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Originally Posted by jamesinclair
(Post 34316663)
Did it in Houston (IAH) for my renewal.
I went to the Global Entry kiosks, did the machine, and then got into a short line for the guy who looks at your ticket. I asked him about the interview and he said "go to 3 or 4" and vaguely gestured to the right which wasnt very clear to me. I asked the other guy collecting tickets, and he was much nicer. He explained that you walk towards the exit, and near the end, there are booths 3 and 4. But once you get there, youre on the WRONG side of things (exit only), and theres no sign or any other explanation on what to do next. At that point youre in a bit of a pickle. You either walk through 3/4 towards the "right" side, at which point you are yelled at for doing it wrong, or you wait on the "wrong side" at which point you are yelled at for doing it wrong.. Once someone either yells at you or escorts you over, you're put into a little holding pen. I had two people in front of me. One went through quickly. The other was more complicated (I overhead he had german and russian citizenship, oof). Right before I was attended to, I heard my guy being very nasty to a lady who was on the "wrong" side and after seeing his booth was empty, decided to approach the counter because clearly she should have known that there was a holding pen on the other side she couldnt see. My interview was pretty basic. I was asked about my visit to a middle eastern country, which is why I correctly assumed I was being asked to do this interview. I was also asked if I had been to "any other country that we are concerned about" - no. He then asked me for my current card. I didnt have it. I was told I should always have it. Even though the first time I did this they said I would never need the card, I was asked for my number. I didnt have it, but offered to look it up in my email. He then did me the "favor" of looking it up. I was also asked for proof of current address - my license worked. Fingerprints and photos, and I was done. In all, 10-15 minutes.Card arrived in the mail the next week. Just wish they had a little bit of customer service training. |
Mrs. Muckus did enrollment on arrival at LAX on Sunday July 3. We arrived at 1:15pm from LHR and they cleared her through Global Entry despite her lapsed membership. She then waited 40 minutes for the interview, which was fine as it took 25 minutes for the bags to arrive (so only a net delay of 15 minutes to finish the Global Entry renewal).
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SFO Global Entry Enrollment on Arrival
Is the walk-in interview done before or after clearing customs? What are the rules or regulations regarding the 2 international terminals like operating hours? Has anyone done it recently and what's the typical wait time? I found a lot of info from "search" but was outdated.
Thanks a bunch! |
Originally Posted by Vanostek
(Post 34401217)
Is the walk-in interview done before or after clearing customs? What are the rules or regulations regarding the 2 international terminals like operating hours? Has anyone done it recently and what's the typical wait time? I found a lot of info from "search" but was outdated.
Thanks a bunch! I merged your question into the relevant thread. Please take a look at post number 587 for a report on a recent Enrollment on Arrival at SFO. TWA884 Travel Safety/Security co-moderator |
Originally Posted by Flying Machine
(Post 34399429)
Thanks for posting. I’m a little confused, has anyone else done EOA at IAH recently, and can explain the procedure. TIA
If you already have Global Entry, you use the kiosks as normal, and then you start walking towards the exit, which is a hallway that all the booths exit to. But before you exit, you stop at one or two booths that are being used for the interviews. You then wait for someone to escort you/yell at you to a little holding area on the "entry" side of the booths |
Just to add a data point about IAD : My husband did his Global Entry Enrollment on Arrival interview at Dulles last night, following a flight arriving at roughly 7 pm. He had no wait at all for the interview.
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Just did my enrollment on arrival interview at SFO yesterday. As others have said, there's a dedicated lane for EoA interviews right before the regular GE lanes at the far end of the immigration area, with well marked signs and an officer directing people at the front of the line. One tip I will share is that you should put your name on the clipboard before lining up for immigration. I managed to be first in line off my flight, but five people got their names on the list before me while my immigration officer repeatedly rebooted his computer because the camera wasn't working. He ended up adding me to the top of the list because I had actually been there first, but I wouldn't count on that. Was called up for the interview about two minutes later, only took about 5 minutes and I was approved.
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I’m flying home from Peru via LAX on Wednesday and would like to do the enrollment on arrival interview (the earliest I could get an interview in DEN when I scheduled in April was in October). However, I’m traveling with my 16 year old son (just the two of us)…can he go along with me, or would he potentially have to enter on his own through the normal immigration line? If so, I probably wouldn’t bother. I don’t have any trips currently scheduled before my interview date, although my precheck expires in August. 😬
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Originally Posted by GBeckman
(Post 34413487)
I’m flying home from Peru via LAX on Wednesday and would like to do the enrollment on arrival interview (the earliest I could get an interview in DEN when I scheduled in April was in October). However, I’m traveling with my 16 year old son (just the two of us)…can he go along with me, or would he potentially have to enter on his own through the normal immigration line? If so, I probably wouldn’t bother. I don’t have any trips currently scheduled before my interview date, although my precheck expires in August. 😬
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My wife did interview on arrival at LAX. We both went through the normal immigration procedure (they use non-GE electronic kiosks rather than the paper declaration form) and then to the regular immigration booth. After clearing there we were directed to the interview booths at the far left end of the booths. The immigration officer said I could go with her but when we got to the interview booth the agent (with the personality of a rock) told me to go ahead and wait down stairs (there are escalators right path all the booths that take you down to the baggage conveyors). You can wait at the bottom of the escalator or just go off and find your bags.
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Data point for IAH: a co-worker recently did EOA here. Her flight landed at a busy time so she had to wait 45 minutes for the normal procedure. But once that was done, there was no wait for the GE interview.
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Originally Posted by jamesinclair
(Post 34316663)
Did it in Houston (IAH) for my renewal.
I went to the Global Entry kiosks, did the machine, and then got into a short line for the guy who looks at your ticket. I asked him about the interview and he said "go to 3 or 4" and vaguely gestured to the right which wasnt very clear to me. I asked the other guy collecting tickets, and he was much nicer. He explained that you walk towards the exit, and near the end, there are booths 3 and 4. But once you get there, youre on the WRONG side of things (exit only), and theres no sign or any other explanation on what to do next. At that point youre in a bit of a pickle. You either walk through 3/4 towards the "right" side, at which point you are yelled at for doing it wrong, or you wait on the "wrong side" at which point you are yelled at for doing it wrong.. Once someone either yells at you or escorts you over, you're put into a little holding pen. I had two people in front of me. One went through quickly. The other was more complicated (I overhead he had german and russian citizenship, oof). Right before I was attended to, I heard my guy being very nasty to a lady who was on the "wrong" side and after seeing his booth was empty, decided to approach the counter because clearly she should have known that there was a holding pen on the other side she couldnt see. My interview was pretty basic. I was asked about my visit to a middle eastern country, which is why I correctly assumed I was being asked to do this interview. I was also asked if I had been to "any other country that we are concerned about" - no. He then asked me for my current card. I didnt have it. I was told I should always have it. Even though the first time I did this they said I would never need the card, I was asked for my number. I didnt have it, but offered to look it up in my email. He then did me the "favor" of looking it up. I was also asked for proof of current address - my license worked. Fingerprints and photos, and I was done. In all, 10-15 minutes.Card arrived in the mail the next week. Just wish they had a little bit of customer service training.
Originally Posted by Boraxo
(Post 34417085)
Data point for IAH: a co-worker recently did EOA here. Her flight landed at a busy time so she had to wait 45 minutes for the normal procedure. But once that was done, there was no wait for the GE interview.
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Originally Posted by Flying Machine
(Post 34417201)
Was this a renewal or first interview? Thanks
I can't speak to every airport but at SFO there is only one list. Anecdotally I hear that people who have travelled to more obscure or flagged locations (whatever those are) receive more questions than people who have easy answers (i.e. in my case I travel to company locations that are well known to to CBP officers). The interviews appear to be based on your passport stamps or countries the system flagged on your application, and the reasons that you visited them, not your current GE status. And of course it is luck of the draw as to who (if anyone) will be in front of you for interviews. Everyone gets photo taken and fingerprinted. In my case the fingerprints took much longer than the questions. |
Originally Posted by GBeckman
(Post 34413487)
I’m flying home from Peru via LAX on Wednesday and would like to do the enrollment on arrival interview (the earliest I could get an interview in DEN when I scheduled in April was in October). However, I’m traveling with my 16 year old son (just the two of us)…can he go along with me, or would he potentially have to enter on his own through the normal immigration line? If so, I probably wouldn’t bother. I don’t have any trips currently scheduled before my interview date, although my precheck expires in August. 😬
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Originally Posted by Boraxo
(Post 34417392)
Why would it matter? (In this case I think it was a 1st time applicant).
I can't speak to every airport but at SFO there is only one list. Anecdotally I hear that people who have travelled to more obscure or flagged locations (whatever those are) receive more questions than people who have easy answers (i.e. in my case I travel to company locations that are well known to to CBP officers). The interviews appear to be based on your passport stamps or countries the system flagged on your application, and the reasons that you visited them, not your current GE status. And of course it is luck of the draw as to who (if anyone) will be in front of you for interviews. Everyone gets photo taken and fingerprinted. In my case the fingerprints took much longer than the questions. |
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