mediamonkey

On arrival in LAX at TBIT wanting to do an entry on arrival interview - what's the system? Do I go through the normal process using the ESTA kiosks, or get in a different line?

TWA884

Here is a report from Saturday, January 22, 2022:

vasantn

Has anyone done the Enrollment on Arrival at JFK Terminal 1? It says "next to Booth #1". I assume they are referring to the booths where they check your passport before you are admitted? Even though I live in NYC, it's been years since my initial port of re-entry was JFK.

GUWonder

At least in early 2020, it still involved going to the booths where they check passport -- preferably by booth 1 indeed -- and then asking the CBP entry-processor to send over/take over the the EOA-applicant to the the side where CBP doees some secondaries and would do the EOA process. If that "next to Booth #1" thing is still the language, then this is what I would still expect to be the case.

pickle_flyer

For conducting interview at customs while entering the U.S. - do I just tell the officer that I want to interview for GE as I do customs?

mnbp

This question is answered in the wiki above post # 1 in this thread.

madfish

Also completed my EoA at T7 JFK earlier this week. I asked at the desk when I arrived at immigration. The officer checked with a colleague in the next booth. And I was sent to speak to her immediately after I completed my immigration procedure. Was all fairly straight forward. I did receive the email until the following day. Despite this, AA were not able to add the KTN to my booking for that day and so couldn't make use of TSA-pre.

MaxFlyer

Good to know about EoA at T7. I wish I had read this info a day earlier as although My GE renewal was approved last year I’ve been rejected by the machine twice now in a month with the new facial recognition system. One CBP officer at SFO tried to fix the issue by uploading my picture again. It’s like I’m not in the system.

It’s very frustrating as GE worked well for me prior to renewal and under the old system. I wonder if something isn’t configured correctly in my account.

Hopefully when I’m next at JFK T7 I’ll be able to speak to a GE officer and have the issue resolved.

Anyone else having this issue?

dhuey

I'm happy to report a successful enrollment on arrival experience at SFO yesterday. This was my second renewal, and was ineligible for an online interview because my photo on file was over 10 years old. Appointments at SFO are booked up for around three months, so I really wanted to get this done via EOA.

I came in from Munich on a Lufthansa flight, International-G. A Singapore Air flight had arrived about 30 minutes prior, and the immigration hall was pretty full with passengers from that flight. I really hustled down the hallway because I had seen in this thread that this process can take a lot of time if others are ahead of you for the interviews. The current setup is Global Entry on the left side of the hall, with a special line for enrollment on arrival. I was first in line, and eventually another guy from my flight showed up behind me. The agent told us to hang tight while he dealt with the Global Entry passengers who had used the kiosks. That cleared up in about 15 minutes, and then we put our names on a clipboard list for the interviews. After another 5 minutes or so, we both got called up.

The interview lasted about 15 minutes, and the agent mostly asked me the same questions on the renewal form. He asked about my purpose for visiting the countries I listed, and he specifically asked about Cuba. My answer was that I mostly ran marathons in those countries. "Even Cuba?" he asked. Yep, they've got a marathon there, too. More questions about my occupation, am I married, where's my wife now, current address. My guess is the purpose of the questions isn't so much about the answers, but more for him to watch my body language, and listen for any signs of discomfort. In other words, see if I might be hiding something. I don't really know if that was the intention, though. At the end, he took my photograph and my fingerprints. Done.

So...I'll repeat the advice others have given, above. Get to the interview line ASAP after you deplane. If there are several people ahead of you, the whole process might take an hour or more. Personally, I would have skipped it and tried another time if I had been back farther than #5 in line.

All in all, this is a great option to have. Good luck if you try it.

VaTraveler2

Astrophsx

The wait yesterday was 30-60 minutes at LAX yesterday at 6pm (Sunday). There were between two and four agents. You'll need to clear immigration and then walk around before getting in line. Several people were pulled out of line and told they needed to go through immigration first. They asked for a passport and second form of ID.

RichieMc

Just adding today’s experience attempting enrolment on arrival at JFK T8 today. It wasn’t a pleasant one.

There’s something on the CBP website about using Lane 1. But as far as I can tell, lane 1 is marked for crew and diplomats. Anyway, just got in the normal foreigners line and saw an agent quickly. I was his first customer and he made a great show of rearranging his keyboard, mouse, chair, etc while ignoring my greeting “hello”. Told him I wanted to do EoA. Which he also ignored and sent me in my way. Asked again about it and he grunted something and pointed to the left. I found an unmanned desk and another agent did the same. So I went into a little corridor with some signs vaguely referencing EoA interviews and finally found someone who told me I needed to be somewhere completely different! Sent me to get my bags and talk to someone at customs. Waited ages for my bag and then finally get to customs. Ask the guy there and he says no one is around. And he has no idea when they will be there; could be 5 minutes, could be 5 hours, could be never. He suggested I try T4, but couldn’t be arsed to schlep all the way there as I’m not convinced you can just walk in there and get an interview from landside. You’ll be reassured to know there were at least 14 Agricultire inspectors there keeping America’s borders safe (ie standing around doing nothing).

So no interview. As it happens, having GE wouldn’t have saved much time versus normal route today, especially as the major holdup was getting bags. Obviously not always the case. Will try again next trip in June.

mediamonkey

Anyone done it at MCO recently?

k374

I am conditionally approved for renewal, I checked for Zoom interviews but there are none available at anytime, no matter which year, month or timezone so I guess the only option now is EoA. Any experiences getting this done at DFW?

I was shying away from traveling internationally until the testing requirement is rescinded, but I may have to take my chances now.

TWA884

The most recent report of EoA at DFW is dated June 1, 2021.