil eraser. Nice view of the CDP office behind me, though. Honestly, if the TSA doc checker ever actually said "this picture is really small, I can't confirm it's you, do you have other ID," I'd pull out my DL without protest.