My Nexus application, also via GOES took under 10 business days to get conditionally approved, while other people waited upwards of 15.

I think its safe to say 2-3 weeks.

(Unless you moved around or changed jobs a lot during the last five years which they require, then it may take longer to verify everything)

Ah... Well in that case, it'll take a few weeks...

(3 jobs, 4 addresses, in 4 different states)

That is the case at least at IAD.

If you have already received conditional clearance, you need to schedule the interview within 30 days. I'd do that, and then update your passport online once you've renewed. Get the sticker on your next trip to an airport with GE CBP office. Carry the old one with you that has the sticker until then if you need to flash it.

BTW, with only 6 months on your passport, you should renew now anyway, unless you have no international travel plans, because you generally should have 6 months of validity left.

submitted and paid for on a tuesday, got the conditional on thursday of last week. scheduled for this weekend.

Guess not! Applied over the weekend, and got the conditional approval this afternoon. IAD has openings as soon as tommorrow, and is fairly open next week onward.

Wow , pretty good turnaround!

Congrats on getting approved so fast!

FYI, slightly new config at IAH again: The kiosks are just BEFORE you enter the immigration hall. After kiosking you then go through a dedicated turnstile into the immigration hall where a CBP either will look at your passport or wont and will ask if you have checked luggage. If not, it's to the left and down the secret exit. If so, it's to the right and down to the far end of the immigration hall to the escalators and baggage claim.

It's a VERY convenient set-up. ^

Last Tuesday, there were 4 kiosks (I remember only 2 before).

I applied on Monday, got conditionally approved yesterday and was able to schedule an appointment for today.
After a quick 10 min interview, even if I visited 40+ countries, very basic questions, got my lil CBP sticker...

Last week only 2 kiosks at DTW, I thought the last time I went through there was at least 4. There were 6 of us in line and one was a pilot and he was complaining out loud.

On September 18th I entered MIA from Havana on a charter flight. It was an odd time and there were very few people at the regular windows. GE was vacant and to my great surprise the kiosks processed mine and my wife's entry and did not give us an "X" even though we were coming from Cuba. However, several of the passengers with us on the plane made it through the regular line quicker than the kiosk could process us. The GE did come in very handy after collecting our luggage as they were questioning and searching most of the other passengers and my wife and I just walked straight through the exit. We could not find a dedicated GE exit...so we just cut in front of everyone and kept walking! The agents working the lines said "Hey! Hey What do you think you are doing?" and I held up the GE printout and he said "Oh thanks!" took it from us and we barely ever stopped walking.

The next week we entered DFW from Cancun on an AA flight and the entry was very crowded. GE had 4 kiosks. One of them was being re-loaded with paper while we were there and was not functioning. There was a line of about 8-10 people. We had to wait about 5 minutes. The agents assisting the line said they could not believe how many people were using GE. They claimed to have never seen a line that long. Once again, it was still much faster than standing in the regular line. After collecting luggage DFW had a special exit just for GE where only one person in a wheelchair was being processed ahead of us.

Ended up doing the interview today. So start-to-finish, 1 week (still have to get the GE card though). Anyway, the interview (at IAD) was fairly painless. The instructions from GOES were detailed enough for me to easily find the GE office. Though, the office is a bit buried down an uninviting hallway (if it wasn't for the GOES instructions, I probably wouldn't have tried to venture down there for risk of trespassing into an area I'm not allowed into). Though there was GE enrollment sign hanging over the door, because of the nearby architecture, it�s hard to see from the baggage area. My advice to anyone looking for the IAD location is to look for the red phone in the very northwest corner of the baggage area (this is north the international arrivals area). From there, start walking west down the white hallway and one should be able to find the office (3rd door on the right).

Once I arrived, the door was locked (with an aptly placed "please knock" sign). Took a sec, and the CBP officer opened the door, asking if I had an appointment. He sent me into a room were a portable DVD player was setup. On it was a short (5-10 min) video detailing a bunch of stuff about the GE program. Nothing new was revealed that's not already on the CBP/GE website. After that, the officer took me to another desk, starting giving me a fairly long speech about the different parts of the program while scanning my BP, taking my photo, and scanning my prints. This definitely was not the first time he's given this speech. He also mentioned the GE card would arrive in 5-7 business days; and made a point to explain when to use the card. One minus, I did not get a demo of the machine, though there was one in the room.

One thing that stuck out as interesting, he asked where I heard about the program ("the internet") and if I knew anyone who was enrolled ("no"). His response went something like this: "We really want to get more people enrolled in the program, so we can spend more time dealing with high-risk pax. So once you try the program out a few times, please tell your friends and family". Though there was only other CBP officer in the room, I noticed there were a total of 3 enrollment stations. I�m guessing those are setup in hopes of increased interest in GE.

Also, he did mention that if the machines are broken or I get an "X", to cut to the front of line. I think that's a great feature, as that keeps the transit time to a predictable number, regardless of what might happen.

All-in-all, a great experience. I look forward to taking advantage of GE next time I travel internationally.

Last update

Got my GE card today in the mail (less than a week since interview). And like everyone has said before, the picture quality is bad. The background artifacts and poor lighting in the IAD GE office do not help the picture quality.

On the plus side, the protective sleeve looks to be made of copper vs. my passport card sleeve which looks to be aluminum. And the copper looks to be thicker.

I applied Sept 26 and as of this morning (10/12) it's still showing 'pending'.
I wonder why it takes longer, only 2 jobs in the last 13 years here.
Does anyone know if they actually call the former employer to verify employment? Maybe my old employer is slow at responding.

In looking at the website (http://www.globalentry.gov/faq.html), it looks like the cards cannot be used at the kiosks when arriving from overseas (Europe, Asia), etc. Correct? So if my travel is almost exclusively to Asia or Europe, there is no reason to pay $15 to get the card, correct?

I enrolled in GE before July 12, 2011, thus the $15 fee.